From this point on, all "Ana Pana" posts will have a grammar piece in them. You will generally want to look over the grammar section here before completing the Lernu level. As for the Memrise words, it doesn't matter when you learn them as long as it is before completing the level, so you can learn a bunch at a time or each level before the corresponding Ana Pana level on Lernu. The grammar explanations will generally coincide with the "clarifications" section in the Ana Pana level, but it's still a good idea to read it to know what exactly is being introduced. After this post, I won't really be mentioning Ana Pana - it is understood that the Ana Pana corresponding to the title should be completed in Memrise then in Lernu. In this post, the grammar piece will be on the definite article.
The Definite Article
In Esperanto, there is no indefinite article (the English "a"). So, if you want to say "I have a dog", you have to say "Mi havas hundon" (I have dog) because there is no way to say "a". However, when you think about it, the "a" rarely adds meaning to the sentence. However, there is a definite article (English "the"). It is the word "la". It never changes for any reason, including the number of things it is referring to (like in Spanish and other languages). It is used in almost the same way as English, but one of the more common exceptions is when referring to parts of your body. In English, we use a possesive pronoun (my arm, your leg), but in Esperanto you use the article. For example, "la brako" means "the arm" when translated literally, but depending on the rest of the sentence, you can figure out whose arm it is. If I said "Mi doloras la brako", it means "I hurt the arm", but it's obvious that it's my arm I hurt.
Remember, you can always leave a comment if anything doesn't make sense, is unclear, or if you just have a question. That's all you need to know for now about the definite article, so see you in the Ana Pana 3 post!
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