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Nouns in Esperanto are like nouns in English: They name objects, ideas, and so forth. They’re easy to distinguish, because they all have an −O ending (though there may be an additional −J and −N ending after it), marking it as a noun.
Some words are nouns by nature, like arbo (tree) and hundo (dog), and some are nouns because other words, usually adjectives or verbs, have been converted to nouns by changing their endings to −O. The adjective verda (used to describe something that is green) can be changed to verdo (the name of the color), and the verb kuri (to run), can be converted to kuro (an act or instance of running).
Nouns can be converted to adjectives, adverbs and verb as well, by changing their endings from −O to −A, −E or −I.
A noun changed to an adjective describes something related to the original noun. Changed to an adverb, it generally describes the means in which something is done. Changed to a verb, it can mean various things, such as to be or to act like the original item, to use it, or to bring it into existance. For example, from martelo (a hammer), we get marteli (to hammer = to use a hammer). From nodo (knot), we get nodi (to tie a knot).
Esperanto has the concept of a proper noun, the name of a particular person, place, or thing, but it doesn’t include as much territory as the term does in English, for many Esperantists. For example, many do not capitalize names of days of the week, or months of the year. Names of peoples, such as germano (a German) or usonano (an American), or members of groups, such as komunisto (a Communist) or kristano (a Christian) are generally not capitalized.
There are no hard and fast rules about this, so some people capitalize or not depending on how their native languages do it.
Names of languages are a bit strange in Esperanto. They are considered proper nouns, but the vast majority of languages don’t have names in the usual sense. The few that do are generally invented languages, like Esperanto itself: Esperanto, Volapuko (Volapük), Interlingvo (Interlingua), Loĵbano (Lojban), Gloso (Glossa) and Eŭroplingvo (Eurolang), etc.
Other languages are named with adjectives instead, such as la angla lingvo (the English language), and very often, that noun is left out, so there is only the article and an adjective: la angla. Many people do not capitalize non-nouns derived from nouns, so this is left uncapitalized, and we have what appear to be uncapitalized proper nouns, ending in A: la franca (French), la germana (German), la rusa (Russian), and so on.
Most countries have forms of their names in Esperanto, and these fall into four groups:
Some country-names in the third group are somewhat like the names in the first one, named after their inhabitants, but with a different suffix than the standard −uj− (which also means “container”). These can be named with this suffix instead: Afganujo instead of Afganistano, from afgano (an Afghani); Skotujo instead of Skotlando, from skoto (a Scott). But some are not: Nederlando has no alternate form, and an inhabitant is called nederlandano (a Dutchman); an inhabitant of Islando is called islandano (an Icelander). These countries behave exactly like those in the fourth group.
There is no absolute logic to the naming of countries. Mexico, for example, could have been called Meksikio, after its capital, Meksiko (Mexico, Federal District), but it’s actually Meksiko the country, and its capital is Meksikurbo (Mexico City).
Usono (America) could have been named Gringujo or Jankiujo after its inhabitants, but instead has been given a unique name made up by a group called the Usonians some time in the late 19th or early 20th century. They’re forgotten now, but their name for our country was borrowed into Esperanto. It is actually the names of the letters USN, for Unuiĝintaj Ŝtatoj de Nordameriko.
States and provinces behave much like countries. We have Novjorkio (New York), named after Novjorko (New York City, as though it were the capital); Kebekio (Province of Quebec), named for Kebeko (Quebec); Brita Kolumbio (British Columbia), named for Kolumbo (the Columbia River); and Vaŝintonio (Washington), named for Vaŝintono (Washington, DC, as though it were the capital of the state, and not of the whole country).
Ameriko means “the Americas”, not “The USA”.
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