The definite article (the) is la. There is no indefinite article (a or an):

patr-ulo,a father;la patr-ulo,the father.

Adjectives are compared by:

plu � kam,more � than.

tam � kam,as � as.

min � kam,less � than.

ne tam � kamnot so � as.

maxim � de,most � of.

tre,very.

minim � de,least � of.

mea,my, mine;tua,thy, thine;vua,your, yours (belonging to one person); lua,his, her, hers, its;sua,his own, her own, its own, their own.

nia,our, ours;via,your, yours (belonging to more than one); lia,their, theirs.

When necessary use:

ilua,his;ilia,their (belonging to men).

elua,her, hers;elia,their (belonging to women).

olua,its;olia,their (belonging to things).

Qua (singular), who, what, which (person);

quo (singular), what, which (thing);

qui (plural), who, what, which:

� Qua esas ibe? Who is there?

� La viro qua parolis, The man who spoke.

� Quo eventis? What happened?

� Qui parolis? Who (plural) spoke?

� La viri qui parolis, The men who spoke.

� La acidenti qui eventis, The accidents that took place.

Ita (this, these; that, those), shortened to ta, where euphony permits:

� Kad ita esas vua libro? Is this your book?

� Ta libri esas mea, Those books are mine.

When quite necessary to distinguish between �this,� �that,� use ica (or ca) for this, and ita (or ta) for that:

� Ica esas bona, ita esas mala, This one is good, that one is bad.

When it means �this thing,� �that thing,� use to (or ito, co, ico):

� Quo esas to? What is this?

� Ico esas libro, ito esas plumo, This (thing) is a book, that (thing) is a pen.

�That which,� �what� is translated to quo when used in the most general sense of �that thing or matter which.� When some definite thing is referred to, use ta qua, �the one that,� (plural: ti qui).

� To quon me dicas esas� What I say is �

� Yen omnaspeca frukti, prenez ti quin vu preferas, Here are all kinds of fruit, take those you like best.

When distinction of gender is necessary, il-, el-, ol- may be prefixed to these or any other pronouns, except naturally the personal pronouns themselves:

� Ilti facis ol ed elti regardis, Those (men) did it, and these (women) looked on.

� La matro di mea amiko, elqua� My friend�s mother, who �

� La matro di mea amiko, ilqua� The mother of my friend, who �

The cardinal numbers are:

From these all others are formed, the adjectival -a being used to show multiplication and the conjunction e to show addition. Thus:

� dek e un, 11 (ten plus one).

� dek e du, 12 (ten plus two).

� dek e sis, 16 (ten plus six).

� dek e non, 19 (ten plus nine).

� dua- dek, 20 (twice ten).

� dua- dek- e- un, 21 (twice ten plus one).

� tria- dek- e- quar, 34.

� quara- dek- e- kin, 45.

� kina- dek- e- sis, 56.

� cent- e- sepa- dek- e- ok, 178.

� mil- e- sisa- dek- e- sis, 1066.

� mil- e- nona- cent- e- dua- dek- e- tri, 1923.

As in English, numbers may be given out, e.g., when dictating, by naming the digits only. The name of the digit 0 is zero. The last two numbers given would then be:

� un zero sis sis, 1066.

� un non du tri, 1923.

The Perfect Tenses of the verb are formed by means of the suffix -ab, placed after the root and before the grammatical ending:

� Me parol-ab-is, I had spoken.:

� Il fin-ab-os, He will have finished.:

� El en-fal-ab-us, She would have fallen in.:

� Fin-ab-ez, kande me arivos, Have finished when I (shall) arrive.:

THE PASSIVE VOICE is formed with the verb �to be� followed by passive participle:

� La puero esas am-ata, The boy is loved.

� La puero esis am-ata, The boy was loved.

� La puero esos am-ata, The boy will be loved.

The Perfect Tenses are formed with the suffix -ab-:

� La puero esabis amata, The boy had been loved.

� La puero esabos amata, The boy will have been loved.

All these forms can be contracted by adding the verb �to be� directly to the root:

� La puero am-esas, The boy is loved.

It is, however, advisable not to contract the -ab- forms as they are clumsy and hard to follow in conversation. Thus La puero esabos amata is to be preferred to La puero amesabos.

The present participle passive is most used, but the others are occasionally required. For example, the past perfect passive can be translated with the help of the past participle:

� La puero esis amita, The boy had been loved (literally, was a was-loved-person.)

The future in -ota is used in the same way as -onta is in the active voice, to translate �about to be,� �going to be�:

� Ol esas fac-ota, It is about to be done.

� La letro esas skrib-ota, The letter is going to be written.

The contracted passive is useful in sentences like the following:

� Ica vorto uzesas rare, This word is seldom used.

It is frequently neater and clearer to avoid the passive by using the pronoun on,one, they, people, with the active:

� On trovas diamanti en India, Diamonds are found in India.

Each preposition has a well-defined meaning, and (like all words in the International Language) must be used only when the sense clearly requires it; e.g.:

� I bought it of him, becomes: I bought it from him.

� Me kompris ol de il.

� He cut himself with his knife, becomes: by means of his knife,

� Il sekis su per sua kultelo.

The following, though belonging to the vocabulary, are mentioned here on account of their very frequent use:

ula, ulu, ulo = some (indeterminate quality).

Ula is an adjective:

� ula libro, some book.

Ulu is a pronoun:

� ulu dicis, someone (a certain person) said.

Ulo is a noun (thing):

� ulo mankas, something is wanting.

(1) The English possessive case has to be turned round, and translated by the preposition di:

� The father�s dog (= the dog of the father),

� La hundo di la patrulo.

� The mothers� meeting (= the meeting of the mothers),

� La asemblo di la patrini.

� A mothers� meeting (= a meeting of mothers),

� Asemblo di patrini.

� A beggar�s revenge (= the revenge of a beggar),

� Venjo di mendikisto.

(1) If it joins two sentences, use ke.

(2) If it means who, whom, which, use qua as subject, quan as object (if before the verb).

(3) If it means that (person), use ita, ta.

(4) If it means that thing, use ito, to.

(5) If it means that kind of, use tala.

(6) If it means in order that, use por ke (with imperative).

E.g.�

(1) I see that you are here, me vidas, ke vu esas hike. (Joins sentences �I see�, �you are here�.)

(2) The cat that was here, La kato, qua esis hike.

� The dog that you saw, La hundo, quan vu vidis.

(3) That man is too old, Ita (or ta) viro esas tro olda.

(4) That is no use, Ito (or to) ne utilesas.

(5) That person! Well, I never!Tala persono! ne-kredebla!

(6) I tell you now, that you may be prepared, Me dicas ol a vu nun, por ke vu esez preparita (or pronta).

(a) If it means that which, use to quo or to quon, according to sense:

How to translate SHALL.

(1) If it is a simple future, use -os:

� I shall be here tomorrow → me esos hike morge.

(2) If it means �duty�, use devar or the imperative:

� He shall do it → Il devas facar lo.

� Thou shalt not bear false witness → Tu ne false atestez.

The English termination -ing seldom is a real present participle that can be translated by -anta. The following rules cover most cases:

(1) Use -anta only if the word in -ing is a true verbal adjective, qualifying a noun:

� A crying child → Krianta infanto.

� A gratifying result → Kontentiganta rezulto.

In the above, the adjective in -ing can be replaced by a verb, with who or which:

� a child who cries,

� a result which gratifies.

De,from, since, of (in quantities):

� unu de li, one of them.

de-pos,since, after.

di,of (possession and genitive).

da,by (authorship or after passive verb).

a, ad,to (direction, object, intention):

� pensar a, to turn one�s thoughts to, think of.

� amo a Deo, love of God.

� irar a�, to go to �

� aden, into.

adsur,on to.

en,in.

ek,out of (with motion, choice, material).

� vazo ek oro, a vase of gold.

� irar ek la chambro, to go out of the room.

exter,outside (without motion).

sur,on.

super,above.

sub,under (with or without motion).

infre di,at the bottom or foot of, below.

inter,between, among.

tra,through (in crossing only).

cis,this side of.

trans,the other side of, across (with or without motion).

◊ preter,beyond, leaving behind.

lor,at the time of.

ante,before (in time).

pos,after (in time).

avan,in front of, before (in space).

dop,behind, after (in space).

koram,in the presence of.

che,at, to (the house).

apud,next to, by, beside.

an,on, at (contiguity):

� an la tablo, at table.

� an Seine, on the Seine.

cirkum,around, about (place, time, quantity, etc.)

kontre,against.

pro,because, on account of.

por,for, in view of, in order to.

per,by means of, through.

pri,concerning, of, about, relating to, on.

kun,with (in company with).

sen,without (privation).

ultre,beyond, in addition to.

proxim,near, close to (not touching).

po,for, at the price of, in exchange for.

dum,during.

til,till (prep.) as far as.

� til la pordo, as far as the door.

malgre,in spite of, notwithstanding.

vice,instead of, in the place of.

segun,according to.

alonge,along.

vers,towards.

ye,at (indefinite preposition).

When the speaker does not want to name, or does not know, the author of an action, he states it in the passive voice in English:

� The father is loved.

In Ido, the indefinite pronoun is used:

� On amas la patrulo.

This avoids such passive constructions as:

� He was not told the whole truth,

� On ne dicis ad il la tota verajo.

Sometimes, instead of the passive voice, a pronoun is used in English; the pronoun we is used when the speaker wants to associate himself with the statement:

� We are all mortal.

� Ni omna esas mortiva.

But when the statement applies to everybidy, on should be used:

� When we hear hear but one bell, we hear but one sound,

� Kande on audas nur un klosho, on audas nur un sono.

The same is true of the pronouns they, you and the expressions people, somebody:

� They manage those things better in America,

� On administras ta kozi plu bone en Amerika.

� You cannot eat your cake and have it,

� On ne povas manjar sua kuko e konservar ol.

� People say it is their own fault,

� On dicas, ke ol esas lia propra kulpo.

� A man is not always lucky,

� On ne sempre esas fortunoza.

Any preposition can be used before an infinitive, as the infinitive is the equivalent of a noun:

� Loko por studiar (= loko por studio), A place for studying (= a place for study).

� Sen dormar, without sleep.

� Ante departar, before starting.

� Ante departo, before departure.

� Sen parolir, without having spoken.

Preposition to is not translated if it is part of the infinitive:

� I want to come, me volas venar.

If it means in order to, use por:

� He wrote to come, Il skribis por venar.

If you could use the form in -ing with nearly the same sense, the por is not necessary:

� To be or not to be (= being or not being), Esar o ne esar.

After an adjective, preposition to means neither in order to nor an infinitive:

� Easy to learn (= easily learnable), Facile lernebla.

� Difficult to understand, Desfacile komprenebla.

� They have only themselves to blame, Li ipsa esas sola blaminda.

For the infinitive clause, �I want you to come,�, etc., see Lesson XII.

Verbs like to rain, to snow, to hail have no real subject; therefore the English pronoun it is not translated:

� It rains. Pluvas.

� It snowed. Nivis.

� It is going to hail. Esas balde grelonta.

(See also Lesson XX.)

The same is true when the pronoun it does not refer to anything:

� It is you. Esas vu.

Translate such phrases by means of sentar, to feel, used reflexively:

� Me sentas me kolda.

� Vu sentos vu tro varma.

These are simply translated by the verb to be, the real subject being the word that follows:

� There is a hill outside the town,

� Esas kolino exter la urbo.

� There are twelve hens in the cage

� Esas dek-e-du hanini en la kajo.

But when there is points to a person or thing, use yen:

� There he is (= There he comes!) Yen il venas!

An hour is horo, but time by the clock is expressed by kloko, kloki:

� What time is it? Qua kloko esas?

� It is two o�clock, Esas du kloki.

� At half-past two, Ye du kloki e duimo.

Always reckon quarters and minutes from the last hour, not to the next one:

� A quarter to eight,

� Sep kloki e tri quarimi, or Sep kloki quaradek-e-kin minuti.

� Twenty to ten (= 9.40). Non kloki quaradek.

Continental timetables, etc., reckon up to 24 o�clock (midnight):

� Twelve noon, Dek-e-du kloki.

� One p.m., Dek-e-tri kloki.

The words plus, minus, multiplied by, divided by, are translated plus, minus, per, sur:

� � 2+3−1, du plus tri minus un.

� � 4�2=8, quar per du facas ok.

� � 9�3=3, non sur tri facas tri.

The names of the days of the week are (no capitals, except at head of sentence, etc.):

Sundio, lundio, mardio, merkurdio, jovdio, venerdio, saturdio.

ed (e),and.

od (o),or.

od � od,either � or.

nek,nor.

nek � nek,neither � nor.

or,now (in argument).

nam,for (= because).

do,then, so (= therefore).

ma,but.

tamen,however, nevertheless, yet.

yen,here is, here are.

lore � lore,now � then.

ka(d), (question word) whether.

ke,that.

se,if.

sive � sive,whether � whether.

se ne,if not.

se � nur, nur se,provided that.

ecepte se,unless.

quale se,as though.

quankam,although.

pro quo?why?.

por quo,what for?.

de kande,as soon as, since when.

por ne,lest (with infinitive).

In addition to the conjunctions formed from prepositions by adding ke (see Lesson IX), many can be formed from adverbs in the same way:

tale ke,so that, in such a way that.

tante ke,so much that.

tam longe ke,as long as.

kaze ke,in case.

kondicione ke,on condition that.

unfoye ke,once (that).

omnafoye ke,each time (that).

tam ofte ke,as often as.

time ke,for fear that.

tante plu � ke,all the more � that.

quante plu � tante plu,the more � the more.

quante min � tante min,the less � the less.

tante plu bone ke,all the better � because.

A few examples will help to understand the value of the most difficult, and show how many others not given above can be formed. The general rule is that every word means one definite idea, to form the exact equivalent of any English phrase consisting of two or more words that have often lost their original meaning:

E.g.�

� Quante min me manjas, tante min me drinkas,

� (How-much less I eat, thus-much less I drink,)

� The less I eat, the less I drink.

maxim(e),most.

minim(e),least.

pluse,further, moreover.

maxim � posible,most � possible.

� maxim granda posible,the greatest possible.

minim � posible,least � possible.

tam � kam posible,as � as possible.

admaxime,at the most.

adminime,at least.

proxime,approximately, near.

kelke,a little.

poke,little.

sat(e),enough.

tro,too (much).

sam-tempe,at the same time.

nul-tempe,never.

sempre,always.

kune,together.

nun,now; ago = before now,ante nun.

olim,once upon a time, formerly.

frue,early.

tarde,late.

erste,only = no earlier than.

ca-die (hodie),today.

hiere,yesterday.

morge,tomorrow.

ca-vespere,this evening.

pre-hiere,the day before yesterday.

pos-morge,the day after tomorrow.

jus,just (in the past).

quik,at once, immediately.

ankore,still.

ja,already.

ne � ja,not yet.

interne,inside.

extere,outside.

supre,up, upstairs.

infre,down, below.

avane,in front.

dope,behind.

retro,backwards.

dextre,on the right.

sinistre,on the left.

fore,far away.

cirkume,around.

forsan,perhaps.

komprenende,of course.

mem,even; still (with comparative).

ya,indeed.

nur,only.

precipue,chiefly.

aparte,apart, separately.

itere,anew, afresh, again.

okazione (di),apropos (of).

oportune,by the way, by the bye.

The word but can be (1) a conjunction, joining two statements; (2) a preposition, before a noun or a pronoun in the objective case in English; (3) an adverb, explaining a verb, an adjective, or another adverb; (4) a pronoun, subject of a verb; (5) a verb; expressing an action; (6) a noun, expressing a thing done:

(1) I like peas, but I do not like beans → Me prizas pizi, ma me ne prizas fazeoli.

(2) All but him liked it → Omni ecepte il prizis ol.

(3) I had but one friend → Me havis nur un amiko.

(4) There is no one but loves her → Nulu esas qua ne amas el.

(5,6) But me no buts → Ne opozez a me kontre-dici.

The word ever may mean (1) all time, always; (2) at any time:

(1) The Maple-leaf for ever → La acer-folio por sempre.

� I shall love you for ever → Me amos vu sempre, sempre.

(2) If he ever comes, � → Se il ul-tempe venos, �

Ever, in compound words like whenever, wherever, whoever, is translated irge, irga, etc.:

� Do whatever you like → Facez irgo quon vu volas.

� Whatever might be his anger, � → Irga quala (or, quanta) esas ilua iraco�

� Whoever they may be, � → Irge qui li esas, �

� Whenever I hear the birds singing, � → Irga kande me audas la uceli kantar�

� Whichever is here, � → Irga qua esas hike,

� Give me anything whatever → Donez a me irgo.

� Let it be ever so small → Irge quante mikra ol esos, �

� We have bought ever such a tiny cottage → Ni kompris tote mikra rurdometo.

The word just can be (1) an adjective meaning correct, translated justa; (3) an adverb meaning the moment before now translated jus; (4) an adverb meaning the moment now coming, translated quik; (5) an adverb meaning exactly, translated exakte, juste:

(1) He made a very just remark → Il facis tre justa remarko.

(2) Be just and fear not → Esez yusta e ne timez.

(3) She has just come → El jus arivis.

(4) She is just coming → El esas nun venanta (quik venonta).

� I will just do it, and then I am ready → Me quik facos lo, e lore me esos pronta.

(5) It�s just the thing I want → Ol esas juste to quon me deziras.

Both, as a pronoun, is translated we two, they two, the two: as an adverb, at the same time together; or, in many cases, by the use of also:

� They both went to the station → Li du iris a la staciono.

� We were both agreed → Ni du konkordis.

� Both the men were drunk → Omna du viri esis ebria.

� Both I and my brother think so → Me ed anke mea frato opinionis tale.

� All the tourists were both hungry and thirsty → Omna turisti sam-tempe hungris e durstis.

� The address was both on the paper and on the envelope → La adreso esis sur la papero ed anke sur la kuverto.

Generally speaking, the English order of words is the clearest, since English, having few inflexions, has to arrange its words logically, subject, verb, object:

� Me amas il, I love him.

The adjective (if there is only one, and not too long) is better placed before the noun:

� Longa voyo, A long way.

(Voyo longa would, of course, also be correct).

Adverbs are also normally placed before the word they modify:

� Il vere dicis, ke il tote komprenas.

The adverbs ne and tre must always be placed before their word:

� Me tre amas il, I like him very much.

� Ne tote, Not entirely (= not quite).

� Tote ne, entirely not (= not at all).

Any noun, adjective, or pronoun can be made an accusative, but only when it is the direct object of a verb and placed before the subject. This is done by adding an -n:

� A fine story, he told me! Bela rakonton il facis a me!

� It was they that I called, Lin me vokis.

The pronouns il, el, ol, are abbreviations for ilu, elu, olu, and their accusatives would be ilun, elun, olun:

� Elun me tante amis! She it was whom I loved so!

But the accusative is not necessary, if the object is preceded by the subject:

� Me li vidis, I saw them (= I saw them).

Nouns can be united as in English to do away with a preposition:

� A tea-cup (= a cup for tea), te-taso (= taso por teo).

� A steam-ship, vapor-navo.

The -o- between the words depends on the euphony: skribo-tablo or skrib-tablo, but tablo-tuko (not tabl-tuko). The hyphen is often better inserted:

� fervoyo-vagono (rather than fervoyovagono).

When the compound is formed with adjectives or adverbs, it may be useful to write the termination:

� English-speaking people, Angle-parolanti.

� Sky-blue, Ciel-blua.

� Sunburnt, Sun-brulita.

� A dark-eyed, curly-headed little boy, Nigr-okula loklo-hara pueruleto.

Compound words formed with prepositions take the preposition first and remain in the same order as in English:

� sub-tera, subterranean.

Such compound words do not require the usual affixes, as the relation is expressed by the preposition:

� nacion-al-a, national.

� inter-nacion-a, international.

Again

� natur-al-a natural.

� super-natur-a supernatural.

In compound words formed by a preposition and a verb, care should be taken not to let the compound form alter the object of the verb. For instance:

� Me vidas la stoni di la fundo tra la aquo,

� I see the stones at the bottom through the water.

becomes as a compound:

� Me tra-vidas la stoni di la fundo, en la aquo (not: me travidas la aquo).

The adjective travidebla, therefore, cannot mean transparent; it only applies to the stones, and means visible through (the water). (The word transparent is diafana: Stoni travidebla tra diafana aquo).

Many verbs, in the L.I. as in English, can be transitive or intransitive:

� Mea laboro komencas, duras, cesas (intransitive);

� Me komencas, duras, cesas mea laboro or laborar (transitive).

The following are used without a subject, and are followed by an infinitive:

oportas = it is necessary.

importas = it is important.

konvenas = it is convenient.

decas = it is proper.

suficas = it is sufficient.

� Oportas levar ni frue morge,

� It is necessary to raise ourselves early tomorrow (= We must get up early tomorrow).

Other impersonal verbs can be formed by the use of esar with an adjective:

� Esas utila vakuigar la barelo,

� It is useful to empty the barrel.

The logical relation of words must be strictly adhered to in derivation. We cannot, for example, derive the verb to address, from the noun address, except by means of the affix -iz, to cover with:

� adres-o, adres-iz-ar.

We cannot derive the verb to brush, from brush; the root is the verb of action, brosar, and the noun broso can only mean the act of brushing; a brush requires the affix of instrument -il: bros-il-o.

But in addition to the affixes that can only be affixes, many roots are used as affixes, forming then a kind of compound word. Thus the root ag- of the verb meaning to act, do, wield, is used with many names of instruments, when it was necessary to take the instrument as the first root; e.g. we say a hammer, to hammer, the second being evidently derived from the first. We therefore have to use the root -agar to play the part of an affix:

� Martel-o, martel-agar, or martel-uzar.

This verb, meaning to hammer, is a transitive verb, that can be followed by an object.

� Il martel-agis la pikturo, He hammered (at) the picture.

In the same way we have:

� klef-agar, to lock;

� buton-agar, to button;

� fren-agar, to apply the brake;

� pedal-agar, to pedal.

In addressing noble persons, etc., the word Sinior(ul)o (or Siniorino) is used, and if necessary followed by the name of the dignity:

� Sinioro Rejo, me humile pregas�

� Sinioro Episkopo di London.

� Siniorino Komto (The Countess�)

� Yes, Sinioro, Yes, your Honor, your Worship.

The final a of la and of adjectives, particularly derived adjectives in -al, may be dropped when no confusion in sense can arise

� il parolis a l�infanto.

� la nacional sentimento.

The accent remains on the same syllable as if the a was inserted.