Infinitive
esti
Forms
Tenses
| Present | estas |
| Past | estis |
| Future | estos |
| Conditional | estus |
| Imperative | estu! |
Participles
| Active past | estinta |
| Active present | estanta |
| Active future | estonta |
| Passive past | estita |
| Passive present | estta |
| Passive future | estota |
Etymology
Borrowed from French est and Italian essere. Learned borrowing from Latin est and Ancient Greek ἐστί (estí). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésti. Cognate with Yiddish איז (iz), English is, Russian есть (jestʹ), Polish jestem. See: Italian '
essere', Proto-Indo-European '
*h₁ésti', English '
is', Russian '
есть'.
Sample Sentences
-
Mi estas edzo kaj patro. (I am a husband and father.)
-
Ĉu esti aŭ ne esti; tiel staras nun la demando. (To be or not to be; that is the question.)
-
Ne estas spaco en mikronovelo por senutilaj vortoj. (There is not space in a micro-novelette for useless words.) [2025 September 29, Jorge Nogueras, “La plej mallonga tago”, in uea.facila, archived from the original on 12 Dec 2025:]
Translations
have, auxiliary used in forming the perfect and the past perfect tenses