"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"?

[vikungen]

I guess it has to do with it being the summer, out of all the seasons and not just a summer.

Anyways, most European languages do this, but remember that English often is the odd one out.

Danish: Sommeren er forbi.

German: Der Sommer ist vorbei.

Esperanto: La somero pasis.

Dutch: De zomer is voorbij.

Spanish: El verano terminó.

Icelandic: Sumarið er búið.

Swedish: Sommaren är över.

Norwegian: Sommeren er over.

[daviddempsay]

Thank you. That is a wonderfully illustrative answer!

[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.

[AndriLindbergs]

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

[JooRomero4]

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

[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?