-is

The Past Tense

Level 2

Replace -as with -is for things that happened before now.

How It Works

Present	Past	Meaning
vidas	vidis	sees, saw
laboras	laboris	works, worked
iras	iris	goes, went
manĝas	manĝis	eats, ate

The ending -is shows that an action or state happened before the moment of speaking, and usually that it is over. Every verb follows the same pattern, so there are no irregular past forms to learn.

English chooses between I ate, I was eating and I had eaten. In Esperanto the simple -is form is enough for all of them, and words like hieraŭ (yesterday) make the time clear.

The ending does not change with the person: mi vidis, vi vidis, ili vidis.

Examples (5)

Hieraŭ mi vizitis mian amikon.
Yesterday I visited my friend.
Hieraŭ shows the time, and vizitis is the past of vizitas.
Ewa laboris, kaj Tomasz lernis.
Ewa worked, and Tomasz studied.
Both verbs end in -is, though the subjects differ.
Ni manĝis rizon kaj trinkis teon.
We ate rice and drank tea.
Two past verbs share one subject.
Kofi venis al la kongreso hieraŭ.
Kofi came to the congress yesterday.
Venis is the past of venas.
Ŝi skribis leteron al mi.
She wrote me a letter.
The object leteron keeps -n in the past too.

Common Mistakes

Using the future ending for a past time.
Hieraŭ mi telefonos al vi.
Hieraŭ mi telefonis al vi.
Hieraŭ means yesterday, so the verb needs the past ending -is. The ending -os looks forward.

How It Connects

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

-isLevel 2The Past Tense

Learn This First

The past ending is the partner of the present ending.

-asThe Present Tense
Know the present ending -as, because -is is its past partner and works the same way: Mi parolas, mi parolis.
Level 1

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.

Practice -is in Bubblegum

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