Movie Titles in Esperanto Trivia Quiz

Answer: Jaws

"Makzelo" (pronounced "mahk-ZEH-loh") is the singular form of "Jaw" in Esperanto. All Esperanto nouns end in "o" and are made plural by adding "j" ("oj" sounds like "oy" in "boy").

The clue "sharko" (properly "ŝarko" but the FunTrivia code won't allow the "ŝ" symbol in the question box in some games) is pronounced similarly in English: "SHARK-oh". To make a word meaning "a baby shark" (i.e. "shark pup"), we can use the suffix "--id", which indicates "offspring": "ŝarkido" (pronounced "shar-KEE-doh").

You may have noticed that the penultimate syllable always gets the accent in Esperanto.

Answer: The Godfather

"Baptopatro" (pronounced "bahp-toh-PAH-troh") literally means "baptism father". "Patro" ("PAH-tro") is the word for "father". By using the feminine suffix "--in", you can make "patrino" ("pah-TREE-noh"), which translates to "mother".

"La" is the Esperanto word for "the" which does not change for gender or number.

Answer: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Esperanto version of the title shows a good use of the prefix "mal--", which indicates the opposite of the root word. The Esperanto word "bona" means "Good" in English. Therefore, "La Bona, la Malbona..." literally means "The good, the opposite of good [bad]".

"Bela" is the Esperanto word for "pretty", and prefixing the word with "mal--" makes it the opposite: "la Malbela" is "the Ugly".

Answer: 12 Angry Men

"Dek du" (pronounced "deck doo") is Esperanto for "twelve". It literally means "ten [and] two". "Kolera viro" is an angry man. Plurals are made by adding the letter "j". Notice that the adjective is made plural as well as the noun: "koleraj viroj" (pronounced "koh-LEH-ri VEE-roy").

Answer: The Silence of the Lambs

"La Silento" (pronounced "lah see-LEHN-toe") translates to "the silence".

"Ŝafo" ("SHAH-foe") is the word for "sheep". The suffix "--id" denotes the offspring of the root word. So "ŝafido" ("sha-FEE-doh") is the Esperanto word for "lamb". Again, to make a noun plural, you add "j": "ŝafidoj" ("sha-FEE-doy").

"Silenti" ("see-LEHN-tee") is an intransitive verb meaning "to be silent". So, to say "the lambs are silent", in Esperanto, one could simplify the sentence to: "La ŝafidoj silentas".

Answer: The Matrix

"Matrico" (pronounced "mah-TREE-tsoh") is the Esperanto word for Matrix. "La" is the definite article that does not change for gender or number; in fact, Esperanto has no grammatical gender.

Answer: It's a Wonderful Life

"Estas" (pronounced "EH-stahs") usually means "is", "am", or "are", but when there is no real subject of the sentence, as in this case, it can mean "there are", "there is", "it is", etc.

"Miri" (pronounced "MEE-ree") means "to wonder". If you add the suffix "--ind", which denotes "worthy of", you get "mirinda" ("mee-REEN-dah") which means literally "worthy of wonder" or more simply, "wonderful".

"Vivo" ("VEE-voh") comes from the same Latin root that gives us "vivacious".

Answer: The Green Mile

"Verda" is the Esperanto adjective meaning "green". To make it a noun, change the "a" to "o": "verdo". You can add the diminutive suffix "--et" to turn "green" into "greenish": "verdeta".

"Mejlo" (pronounced "MAY-loh") is the Esperanto word for "mile".

Answer: A Clockwork Orange

Literally, "[A] Mechanical Orange", "Mekanika Oranĝo" is the correct answer. Notice that in Esperanto there is no indefinite article: "domo" can mean "house" or "a house".

"Oranĝo" has one of those funny letters you find in Esperanto with the circumflex over the consonant. In this case "ĝ" has the sound of the soft G in English, so "Oranĝo" sounds very similar in both languages: "oh-RAHN-joh". Without the circumflex, "g" has the sound of the English hard G as in "agi" ("AH-gee") meaning "to act".

Answer: The Wizard of Oz

Proper names like "Oz" can be converted or left alone. "La Sorĉisto de Ozo" would be valid, but a little awkward for my personal taste.

"Sorĉi", pronounced "SOHR-chee", means "to cast a spell upon (someone or something)". The suffix "--ist" means much the same in Esperanto as it does in English, particular a "professional in the field of". Therefore, "sorĉisto" means someone who is a professional spell-caster: wizard, sorcerer, etc.