Capital Letters

Level 1

Capitals are for names and for the first word of a sentence.

How It Works

Capital letterSmall letter
people: Ana, Kenjidays: lundo, mardo
countries: Brazilo, Pollandolanguages named with an adjective: la angla, la japana
the language Esperantopeoples: la poloj, la japanoj
the first word of a sentencemonths in this course: januaro, marto

Language names that end in -o, like Esperanto, are proper names and normally keep a capital. A language named with an adjective, such as la angla, takes a small letter, and most writers also use a small letter for words made from a name, such as esperantisto for a speaker of Esperanto.

Month names are proper names, and PMEG recommends starting them with a capital letter. Many writers now use a small letter, and this course does too.

PMEG also points out that Esperanto has no binding rules for capitals, so you will see more than one habit in real texts.

Examples (5)

  1. Mia nomo estas Amara.

    My name is Amara.

    A name starts with a capital letter.

  2. Ana parolas la anglan kaj Esperanton.

    Ana speaks English and Esperanto.

    Esperanto keeps its capital letter, while la angla is a small-letter adjective.

  3. Lundo kaj mardo estas tagoj.

    Monday and Tuesday are days.

    Days of the week take a small letter; only the first word has a capital because it starts the sentence.

  4. Ewa kaj Tomasz estas poloj, kaj Kenji estas japano.

    Ewa and Tomasz are Poles, and Kenji is Japanese.

    The names of peoples take a small letter.

  5. En januaro mi vizitas Brazilon.

    In January I visit Brazil.

    This course writes months with a small letter, and Brazilo keeps its capital as a country.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Capital LettersLevel 1

Learn This First

A capital letter is the large form of a letter.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.