"Summer begins in December in Australia."

Translation: La somero komenciĝas en decembro en Aŭstralio.

[daviddempsay]

Why is it necessary to use the article "La" before "somero"?

[randomlinguist]

Duo now accepts the sentence without "La" before "somero."

[PedroLaia3]

Why "komencas" is wrong?

[CaseyCannon]

It's because you need the -iĝ suffix to turn it into an intransitive verb.

La instruisto komencas la lecionon.
The teacher starts the lesson.

Here, the verb can act on a direct object, so it's transitive.

La leciono komenciĝas.
The lesson starts.

Here, the lesson starts, but it doesn't start, like, a revolution or anything, so it's intransitive.

[SeanYu9]

In previous lessons, somero was without la, even when "the summer" was used in the english sentence.

So when exactly do we use la somero, and when do we use somero?

[AndriLindbergs]

Is this wrong: "La somero en Aŭstralio komenciĝas en decembro"?

[JooRomero4]

Why is "ekas" instead of "komenciĝas" incorrect in this sentence?

[Jaerivus]

I strongly wanted to use "decembre" to avoid saying "en" twice, but Duo didn't like that.