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Novial/AIL Infinitive and Imperative

Infinitive and Imperative
In the infinitive many constructed languages take the ending -r or -re from the Romanic languages (in F -er the consonant is now mute); Pirro took -en from D. But there is no necessity to have a separate ending for the infinitive, as shown by such divergent languages as English and Chinese; and we therefore take the simple stem: ama, protekte, mari, konstitu, es. Wherever necessary, we may indicate that it is an infinitive we are using, by prefixing the particle tu (from the spoken form of E to D zu; the form to is wanted as a pronoun): tu lekte stranjeri ligue es plu fasil kam tu parla to read a foreign language is easier than to speak. But no mark is wanted in me voli (desira, intente) lekte, etc.

Tu makes it possible to make the distinction between me prega vu non tu neglekte tum ( = me non prega...) I don't ask you to... and me prega vu tu non neglekte tum I ask you not to neglect that (to not n.).

The imperative needs no special ending; the simple stem is used in many languages (E go! D geh! L duc! etc.). Thus N Veni! Come! In favour of the identity of infinitive and imperative one may adduce such well-known instances as D Rechts gehen! Nicht hinauslehnen! F Voir page 2, etc.

This is simpler than the Occ way of saying ples (from E please) with the infinite "Ples considerar!" - is this form also to be used in an angry command?

From E we may take let: let nus starta (but `he would not let us start' lo non permised a nus tu starta). Let pluva let it rain (qu'il pleuve)! Let on pensa kom on voli let people think as they like (qu'on pense ce qu'on veut)! Wishes are expressed by mey (E, spelt with e on account of maye the month May): mey lo viva longitem!

title: Novial/AIL Infinitive and Imperative


text:
Novial/AIL Present and Past

Present and Past
The simple stem is used further in the present tense: me ama vu; lo protekte nus, etc.

If we look around us in the national languages to find an expression for the past tense (the tense most often used in ordinary conversation, in narratives, etc., and for which it is therefore urgent to find an easily formed and easily used expression), we discover that the Romanic languages are of no use for our purpose, as the formation of their two preterit tenses is not uniform enough to serve as basis for an interlingual formation; the Slavic -l is not sufficiently known in the rest of Europe and in America. But fortunately we find in English, Scandinavian and Dutch an ending which is excellent for our purpose, namely -d in E lived, Dan levede, Sw levade, Dutch leevde, etc. Nor is this far from D -te. Thus from the verbs already mentioned we form the past: amad, protekted, marid, konstitud, esed, an added -e being only necessary between a consonant and the ending -d. Stress as in the infinitive.

By the side of this it is advantageous to have an analytic form for the past, and E did naturally offers itself for this purpose: me did ama, protekte etc. It should not, however, be used with the same emphatic meaning as in present-day English, but rather as often in Elizabethan English, where he did say meant nothing more than he said. Did may be added to two verbs: lo did nek ama ni estima la, and be used by itself: lo ama la, kom lo did sen unesmi marita he loves her as he did his first wife.

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title: Novial/AIL Present and Past


text:
Novial/AIL Future and Conditional

Future and Conditional
For the future and conditional the Romanic languages have forms originally composed of the infinitive (containing an r) and two tenses of L habere; some constructed languages take these forms as a basis, but have some difficulty in choosing the ending that is to follow the r. It will therefore be better here to use auxiliaries followed by the stem, but what auxiliaries to select?

For the future I prefer sal, which is suggested by E shall, Dutch zal, Sc skal, all of them often used with the infinitive to express the future. The worst thing is that to a German it suggests too strongly soll with its meaning of obligation, which is much less present in E shall. Occ has taken va from F; this seems a little strange to express a very remote future as in "the earth will cool down in a few million years"; in N it would also be liable to be misheard for ha (see below), and combinations like la va ja ha fa `she will already have done' are not particularly pleasing. Nor would a form like vil be perfectly adequate, for though it is true that E will and Sc vil are often used to express mere futurity, and though we have voli for `will,' where volition is meant, vil would too easily be taken in many countries to imply volition. So on the whole sal, though not entirely satisfactory, seems the best auxiliary, the more so as we thus avoid having two forms of the same stem for the future and the conditional: two ideas which have nothing to do with one another. Very often the simple present may be used to express futurity, if there if some time-indication like to-morrow in the sentence.

An infinitive of the future is easily formed: me joya tu sal visita vus I am looking forward to. But generally the simple stem suffices, thus after desira, expekta, the proposition por, etc.

For the `conditional' Novial uses the auxiliary vud from E would. It serves to express unreality in conditioned and conditional clauses alike: si lo vud veni, me vud rida if he came (should come) I should laugh.

A synthetic form with the same ending is very handy with the auxiliary verbs povud, volud, esud, devud, where its special sphere of utility is to express the "subjunctive of repression" in modest requests etc. Ob vu povud montra a me la vie a N? Could you show me the way to N? Si vu volud repeti... If you would kindly repeat... Me esud felisi si me povud. Me devud ha dikte I ought to have said. Me volud questiona I should like to ask, etc. But I should not advise the use of this ending with full verbs.

title: Novial/AIL Future and Conditional


text:
Novial/AIL Perfect and Pluperfect

Perfect and Pluperfect
We next come to the perfect and pluperfect. Here all West-European languages (D E F I S Sc) have a combination of forms of the verb have with a participle, as in E I have lost, I had lost. Similarly in Modern Greek. This is historically developed from sentences in which have and the passive participle retain their ordinary meaning: I have found the key at first meant I have (possess) now the key (as) found; but in course of time this meaning was lost sight of, and the construction was analogically extended to cases in which the same analysis is not logically possible: I have lost the key, etc. Now the corresponding construction would not do in a language of the Esp-Ido type, with an adjectival form of the participle and no indefinite article, because a sentence like me havas perdita klefo (or the plural klefi) would easily be misunderstood as meaning 'I have a lost key (some lost keys)' instead of 'I have lost a key (some keys).' Me havas obliviita omno I've forgotten everything, or I have everything (that was) forgotten. This, in connexion with habits from Polish, his mothertongue, made Zamenhof adopt the really more logical expression mi estas perdinta 'I am having-lost', mi estis perdinta 'I was having-lost' for 'I have (had) lost'; estus estinta would have been. This was at first imitated in Ido (me esas perdinta, me esis perdinta), but to a West-European mind these must always seem clumsy roundabout expressions, and therefore most Idists took readily to the new synthetic forms with inserted -ab-, when these were allowed after some years: perdabis 'had lost', perdabos 'shall have lost', perdabus 'should have lost' (Why perdabas 'have lost' was not adopted at the same time, will ever remain a mystery). Similar insertions had already been used by Courtonne (1885): amavam have loved, amavom shall have loved. But though easier to handle after a little practice, these highly synthetic forms are not attractive, especially when combined with the passive infix -es-: perdesabis 'had been lost', perdesabos, etc., and we must therefore look for simpler expressions.

These are found in combinations, in which the West-European forms are imitated in such a way that all ambiguity is avoided, in the first place because the auxiliary used, ha and had, is different from the full verb of possession, have, haved, and secondly because it is not the participle that is used after the auxiliary, but the crude stem: me ha perda klefe, me had perda klefe 'I have (had) lost a key', which is easily distinguished from me have perdat (perdati) klefe, me haved perdat (perdati) klefe 'I have (got) a lost key, I had (got) a lost key'.

It is easy to form further compound tenses by means of these auxiliaries: vu sal ha perda you will have lost, la vud ha veni she would have come. Note also the infinitive: es plu agreabli tu viva kam tu ha viva o tu sal viva.

It may not be superfluous to mention that ha and had must be used with all verbs, also those intransitive verbs which in D and Sc (and to some extent also in E) are combined with the verb be (sein, være) to form their perfect and pluperfect: lo ha veni he has (is) come, er ist gekommen, han er kommen; lo had veni, etc. Me ha es ich bin gewesen.

It is, of course, possible to form participles of the auxiliaries: hant veni having come, salent veni = Ido venonta. These compound forms may be freely used in apposition, but cannot easily be used as adjuncts in the same way as the Esp-Ido forms can, but then they are not often wanted and relative clauses are always handy. For Z la venonta tempo we say li futur(i) tempe.

title: Novial/AIL Perfect and Pluperfect


text:
Novial/AIL Passive

Passive
The passive was in some of the older schemes expressed by means of various prefixes, infixes or suffixes, but is in most schemes nowadays expressed in the same way as it is generally in Romanic languages and English, by means of the auxiliary `be' and the passive participle or participles. The existence of more than one passive participle in Esp-Ido creates some difficulties: what is exactly the difference between esas skribita and esis skribata, between esas skribota and esos skribata - in other words, should the time indication be added to the auxiliary or the main verb? There are here subtle shades of meaning which bewilder even clear-headed interlinguists. Further, does the combination esis skribita with its double indication of the past mean pluperfect, or can it be used as a translation of F a été écrit, because esis = `a été' and écrit generally = skribita (what has been written)? Couturat somewhere gives me esis konvinkita as a rendering of D ich bin überzeugt worden, but in another place writes "ta sistemo esis examenata e diskusata" with -ata, though it means practically the same tense.

All these systems are deficient, because they do no recognize the important distinction between a passive of becoming and a passive of being; the auxiliary which according to its original meaning applies only to the latter, is used also for the former, which indicates a change of state, while the passive of being denotes the state itself. (Cp. my Philos. of Grammar, pp. 272 ff. and Modern English Grammar, vol. iii, chs. xvii and xviii, especially p.389.) The languages mentioned above have the same usage, but there is in some of them a tendency to use a different auxiliary for the passive of becoming, E get (or become), I vengo. The distinction is carried through in D ich werde überzeugt and ich bin überzeugt, Dan jeg bliver (blir) overbeviist and jeg er overbeviist.

From the Scandinavian languages N takes the auxiliary bli (preterit blid for the passive of becoming, and combines it with the stem-form of the verb; the passive of being is naturally expressed by es and the passive participle.

We shall now proceed to examples which will show the importance of the distinction. Li porte non es klosat nun; lum bli klosa chaki vespre e sal anke bli klosa dis vespre the door is not shut now; it is closed every evening and will also be shut this evening. Me bli nultem konvikte per lon argumentes I am never (I never get) convinced by his arguments. Me es konviket ke lo es mentiere I am convinced that he is a liar. La es sepultet in Croydon; ob lan marito sal bli sepulte anke dar? She is (lies) buried at C.; is her husband also to be buried there? Lon libres blid venda in grandi nombre His books were sold in great numbers. Ti libre es vendat = ha bli venda. Tum kel non bli fa disdi, morge non es fat (morge non sal es fat): was heute nicht getan wird, ist morgen nicht getan. Li spenses kel non es pagat (kel non ha bli paga) sal bli paga in novembre.

With "non-conclusive" verbs (verbs which denote an activity that is not begun in order to be finished) the distinction is unimportant and we may say that bli ama = es amat, similarly with verbs like hate, praise, blame, admire, see, hear.

The participle in -t has up til now been called the passive participle, and that is its principal use. But there are cases in which it may be used as an active participle of the past (perfect), thus corresponding to Esp -inta. This may be justified by a reference to those verbs that are used both transitively and intransitively: chanjat, komensat, finat may mean both `that has been changed, begun, ended' and in analogy with these we may use morit = `dead' (that has died), li falat arbre the fallen tree, li pasat tempe (li pasatum) the past. But the cases where such forms are needed are not numerous. (D der gewesene soldat = ex-soldato.)

title: Novial/AIL Passive


text:
Novial/AIL Indirect Speech

Indirect Speech
A word must here be said about the shifting of tenses found in many national languages in indirect speech. (Philos. of Grammar, pp. 292 ff.) Corresponding to

1. I am ill 2. I have not yet seen her 3. I shall soon see her 4. I shall have finished by noon

we use shifted tenses in indirect speech:

1. He said that he was ill 2. he had not seen her yet 3. he should soon see her 4. he should have finished by noon

This shifting of the tenses is very natural and in many cases seems inevitable: "He told me that he was ill, but now he is all right." From these cases it is extended to cases in which it is not thus justified logically, but only psychologically: "I didn't know who he was." In Russian the rule is carried through that indirect speech uses the same tense as would have been used in direct speech: the sentence (1) quoted above would thus have been: He said that he is ill, and correspondingly in the other sentences. Now this rule was transferred by Z to Esp, and from Esp taken over into Ido, one of the reasons being probably that otherwise it would have been necessary to create a new tense for the shifted future in (3). English here uses the same form as in unreal conditional clauses, and the same is true of French, where "il disait qu'il écrirait le plus tôt possible" corresponds to "j'écrirai le plus tôt possible" of the direct speech, thus with the same form as the conditional "j'écrirais si je savais son adresse."

Now in Novial there is no necessity to follow the Russian rule, and we can easily form the shifted future missing in Esp-Ido, by adding -ed to the auxiliary sal: saled. The sentences given above are thus translated:

1. Lo dikted ke lo esed malad 2. lo had non ankore vida la  3. lo saled bald vida la   4. lo saled ha fina ante medidi

We even may form a shifted conditional not found in our languages, by means of vuded.

title: Novial/AIL Indirect Speech


text:
Novial/AIL Verbal System

Verbal System
Finally I shall give a survey of the chief parts of the Novial verbal system.

The most composite of these expressions will not occur very frequently in actual speech, but are given here solely for the sake of completeness.

I may here call attention to an advantage springing from the invariable use of the simple stem-form, namely the possibility of such combinations as these: me non ha e non sal responda I have not answered and shall not answer. Ob vu ha manja? Have you eaten? No, non ankore, ma men fratre ha ja e me sal bald, No, not yet, but my brother has eaten, and I shall soon. In E it is generally looked upon as incorrect to write, as Byron does in a letter: "I have not and shall not answer ... whatever I may, or have, or shall fell." In Novial such constructions are easy enough, as are also combinations like Me ama la kom me ha men matra e kom me sal men filies, I love her as I have my mother and shall my children.

It has been objected to my extensive use of the unchanged stem that combinations like "me ha lekte e studia" and "lo bli ama e adora" are ambiguous, because the second verb may be taken either as dependent on the auxiliary or as a present. This looks more dangerous in theory than it is in practice, as will appear from a comparison with English, where put is just as ambiguous: "I shall read and put back the book" and "I have read and put back the book" (the two different pronunciations of read have no bearing on our question). In both sentences shall and have will naturally be taken as governing both verbs, and the same is true of "I shall read the book and put it back" and "I have read the book and put it back," although the distance from the auxiliary is greater. If a speaker or writer wants the second verb to be taken as an independent present, he will naturally show this either by inserting now (nun) or else by repeating the pronoun:"Me ha (sal) lekte li libre e nun retroposi lum." Thus also "Me ha omnitem estima e nun ama lo. Me ha lekte e me studia lon libres kun intereso." The other sentence "Lo bli ama e adora" cannot be misunderstood, for if it is to be taken as meaning "he is loved and adores" a continuation with an object is naturally required, and "lo bli ama e adora sen fratres" cannot be misunderstood. (Here "lo bli ama da omnes e ..." is more natural than the bare verb.) "Lo ha bli konverte e kreda a Deo" - likewise unambiguous; and thus we see that the use of the stem without endings creates no difficulties worth speaking of in natural sentences - and language is only meant for such.

I had at first thought of using vird from D as auxiliary of the passive, but changed my mind, though bli is familiar to fewer people than vird, because I was afraid of misunderstandings arising from the active use of D wird: lo vird vida could easily be understood as `er wird sehen' instead of `er wird gesehen.'

The Ido synthetic forms videsas, videsis, videsos, etc., are not good, because the most important element, that which should show the passive, is eliminated, and only the empty verb `be' is included. There are further difficulties with the verbal noun in -eso: as vinkeso means `being beaten,' but richeso `being rich,' we should, according to the principle of "réversibilité," be justified in inferring a form vinka = `beaten,' which of course is absurd. Again, as profetesar means `to prophesy' and is a transitive verb, we are allowed to form profetesesas = is prophesied (N bli profetira). On the whole the synthetic forms of Ido are often cumbersome: it is possible to form such passives as naturaligesabis, elektrizadesabos, which are not far from outdoing certain Volapük formations.

The chief differences between the Esp-Ido system and ours are (1) that in Novial the elements are separate words, in Esp-Ido inseparable word-elements: it is true that Z claimed that each of his suffixes, etc., was independent and separable (which leads to the curious use of suffixes like inda and igi as words in themselves), but this is not true of the verbal endings as, is, u, i etc. The separability of our auxiliaries is shown by the possibility of inserting adverbs, etc.: le ha non vida; le sal unesmim veni e aftru parla kun nus. (2) The arrangement of the elements, which naturally is exactly the inverse: vid-ab-os = sal ha vida.

Latino sine flexione and Occ have some analytic verbal forms somewhat similar in function to ours, but not very well chosen. Peano thus with his usual preoccupation with etymology uses the Aryan augment e for the preterit, without thinking that this element disappeared from most of our languages a couple of thousand years ago: he has not discovered that what we want in an international language is what is still living and in actual use; for the future he uses i, also an old Aryan root, but never, so far as I know, used in any language by itself to signify future time. Occ has fe for the past: though this is the present tense of a F verb which is never used in that sense, he supports his choice by a reference to E did: why not then take that form ready-made? For the future he has va, from the F, and for conditional vell, probably from L vellem.

title: Novial/AIL Verbal System


text:
Novial/AIL Prefixes

Prefixes
Some of the Novial prefixes are simply prepositions, and will be treated under that heading. It is well worth noting, that in accordance with other IALs Novial has the form kun for the proposition 'with' in order to avoid conflicts with the great many international words beginning with con-, com-, or cor-, in which the meaning of 'with' is completely or nearly obliterated. By the side of the preposition ante, rarely used as a prefix, we have the prefix PRE-, which is of a wider application: previda foresee, prenome Christian (first) name, prehistorie, presavo foreknowledge, prepaga prepay, prelasti last but one, preyer the day before yesterday.

By the side of konter- international usage necessitates a certain number of words with the Greek ANTI-: antimilitariste, antialkoholisme, antisemito (-ido), etc., chiefly in technical and learned words.

The most general negative prefix is NON-, which is simply the adverb for 'not' preposed: nonexistant, nonposibli impossible, nonreal unreal, nonvidabli invisible, nonsavo ignorance, etc.

It would create unnecessary difficulties if instead of this perfectly clear and unmistakable prefix non- we were to take the L in-, which in so many words is used in a totally different meaning (from the preposition in). Occ commits this mistake, but it necessitates the rule that this in is to be provided with an accent, and the express warning that it must not be confounded with the other (unstressed) in, thus ínscrit = N nonskriptet, inscrít = enskriptet; inhabitabil with different accent means habitable and uninhabitable. If in- is taken as a negative prefix, we may just as well have it in the four forms found in national languages, in-, im-, il-, and ir-; but that would be both impossible, immoral, and irrational in a rational international language.

DES- is different from non through denoting the direct opposite: nonutili is not-useful, i.e. useless, desutili would be hurtful; desagreabli, desavantaje, desorganisa, desaproba, descharja discharge, desobedia disobey, desfasil difficult, desquieti anxious, etc.

DIS- implies a totally different notion, though the two have found the same form in E: it means dispersion or separation: disdona distribute, give promiscuously to several people, dissenda send in different directions, distrancha carve. (Instead of dis-solu we say disolu.)

MIS- (E D Sc, F mé-) is used with verbs to denote 'wrongly': mispronuntia, miskomrenda misunderstand, misdukte lead astray, miskalkula, etc.

MAL- as a prefix corresponds both to the adjective mal(i) bad and the adverb malim badly: malodoro stink, maledukat ill-bred, malformat ill-shaped, malhumorosi ill-tempered, malfamosi ill-famed, etc.

PAR- denotes perfect or thorough action: parlerna learn perfectly, parlekte read thoroughly, read to the very end, while tralekte means simply read through, which may be done cursorily.

RI- implies repetition or restoration; while the original meaning of L re- is often lost in words beginning with re-, this ri- is used where E has the full long vowel (as in re-cover, re-form distinct from recover, reform): rielekte re-elect, ridona give again, riskripte write again, etc. Ri may be used also as a separate adverb: me have ri li plesire I have again the pleasure.

RETRO- back(wards), inverse action: retrotira retire, retroseda cede back, restore, retrodukte lead back; li lege non have retroaktiv efekto.

MI- corresponds to duimi(m) half: mihore half-hour, milume twilight, miklosat half-closed.

BO- indicates relation by marriage: bopatro father-in-law, bofilia, etc. Different from stif- = E step: stifmatra, etc.

EX- is used as in most European languages for 'late, former, retired': exrego, exprofesoro.

ARKI- corresponds to E arch-: arkiepiskopo archbishop, arkianjele archanjele archangel, arki-diakono, -duko.

PSEUDO- is taken from Greek like the preceding, and like it used in many living languages: pseudoprojeto, pseudofilosofo, pseudosientiali, etc.

title: Novial/AIL Prefixes


text:
Novial/AIL Substantival Suffixes

Substantival Suffixes
The formation of substantives from verbs and vice versa has given rise to a great many controversies among interlinguists, particularly between Couturat on the one hand and the defenders of the Esperanto system de Saussure and Aymonier on the other hand. Much of the dust raised in these discussions might, however, have been avoided had it not been for the curious fact that both sides agreed in taking one important point for granted, namely that all substantives, whether derived from verbs or not, must necessarily end in -o as decreed by Zamenhof. Hence all their difficulties, and their one point of agreement was really through the irony of fate the reason why they had to disagree so fundamentally. As we shall see, some of their chief difficulties disappear as soon as we give up that dogma and admit other endings in substantives. But that does not mean giving up all and any distinctive endings, only these should not serve to mark parts of speech as such, but be used as real derivative or formative elements.

The first of these endings is in Novial the same as in Esp and Ido, namely -o, but in our system it serves to denote substantives immediately derived from or connected with a verb and meaning the simple act or state denoted by the verb (nexus-substantives). In this function the ending is not entirely a priori, being found in Italian and Spanish in some substantives of that class, corresponding to verbs in -are -ar, e.g. I uso, gusto, voto, guasto, bacio, bagno, etc., corresponding to usare, etc.

The simplest case is that in which we have only one substantive, namely the verbal substantive in -o. In most corresponding words English does not distinguish the infinite from the substantive in form.

The verb may end in -a; thus we have a/o-words, e.g. sonja/o dream, basia/o kiss, marcha/o, promena/o walk, komensa/o begin, plora/o weep, pena/o take the trouble, odora/o smell, aranja/o, kalkula/o, desira/o, riska/o, espera/o hope, klosa/o, revela/o, duta/o doubt, judika judge, judiko judgement, helpa/o, fala/o fall.

Next we have verbs in -e, sb in -o, e/o-words: respekte respekto; inspekte/o, reflekte/o, introdukte/o, sugeste/o, diskuse/o, opine/o think, have an opinion, atrakte/o, neglekte/o.

While in the classes treated so far the final vowel of the verb (a, e) disappears before -o, we must keep i and u when we derive substantives in -o; thuse we have i/io-words and u/uo-words: aboli abolish, abolio the act of abolishing, demoli/io, puni/io, nutri/io, establi/io, defini/io, mari/io, expedi/io, suposi/io, komposi/io, disposi/io, edi/io, edit, editing, senti/io feel, veni/io come, dormi/io sleep.

Distribu distribute, distribuo distributing, kontribu/uo, konstitu/uo, restitu/uo, substitu/uo, evolu/uo, revu/uo, intervu/uo, solu/uo solve, the act of solving, resolu/uo, disolu/uo, absolu/uo, polu/uo pollute, -ing, diminu/uo, distribu/uo, perseku/uo, proseku/uo.

Somewhat more complicated are those cases in which we have first a substantive in -e, then a verb derived from it and ending in -a, and finally a verbal substantive formed in the usual way in -o. These e/a/o-words constitute a most important class in N, and we must give a great many examples.

In numerous words the original sb means an instrument, and the verb the natural use made of that instrument: thus brose a brush, brosa to brush (I brush, etc.), broso the simple act of brushing (as in "my hat wants a brush"). In the same way: texe loom, texa weave, mile mill, mila grind, skrue screw, berse cradle, bersa rock, -o, klefe key, -a lock, -o, mesure measure (tape or yard for measuring), -a vb, mesuro measurement, katene chain, venene venom, poison, parfume, spise spice, telefone, kovre cover, veste article of clothing, violine (-o play on the v.), flute, bisikle.

Further examples of e/a/o-words: Rule roll (e.g. of paper, F rouleau), vb rula; vbsb rulo (E roll, rolling, F roulement, D das rollen). For the first sb Ido-dictionaries have rulilo, rulbloko, rulajo--rather unnatural formations. The word rule should be kept distinct from role, F rôle--etymologically the same word.

Glue/a/o; fume/a/o smoke (the latter the act of smoking; I want a smoke after dinner); ombre/a/o shade; grupe/a/o; folie leaf, folia turn over the leaves, folio (which may also be kept as a technical term for one format); plase/a/o place; parte part, parta divide, share; drinke; kolore (kolorates = coloured people), forme, fabrike manufactory; makule stain, limite, eforte, karese, dekrete, argumente, komplimente, note, adrese (li letre es adresat a vu; not in all the meanings of E address), honore, dolore pain, questione, funktione, date, motive, pause, nombre, nome, plante.

Kante song, -a sing, -o singing, danse/a/o, konsilie advice, kritike criticism, critique. Rakonte story: li rakonte perdad kelkum in li rakonto, the tale lost in the telling.

Vote: in li voto (kand on vota), li presidente have du votes. Kopie copy, kopia, kopio copying.

Nive snow (what falls or has fallen), niva vb, nivo snowing, snowy weather; correspondingly grele/a/o hail, pluve/a/o rain.

Sange blood, sanga bleed, sango bleeding; spute/a/o spit, sudore/a/o sweat, urine/a/o. Gute drop, -a drip, trickle, -o; milke, milka to milk, milko milking.

There can be no conflict between this non-personal way of using the three endings e/a/o and the use of the endings e/o/a to denote common sex, male and female in the case of living beings, for the two classes of words are easily kept apart by their natural meanings and there is no occasion to derive verbs in -a immediately from words denoting living beings. We see the difference most clearly, perhaps, when we observe that one and the same stem may in national languages be used in two ways: words in -grafe mean persons, when there is no apparatus or instrument: geografe, etnografe (-o, -a, if sex is insisted upon)--but if there is an apparatus called in this way, the word belongs to the non-personal class: telegrafe (the apparatus), telegrafa vb, telegrafo telegraphing, and then of course telegrafere (-o, -a) or telegrafiste (-o, -a) to indicate the operator. In both cases we have derivatives in -ia for the science or art: geografia, telegrafia. (But this definition does not assist us in all cases: stenografa vb, -grafo the act, -grafere or -iste; biografa and ortografa in the same way, to write the biography of or to write orthographically; with bibliografia, -iiste there seems to be no necessity for a word in -grafe or -a; autografi adj, with -fum.)

The formation of verbs from substantives by the simple substitution of -a for the final vowel should not be tolerated except where there cannot be the slightest doubt as to the meaning of the verb thus created. In a language destines to be understood easily by people with the most diverging linguistic habits in their mother-tongues, all those idiomatic usages should be avoided which abound in all national languages with regard to verbs derived from substantives. We must therefore admit only such obvious formations as those instanced above, but should be afraid of such formations as those in E to stone (1) kill by means of stones, (2) free fruit from stones, or to wing (1) provide with wings, (2) wound in the wing; cf. also D kalben to calve, but ochsen to work like an ox. Where the meaning is clearly to provide with, the suffix -isa should be used (see Verbal Suffixes), thus armisa arm, D bewaffnen. (For if we said arma, parallelism with brosa, etc., would rather suggest the meaning 'use weapons against'.) Kronisa from krone 'crown' would therefore seem correct for 'to crown' (with kroniso coronation), but it must be admitted that 'to provide with a crown' is no fully adequate description of a coronation, and the formation krona with vbsb krono is less dangerous in our system than in Ido. Anyhow the system does not tolerate immediate verbal formations in -a from words denoting human beings, if only because with them -a is the mark of feminine sex; thus we can have no rega = to be king or rule.

It is claimed that this system is both clearer and more natural than those of Esp and Ido. Couturat felt that the free and easy way in which Esp formed sbs from vbs, and inversely, was wanting in precision, and therefore devised a series of new endings, some of them taken naturally enough from existing languages; he also restricted the field of "immediate derivation" by very severe rules. But he did not see clearly enough that his set of endings were not numerous enough to do justice to the infinite variety of human life and speech, and some of his formations are cumbrous and unnatural. As the relation of a key to the act of locking cannot be expressed by immediate derivation according to his system, he must either take klefar as the verb: then klefo is locking and klefilo a key (thus in the first edition) - or else start from klefo key, then 'to lock' is klefagar and 'locking' klefago (thus later). It is in many cases purely arbitrary, whether we start from the verb or from the name of the instrument, and Idists are hard put to it to remember whether a brush is broso or brosilo and to brush brosagar or brosar. The suffix -agar seems to vague in many words (martelagar as a transitive verb), and on the other hand -izar 'to supply with' seems often wrong: ombrizar to shade, motivizar state the motives of; it may be all right to derive nomizar from nomo name and give it the meaning "donner un nom à", but if nomar is then defined as "dire le nom de quelqu'un", it seems wrong to have the simple nomo, for the name and the act of saying the name are not identical. The suffix -ifar is also used curiously, for sangifar to bleed is not on a par with panifar to make bread. In writing Ido one is constantly confronted with the problem: am I here logical justified in using the immediate formation, or should I use a suffix and which? Skribo, skriburo, skribajo; vundo, vunduro; rezulto, rezultajo; impedo, impedivo, impedilo; edito, edituro, editado; grupar, grupifar, grupigar, grupizar. . .; which is it to be? For mill the dictionaries give muelilo, mueleyo, muelerio, mueldomo: the starting-point is muelar grind. For the sb milk we find lakto, for the vb another root melkar from D.

But if Ido's rules are too strict, those of Esp are undoubtedly too lax, as they allow any substantive to be made into a verb simply by changing the ending, and vice versa, without taking the meaning into account; each writer may thus follow the practice of his native language or his own individual fancy. Further, if from krono sb we form kroni vb to crown, what are we to do with the verbal sb coronation? Krono would be parallel to admiro for admiration and a hundred others, but of course one and the same form cannot be allowed to mean both crown and coronation. So Esperantists take the form kronado, in spite of the fact that the suffix -ad- otherwise indicates the repeated or lasting verbal action: kronado thus should mean a repeated or lasting coronation. Or else, if -ad- is allowed to mean verbal action without the notion of repetition, kronado is correct for coronation, but then we miss a suffix for repeated action. Esp theorists admit -ad- in both meanings, but if kronado is coronation, it would seem necessary to admit the possibility of having kronadado for repeated coronation, bearing the same relation to kronado as pafado to pafo shooting. It seems contrary to Z's ordinary practice to admit -ad- in the two senses. Anyhow we get out of all these dilemmas by not requiring -o in all substantives.

To form so-called "abstracts" (i.e. in my terminology predicative nexus-words) from adjectives we use the suffix -ESO, because Couturat is right: goodness means really 'the fact of being good'. This eso is thus the verbal sb belonging to es, but it may also be considered as a reflex of the suffix found in F rich-esse (E riches), faiblesse, etc. Thus richeso, febleso, vereso truth, utileso utility, blindeso, etc. Note that in national languages such words often acquire a concrete meaning: this should not be imitated, and verum and vereso should be kept distinct, see Neuter. The suffix -eso may be added to a passive participle: li venkateso de Napoleon da Wellington = li venko de Wellington super N. (defeat-victory).

Where one suffix suffices, Occ has several: altess, veritá, libertá, longore, maladie, coquetterie. No rules are given, nor can any be given, except this: first learn a few national languages, then you know from them which suffix to use. And even then the learner may hesitate, for to F longueur (whence longore) corresponds I lunghezza with the same suffix that leads to altess. Or is each Occidentalist free in every particular case to select the ending that pleases him best?

The simple -o is not the only suffix needed in our IAL to form substantives from verbs; another one is found very frequently in international words, namely the suffix in E opin-ion, admire-at-ion, defin-it-ion, sol-ut-ion. In order to obtain the forms best known in the civilized world, the rule in N is that the suffix -IONE takes the form

-atione if the verb ends in -a, -itione if the verb ends in -i, and -utione if the verb ends in -u.

This rule may also be stated in this way that -ione is added to the passive participle of all verbs except those ending in -e, in which -ione instead of the final -e. Examples: opine: opinione; diskuse: diskusione; satisfakte: satisfaktione; forma: formatione; isola: isolatione; expedi: expeditione; puni: punitione; evolu: evolutione; diminu: diminutione.

As for the meaning of the words formed in -ione, they do not like those in -o denote simply the action of the verb, but partly the result (as a whole) or the resulting state, partly the way or manner in which something is done: komunikatione, ilustratione, institutione, fortifikatione, explikatione, opinione, edukatione, rekreatione, modifikatione, konstruktione, inventione, etc. "Li letres es in lon posesione": here it would not be natural to say poseso (the act of possessing). "Lo okupad se longitem per li soluo del probleme e finalim trovad li korekte solutione." It is possible to distinguish between expedio (the sending off) and expeditione, dediko and dedikatione (the words through which li dediko is expressed).

"After multi-yari kolekto (kolektado) lo have nun belisi kolektione de piktures." "After pluri definios lo finalim arivad al sekuenti definitione." Aditione, subtraktione, multiplikatione, divisione are four branches of arithmetic; adio the (single) act of adding.

Sometimes the international usage has fixed one particular meaning on the -ion words, which is not always easy to define, but which generally is more complex than the mere -o-meaning: "per li siviliso de barbares on ofte dona a les nur li mali partes del sivilisatione." We speak of giving satisfaction and therefore say dona satisfaktione: it would not be natural to say dona satisfakto, for give the act of satisfying has no proper sense. Compare also polutione and koruptione with poluo and korupto; konvikto is the action of converying a konviktione to someone else. While lekto is 'reading' (me lekte I read), lektione means lesson or lecture.

Some words in -ione are taken over in N ready-made without any corresponding verb from which they can be derived according to these rules, e.g. okasione, emotione, sektione, funktione--some of these are themselves starting-points for new formations (vb -a). The same is the case to some extent in Ido, which has not -iono or -ationo as derivative suffix, but which has a certain number of words in -iono besides some in -aco, vb -acar, taken from national-language words in -ation in half-Russian dress, due to Zamenhof: formaco from formation (R formatsia), operaco, naraco; similarly atenco (= N atentione from atente). In other cases Ido has changed Esp -io into -iono: naciono, profesiono, prepoziciono, but without consistency: religio, ambicio. Esp as usual is even less consistent: by the side of nacio, misio, etc., it has kondicxo, okazo, and even haladzo exhalation (!).

Note that sometimes E -ion has a different meaning: precision is N presiseso.

When the product of the action is specially meant, as distinct from the way in which it is done, the ending should not be -ione, but -um added to the passive participle: fabrikatum manufactured article, kreatum, kontributum, printatum printed matter, trovatum a find, kopiatum a thing copied (distinct from kopie the copy). Cf. Neuter, on plural in -us.

Ido has the suffix -uro joined to verbal roots to denote the result or product as distinct from the act itself. We take this in the form -URE, but its use in N is much more restricted, because in many cases either the original word in -e or else a neuter participle suffices, as just remarked. But in the following cases the use of -ure is legitimate: pikture, painting, a (painted) picture, skulpture piece of sculpture, inventure, fotografure photo (while the thing photographed is fotografatum), texure thing woven.

To form names of persons occupied in some sort there are two international suffixes -ERE (D E Sc -er, F -eur)--representing also L -or and its equivalents in modern languages--and -ISTE, both of course with the sex-forms -a, -o. The former -ere is more general in its application and is used, e.g., in bakere, akompanere, charmere, rakontere, redaktere, judikere judge, ambasadere, juvelere, bankere, misionere, etc. The suffix is used also for animals and certain plants: reptere reptile, rodere rodent, klimere climbing plant. In most, but not all, cases we have a verb from which the -ere word is derived.

The second suffix, -iste, serves chiefly to form words from other substantives; it is used exclusively for human beings, in the first place for adherents of a doctrine, a system, or a party, thus generally corresponding to a word in -isme: ateiste, sosialiste, idealiste, metodiste, monarkiste, etc. Then it is used of those occupied in certain professions or sciences: artiste, dentiste, okuliste, logikiste, sientiste, spesialiste. Kantiste may be used for a professional singer, kantere for an amateur, but this distinction cannot be carried through, and in some cases the two suffixes may be used indiscriminately.

-ISME ateisme, etc.

As a variant of -ere we may consider -IERE, which is used to denote a person or thing characterized by a certain object or considered as its bearer: kurasiere, rentiere man of private means, pomiere apple-tree, sigariere cigar-holder, kandeliere candlestick. Milioniera female millionaire.

-ARIE denotes the recipient of an action, the person for whom something is destined: sendarie addressee, pagarie payee (-o, -a).

-ILO, an Esp suffix taken from certain Slavic words like pravilo rudder, combined with D schlüss-el key, from schliessen shut, E gird-le; it is used to denote a tool or instrument for doing what is indicated by a verb: skriptilo any kind of writing instrument, ludilo plaything, sondilo sounding-line, probe, komunikilo means of communicating, ornilo ornament.

Note that our e/a/o-words make it possible to have simpler forms for many Esp and Ido ilo-words; in N -ilo is used only where it is absolutely necessary to start from the verb. Note also the technical words in -tor with the same meaning: transformatore, motore, traktore, ventilatore; these, however, do not justify a Novial suffix -ore or -tore to be added to any stem, as these words are too special.

-IA denotes the domain, province, or country of someone. It is used for the names of countries: Anglia England (Angle Englishman or -woman), Fransia, Rusia; in some cases the name is formed from the name of a town: Luxemburgia from Luxembourg, Aljeria from Alger (and some names with this ending must be taken as non-derived for our purposes: Austria, Australia, whence the inhabitant -iane). Further, patria native country, and from emperero emperor, rego king, duko duke, episkopo bishop we form the words empereria empire, regia kingdom, dukia duchy, episkopia diocese, etc. A further application is seen when from words like filosofe, geologe, astronome, anatome, we form words for the spiritual domain of these men, i.e. their sciences: filosofia, geologia, astronomia, anatomia, etc. From printere printer, lavere launder, chapelere hatmaker, we form printeria printing-office, laveria laundry, chapeleria hat factory, etc. And finally from such a word as pomiere apple-tree we may form pomieria apple-orchard. Cf. kompania, Consonants above.

-TORIE place where something is done: laboratorie, lavatorie, observatorie, dormitorie, auditorie. (Sanatorie should properly be sanisatorie.) Koquatorie kitchen.

-AJE something made of, consisting of, having the character of: lanaje woollen goods, lignaje woodwork, infantaje childish act (F enfantillage), plantaje plantation (F D plantage), boskaje boscage, plumaje plumage, kruelage (act of) cruelty.

Idists will please notice that this suffix does not cover their -ajo, which is mostly expressed by our -um: grasum, komunikatum, komunikendum.

-EDE, a kind of combination of F -ée (cuillerée spoonful) and S -ada (cucharada), is used to denote the quantity which fills something: kulierede, manuede handful, bokede mouthful.

-ARO a modification of the suffix L -arium (herbarium), I S -ario, F -aire (vocabulaire), E -ary (glossary) to denote a collection, group, set of things or person; it is generally a comprehensive term: homaro mankind, formularo comprehensive formulary, vortaro the whole vocabulary of a language or the stock of words available, libraro library. (N.B. -arie is used in a different sense, see above.)

-IDE descendant, originally taken from Greek Atreide, son of Atreus, Peleide, extended in modern times to Napoleonide, etc. We may say regide (-o, -a) for one of royal birth, and also Semide, Israelide, though it is more in accordance with international usage to say Semite, Israelite, which are not formed with any of our suffixes and are rather to be considered as ready-made words taken over as wholes, like dinamite synamite, melanite and other chemical terms with the same ending. For Abderite we say Abderane, for Moabite Moabane, for Jacobite Jacobane, etc.

-YUNE, from the adj yuni young, is used as a suffix in compounds like bovyune (-o, -a) calf, hanyune chick, katyuno male kitten, etc. In some cases diminutives may be used in the same sense, but we may say, for instance, that a grown pony is a kavalete, though not a kavalyune.

title: Novial/AIL Substantival Suffixes


text:
Novial/AIL Verbal Suffixes

Verbal Suffixes
As remarked above, it would not do to derive verbs immediately from words denoting living beings; but we take the suffix -IRA from D -ieren, etc. (Dan -ere, R in some cases -irovat'): rego king, regira rule as king, regiro reign; profetira prophesy, interpretira, koketira, rivalira, rebelira vikariira.

To form verbs signifying to make into, transform into, render, we have two international suffixes, both to be used in Novial, namely -ISA (E -ise or -ize, F -iser, I -izzare, D -isieren, etc.) and -IFIKA (E -ify with -ification, F -ifier, I -ificare, D -ifizieren, etc.). In both we may take i as our adjective-ending, and thus consider -sa and -fika the real suffix. Examples: realisa, idealisa, materialisa, modernisa, sterilisa, kristalisa, harmonisa, fanatisa - simplifika, klarifika, verifika, justifika, sanktifika, rektifika, fortifika, falsifika, personifika, identifika.

It is obviously an advantage to be able to utilize all these and other verbs already known all over the world; N therefore adopts both suffixes, but Novialists need not commit to memory which words take one and which the other ending: they are free to choose between them in each particular case, if they do not happen to remember one ready-made form. This simplisa and klarisa are admitted by the side of simplifika and klarifika, and on the other hand, modernifika by the side of modernisa, etc. Note that we have a similar state of things when in E we say Anglicize, but Frenchify.

A distinction may be made bewteen elektrisa charge with electricity (also in a figurative sense: thrill with exciting emotion) and elektrifika electrify a railway, etc.

One thing should be marked here, namely that instead of considering simplifika as derived by means of a suffix, we may treat it as a compound of two autonomous words, the adj simpli and a verb fika. This amounts, in other words, to extracting from all these verbs a new verb fika, which is used with the meaning `to render, make into, make': me simplifika li prosedo = me fika li prosedo simpli; lo fika sen marita felisi he makes (renders) his wife happy, and with an infinitive: lo fika li kavale kurse he makes the horse run (= lo fika ke li kavale kurse). This fika is different from the simple verb fa = do, make, and is restricted to the uses here specified. (Also with a passive infinitive: fika li libre bli binda have the book bound, i.e. make that it is bound = fika li libre bindat, fika li bindere binda li libre.)

The two endings may, of course, be used after comparatives: plubelisa, minbelisa, plubelifika, etc.

Fika with verbs: dormifika lull asleep, put to sleep; it is generally better to dissolve the idea into two verbs.

The suffix -isa is also used in the meaning to provide or supply with, cover with: alkoholisa alcoholize, orisa gild, stonisa cover with stones, macadamize, butrisa (cover with) butter, armisa arm, and in a somewhat looser way organisa, harmonisa, orientisa. Note that E carbonize like N karbonisa has the two meanings `convert into carbon' and `cover with carbon.'

The latter is the only way in which -izar is used in Ido, but the suffix is really much less widely used in national languages in this than in the first-mentioned meaning, corresponding to Ido -igar, Esp -igi. In our system we may consider this use of the suffix -isa as secondary and as a kind of abbreviation of -os-isa: makulisa = makulosisa, fika makulosi.

-AD- taken from such substantives as F promenade, cannonade, fusillade, is used as in Esp and Ido with verbs and verbal sbs for the repeated or continuous act: frapada beat several times (frapado continued beating, frapo a single blow); kantada; parlada go on talking.

-ESKA (from L) with verbs denotes the beginning of an action or state: dormieska fall asleep, videska begin to see, kurseska start running, ameska fall in love, rideska burst out laughing; with adjective roots it means begin to be (become): paleska turn pale, oldeska begin to grow old. Verbal sb in -o: dormiesko, etc.; oldesko beginning senility.

title: Novial/AIL Verbal Suffixes


text:
Novial/AIL Adjectival Suffixes

Adjectival Suffixes
While we make an adjective into a substantive of the same meaning by simply substituting one of the endings -e, -o, -a or -um for the adjectival -i, see above under Sex, there is no direct (immediate way of forming adjectives from words belonging to other parts of speech. We must for that purpose use one of the following derivative suffixes.

-AL (ALI) is the most general of these suffixes; it is well known from a great many Latin or Romanic adjectives that have penetrated into most civilized languages and which are used in Novial as regularly formed adjectives: natural, universal, national, verbal, kordial (from kordie heart), material, formal, traditional etc. Before -al the ending of the substantive disappears (cf. also bestie bestial), except only u: from sexu we form sexual, thus also manual and others. We extend this formation to all words, even if there is no adjective with this ending in national languages: gasal relating to gas, patral paternal, populal relating to people, homal human, i.e. concerning man (different from human humane) - on homonal and homanal see above (p. 93).

-AN from L is found in a great many words in Romanic and other languages; it means inhabiting or belonging to a class or party: Roman (Romani, -e, -o, -a), Italian, Amerikan, urban, akademian, senatan, vilajan, partisan, leftano member of the "left" party; further the convenient Esp-Ido formations samlandane fellow-countryman, samreligionano, sampartisane, samideane; also altrilandano, etc.

Roman beleso may be understood as (1) Rome's beauty: then o is stressed, (2) Roman beauty: then a is stressed; in the latter case, when -an is an adj, it is safer to write romani, cf. below on osi.

-ATRI (from F I) similar in appearance or character, often corresponds to the E ending -ish: blankatri whitish, bluatri, metalatri metallike, parodiatri, etc.

-ARI (I -ario, F -aire, etc.) agreeing with or fit for: reglari regular, from regle rule, populari, revolutionari, elementari, ordinari, imaginari (thus Occ).

-OSI (-OS) from L -osus, I S -oso, F -eux, E -ous, ose, D -ös means possessing or having, especially having in great quantity, full of: porosi, kurajosi courageous, danjerosi, misteriosi, gratiosi, graceful, pretiosi, joyosi, barbosi bearded.

With this suffix it is prudent in writing always to retain the adjectival -i, which in most other cases is optional, because here -os might at first blush look like a plural of a sb in -o. In speaking no mistake would be possible, as the accent is different.

-ISI with adverb -isim indicates a very high degree: grandisi enormous, grandisim enormously, belisi, belisim; varmisi hot. This of course is taken from I -issimo, but is here shortened to admit the adverbial -m. This suffix should be used sparingly, not so frequently as Esp -ega, and adjectives in -is- cannot very well be made into substantives in -o, -a (-isa verbal suffix!), so the suffix should be restricted to attributive and predicative uses.

Some suffixes, which serve to form adjectives from verbs, may be termed supplementary participles, some for the active, and others for the passive. To the first class belong -iv and -as.

-IV (-IVI) means doing naturally, or capable of doing (that can ...); from instrukte we form instruktiv(i), further sugestiv, atraktiv, preventiv, atentiv (from atente attend), aktiv, nutriv nourishing (-um nourishment), helpiv helpful, etc.

-ASI (-AS) from F -ace, I -ace, S -az (E sometimes -acious, cf. the sb in -acity) means having the tendency or inclination to ...: mordasi mordacious, snappish, disputasi, vorasi, kredasi credulous, laborasi industrious, atakasi, etc.

This suffix is used in Occ (-aci). Esp and Ido have -ema, coined with some reminiscence of the F verb aimer. One might feel inclined to have two suffixes, -asi for evil propensities (as often in the national languages), and -emi for praiseworthy inclinations, as in laborem (cf. N eme aim), but I dare not propose that. Keep -i in writing -asi, cf. above on -osi.

Next we come to similar supplementary passive participles. -BLI expresses passive possibility: from lekte lektebli legible, from explika explikabli, from audi, audibli, from solu solubli - thus with retention of the vowel of the verbal system. As some verbs may be used both transitively and intransitively, we may have both chanjivi that may change, and chanjabli that can be changed.

Esp has -ebla. Occ has -bil with special rules for the stress and for the vowel and consonant preceding the suffix: from leer leibil legible, from vider visibil, from creder cresibil (?) - as these examples show, not even these intricate rules enable one in all cases to form quite "natural" adjectives, which should, however, be their justification. Much better to have one simple uniform rule, even if we get some words like vidabli instead of visibli.

-ENDI `that must be' and -INDI `that deserves to be,' two suffixes modelled on the L gerund: libre lektendi por examine non es omnitem libre lektindi; amindi lovable, admirindi admirable; me have nulum skriptendi I have nothing to write; vidindum something worth seeing. Before these endings the -u and -i of verbs must be kept: soluendi, soluindi, expediendi, expediindi, but -a and -e disappear.

title: Novial/AIL Adjectival Suffixes


text:
Novial/AIL General Suffixes

General Suffixes
-ET- is a diminutive suffix, cf. I -etto, -etta, F maisonette, E wagonette. Examples with substantives: riverete brook, urbete small town, librete booklet (might be kept apart from libreto libretto for an opera). It is convenient also for terms of affection: patreto daddy, matreta mammy.

This suffix is very convenient with adjectives: beleti pretty, varmeti lukewarm, maladeti poorly; it is used extensively in Ido and Esp with verbs, and -eta is of a certain utility in such verbs as rideta smile, dormieta take a nap, salteta caper, frisk about (whence of course verbal sbs rideto, dormieto, etc.); still the use with verbs should not be exaggerated, and there may in rare cases be a little danger of confusion with the passive participle of verbs in -e. This, however, is not serious. - Adverb: kelketim just a little.

A cigarette is not exactly a small cigar, and Esp therefore has the modified form cigaredo. N takes sigarete in its international sense, and says mikri sigare (or sigarile from S) for `small cigar.'

-ON- (from the Romanic augmentative suffix I -one, S -on) indicates greatness; but the practice of national languages shows that the need for such a suffix is much less than for the opposite notion, and -on should therefore be used sparingly: pluvono heavy rain, ridono guffaw. In most cases an adjective like grandi is preferable.

Esp -eg- does not deserve retention, as it is purely arbitrary; besides it resembles its contrast -et- too much in sound. With adjectives N has -isi for Esp -ega. - There are a few words with -on as an essential part of the word which might look as formed with this suffix: kantone, kolone, patrone; but ambiguity will rarely arise.

-ACH gives a disparaging or contemptuous sense to the word; the suffix is taken from I -accio and is expressive by its sound, especially if pronounced with [tS] and not simply with [S]. Examples: kavalacha jade, hundache cur, populache rabble, jurnalache, paperache waste paper, kantacha, kriacha bawl.

title: Novial/AIL General Suffixes


text:
Novial/AIL Numeral Suffixes

Numeral Suffixes
For convenience' sake we give the numerals themselves before mentioning the suffixes.

The Romanic numerals are used with a few modifications to make them easier to handle: 1 un (or uni, which is more emphatic), 2 du, 3 tri, 4 quar, 5 sink, 6 six, 7 sep, 8 ok, 9 nin: this is suggested by E nine, Sc ni, nio, D neun, as the Romanic forms nov, non would cause conflict with the words for 'new' and 'not'. 10 dek (dis is 'this'), 100 sent, 1000 mil. . . milione, miliarde (mil miliones), bilione (milione miliones) [not an American billion (DB)].

Un may be used as an indefinite article, but such an article is generally superfluous.

It would be possible to express other numerals simply by combinations like dekdu 12, dudek 20, dudekdu 22, etc. But it is a common experience that people are apt to mistake dekdu for dudek and inversely, and most languages have forms which cannot be so easily mistaken; therefore it is practical for the tens to use the Romanic ending -ANTI (-i because adjectival): 20 duanti, 30 trianti, 40 quaranti, 50 sinkanti, 60 sixanti, 70 sepanti, 80 okanti, 90 ninanti; 23 duanti tri, 99 ninanti nin, etc.

Substantives may be formed in -o; duo, trio, etc., dekduo a dozen, duanto a score. No ambiguity arises from the fact that -o is used here in a different sense from that in Substantival Suffixes.

The Esp eystem is particularly bewildering for Germans, whose dreizehn means 13, while tridek means 30. Note also the difficulty in dictating long sets of numbers, where 3, 10, 20, 7 may easily be misheard as 30, 27, or 30, 2, 17.

The Ido system of composite numerals (70 sepadek, 17 dekesep) is rather confusing. There is an ingenious system of counting by means of syllables invented by G. de Kolovrat (Les cent syllabes, Nice, 1927): ba 0, be 1, bi 2, bo 3, bu 4--ca 5, ce 6, ci 7, co 8, cu 9--da 10, de 11. . . fa 15. . . gi 22. . . ho 28. . . ka 35, etc., zu 99; caburi 50462, femina 16750. It would in many ways be advantageous, could these numerals be introduced internationally, but provisionally we must have some system like the above.

The use of cardinal numbers in cases like the year 1927, page 37, chapter X, etc., is not logical, but very convenient; it is found in most of our languages; the French extend it to names of kings, etc., Louis quatorze, and to the days of the month, le quatorze juin. In Russian the more logical ordinals are used even in the indication of years.

Ordinal numbers end in -ESMI: unesmi first, duesmi, sentesmi, etc. 345th trisent-quaranti-sinkesmi. From these we have adverbs in -im: unesmim firstly, in the first place, etc.

Fractions: 100th part sentime (cp. the French coin), half duime, five sixths sink siximes, etc. Prefix mi- = half.

Duopli double, duoplim doubly; in the same way triopli, sentopli, etc.

Distributive adverbs are formed by means of -opim: triopim in threes, three at a time. The same ending is used in pokopim little by little.

title: Novial/AIL Numeral Suffixes


text:
Novial/AIL Adverbial Suffixes

Adverbial Suffixes
A certain number of adverbs of time, place, manner, etc., may very conveniently be formed by means of abbreviated substantives, thus:

time: -tem (for temp): nultem never, altritem at another time, at other times, omnitem always, irgitem ever.

place: -lok: omnilok everywhere, nuliloknowhere, altrilok elsewhere. Instead of, or by the side of, dislok, tilok, quilok we have the short hir, dar, vor from E here, there, where, D hier, da (dar, darin), wo (worin), Dan her, der, hvor. hence adj hiri, dari, cf. D hiesig. case: -kas (from kasu): omnikas in every case, tikas in that case, altrikas otherwise, irgikas anyway, etc.

degree: -grad: altigrad in a high degree, tigrad to that extent, kelkigrad to some extent, somehow, rather, pretty.

manner: -man (from ,manere but may also be considered an adaptation of F -ment I S -mente): omniman in every way, altriman in a different way, otherwise, nul(i)man in no wise, nobliman, severiman severely, etc.

When manner is not expressly denoted, this -man may be further shortened into -m; as this is added to the adjective ending -i, the result is -im, which is a common Latin adverbial ending. Privatim privately, separatim, partim are good Latin and regular Novial adverbs. Other examples: solim only, altrim else, nulim not at all, bonim well, spesialim, sinserim, totim completely, samim as well.

Anglim in English, fransim, germanim, etc.

A distinction may be made between naturim of course, naturalim naturally (in consequence of a person's nature), naturaliman in a natural manner.

Talim thus, in this way, and qualim how are more immediately comprehensible than the equally regularly formed timan and quiman, and therefore preferable. Quantim how much (adverbially, thus different from Quantum).

Adverbs in -im from substantives: instantim at once, noktim at night, memorim from memory, by heart.

With regard to the use of adverbs Esperantists should be warned not to follow the specially Zamenhofian rule (caused by a Polish idiom), according to which the adverb is required in the so-called impersonal sentences: estas necese diri `it is necessary to say.' The predicative according to all grammar must here be an adjective: the subject is the infinitive, which is a kind of verbal substantive. Z's rule blots out the distinction between `it is clearly necessary' and `it is necessarily clear.'

In the derived adverbs mentioned here it is a consequence of the principle of value-stressing that one naturally feels inclined to stress the first element: núltem, tíkas, ómnilok, áltriman, áltrim, etc.

title: Novial/AIL Adverbial Suffixes


text:
Novial/AIL General Remarks on Word-Formation

General Remarks on Word-Formation
By means of the prefixes and suffixes just enumerated it is possible, if the stems (or roots) are well chosen, regularly to form an exceedingly great number of words which either agree with already existing international words or are easily understood at first sight. One example will show the ease with which a number of perfectly natural derivatives may be formed from one single verb mari `marry.'

A Li pastoro ha mari Paul e Anna. Paul ha mari se a Anna. Les blid mari yer; dunke les es nun marit. Paul es Annan marito, e la es li marita de Paul. Anna esed charmanti kom marienda. After li mario li du marites departad a Paris por li mari-voyaje. Nus espera ke li mariteso sal es felisi. The clergyman has married Paul and Anna. Paul has married Anna. They were married yesterday; thus they are now married. Paul is Anna's husband, and she is Paul's wife. Anna was charming as bride. After the wedding the married couple left for Paris on their wedding-trip. We hope the marriage (state of being married) will be happy.

B

Ido has here the verb mariajar `to marry' with the derivatives mariajo or mariajeso `marriage,' mariajatulo `married man,' mariajatino `married woman,' with the variants mariajitulo, mariajitino; mariajo-festo `wedding'; further, the independent words spozo, spozulo, spozino for husband and wife. - Occ has maritagie, marito, marita, for `married couple' maritates, for weding (eheschliessung) maritagie, maritantie, and for `married state' (ehestand) matrimonie. Novial thus gets off cheaper than either of these languages.

On the other hand there are some cases in which irregular forms have obtained such a wide employment in many languages that it is best to take them bodily into our language; thus most people will certainly prefer telegrame to telegrafure (which is not even perfectly correct, for it could not properly be said of a telegram when handed in for transmission!). Another case in point is poet, poem, poetry, which might, indeed, be expressed by means of our suffixes by starting either from a verb poesia (with poesiure, poesiere, etc.) or from the sb poete (with the verb poetira, etc.), but it is much better to take poete, poeme, poesia as independent of our rules for word-formation. (`Poetic' is poetal and poesial.)

Some anomalies arise from the two treatments of Latin c. If we have katoliki (katoliko, etc.), we must also have katolikisme in spite of catholicism in the national languages. Other derivatives are less objectionable because they are made by means of other endings than those which in national languages cause difficulties with c: thus kritike critique, criticism, kritika criticize, kritikere; logikiste logician; muzikiste; matematikiste, etc.; fanati fanatic, fanateso fanaticism, F fanatisme; elektri electric, elektreso electricity; similarly elasti and others.

Further it must be remarked that there are some international words that are not capable of being considered as regular derivatives with the meanings here assigned to their endings. Subjectiv and objektiv do not mean `that can be ...'; sivilisa civilize does not really mean `render civil'; the actual meanings of radikal, liberal, ideal cannot be deduced from radike `root', liberi `free,' idee `idea'; cp. also organisa, harmonisa, orientisa. Such words must be taken as a natural consequence of the foundation on which we must erect our building, just as we must take over such words as generale as the name of an officer, though the meaning of general as an adjective does not fully explain this use of the substantive. Another consequence of this foundation is the essentially vague meanings attached to many words like nature, kulture, karaktere, forme, idee, moral, which we must accept however much a strict logician would like to get away from them.

I have collected a small number of words which might be mistaken for words derived from other words in N, and as I want to be perfectly "above-board," I print those here which have not already been mentioned under some of the suffixes: I cannot see that the ambiguities arising from them are very serious: probabli probable; that can be tested. Posibli possible; that can be placed. Seriosi serious; full of series. Romane Roman; novel. Ridono giving again; big laugh. Pardona pardon; give fully. Parfuma perfume; smoke thoroughly.


text:
Novial/AIL Particles

Particles
I use the comprehensive term 'particles' for adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions, as these three "parts of speech" have so much in common that they are best treated together. A preposition may be called a transitive adverb having a noun or pronoun as its object; those conjunctions which serve to introduce a subordinate clause are adverbs (prepositions) having a clause as their objects; other so-called conjunctions (e.g. and) are simply particles used to join words or clauses.

There is no necessity of a special ending for all particles or for any special sub-class of them; not even Esp carries through the ending -e for all adverbs and -au for prepositions. We keep therefore the forms of those languages from which, among others, the following particles are taken:

nun now. nur only. preske nearly, almost. quasi as if, as it were, so to speak. bald soon.

In accordance with our usual practice we make a distinction between interrogative quand (when? D wann? F quand?) and relative (connective) kand (when, introducing a clause, D wenn, als, F quand, lorsque): kand lo departad, lo non dikted quand lo sal veni retro when he left, he did not say when he will come back; and then we form regularly the corresponding demonstrative tand (then, D dann, damals, F alors).

E and. It is inconvenient to use a repeated e. . . e for 'both. . . and'; the English way, which is also found in Sc (cp. D sowohl . . . als), is better because it at once prepares the hearer that something is to follow. I propose et. . . e: me vidad John, e et lon fratro e lon patro esed dar. Nus et audid e vidad lo. La montrad a nus et sen patro e matra (where e . . . e would be ambiguous).

In the same way o or, od. . . o either. . . or (od, cp. D oder); ni nor, nek. . . ni neither. . . nor.

Ma but (F I S, resembles Sc men, Dutch maar).

Tamen (L) yet, however, notwithstanding -- used in most interlanguages, as living languages offer no convenient word (malgreu, in Prepositions).

Or as in F to introduce a new element in arguing (E now): lo dikte ke lo non esed dar; or me self vidad lo dar; dunke lo mentia he says that he was not there; now I saw him there myself; thus he is lying.

Dunke (I dunque, F donc) consequently, therefore.

Den (D denn) for (to indicate reason; F car); there is no necessity to go to Latin nam, as D denn is perfectly unambiguous (Pirro already had den): lo mus ha es dar, den me vidad lo.

Kom (F I S) as: kom li presidanto me konsidera li afere kom finat. On representa lo kom avaro (a miser). Exept si vus deveni kom mikri infantes. Autores kom Shaw (kom exemplim Shaw). Kom yuno lo vivad in London. Kom me ha ja dikte. La viva kom anteu - kom la ha omnitem fa (= samiman kam la . . .). - Kom ministro lo dikte, in his capacity as minister; this can, if necessary, be rendered more precise by saying esenti ministro, or kom esenti ministro.

Under Comparison we mentioned tam (demonstrative) and kam (connective). Further examples: tam bon kam novi as good as new, as a new one. Tam bald kam posibli as soon as possible. Lo marcha non tam rapidim kam in sen yuneso. Kom home lo es tam grandi kam kom poete (= egalim grandi). Tam mikri ke on pove apene vida lum so small that one can hardly see it. Tum es tam plu surprisivi pro ke. . . so much the more. Kam plu oldi, tam plu stupid the older, the more stupid. Kam plu on vida lo, tam min on estima lo.

The corresponding interrogative is quam: quam oldi how old? Quam multum = quantum. Qualim me pove sava quam oldi lo es? How can I know how old he is?

Anke (I) also: anke me dikte I too say; me anke dikte or me dikte anke I say also; anke me non dikte or me anke non dikte I also do not say, neither do I say.

Ankore (F I) yet, still: lo es ankore maladi (has been ill for some time and is still, though you might have expected otherwise); lo ha non ankore ariva (not yet). Lo es richi, ma lon fratro es ankore plu richi (still richer, encore plus riche, noch reicher).

Preske (F) nearly, almost.

Apene (F S I) hardly, scarcely (= preske non).

Even (E): by taking even and self instead of Ido mem (F) and ipse (L) we gain the advantage of having words which are known to several more millions of people and which are unambiguous, while mem is apt to induce all those who know French to use it in the meaning either of N self (F lui-même) or of N sami (F le même).

Erste (D) not till: li kunvenio komensad klok du, ma lo venid erste klok tri.

Jus just now, a moment ago (D . . . S, here as in Esp and Ido differentiated from justi, justim).

Sat (L, but cf. satisfaction) enough: sat boni good enough; sat multi tempe time enough.

Tro (F) too: tro tardim too late. La parla tro.

Plu, min, see Comparison. Plus in the combination non plus no longer; nulum plus no more, nothing else. (Du plus tri. Mil yares e plus). Tre very: tre bon.

Ke that, conjunction: me dikte ke tum es ver; corresponds with its initial k to the other relative (i.e. clause-connecting) words. Combined with prepositions: pro ke, sin ke, etc. see Prepositions.

Si (F S L si, I se) if; si non if not, unless; si nur if only.

Quasi (L I S, often used in other modern languages) as if, as though: lo akte quasi lo es (esud) maestro. Often without a verb: lo es quasi patro a me ('as it were'). Komunisme es quasi religione.

Ja already (F I).

Ya (D Sc) indeed, truly (to confirm a statement or admit a fact): vu non besona dikte tum; me ya savad lum ja you need not tell me that, as I knew it already, ich wusste es ja schon. Atente! Ma me ya atente. But I do pay attention.

Yes (E).

No (E F I S).

In most constructed languages ne is used as the ordinary negative adverb; in spite of this unanimity, however, ne is not the best form that can be selected. As I have shown in a separate volume (Negation in English and other Languages, Acad. of Copenhagen, 1917), the natural development in many languages has led to the giving up of the simple form ne, which is felt to be too light and too little susceptible of the emphasis which is often required with this word for the sake of contrast; thus ne was supplanted by fuller forms; non in Latin, not in English, nicht in German, ikke in Scandinavian, ne. . . pas in French, which in everyday speech tends to become pas without ne. Therefore it is better to use the fuller form non, which is known in many lands through such words as nonsense, nonchalant, nonconformist; it is the ordinary negative in Italian, and is extensively used in F: non-obstant, non seulement, etc., E: non-existent, non-collegiate, non-alcoholic, etc., to which may be counted none-the-less, none too soon, though the etymology and the sound of the vowel is different.

Non may also be used as a prefix, see Prefixes: nonrational irrational; nonnesesarieso (better than Ido neneceseso), etc.

It is necessary to have a particle indicating question, i.e. those questions which are not introduced by an interrogative pronoun or adverb, like Who? What? When? How? --in other words for those questions which my Philos. of Grammar are termed nexus-questions, and which generally demand Yes or No in the answer. Word-order with preposed subject (as in E "Are you ill?") cannot well be used in an IAL; and it is evidently best to have one and the same particle in direct and indirect questions (he asked if, or whether, you were ill). The difficulty is to find a particle which is at once natural and unambiguous.

Zamenhof took his native Polish word czy, only modifying it to chu. Ido went far away to Sanskrit to find ka, which, by the way, does not seem to be used in Sanskrit in exactly the same way; it might have been mentioned that Japanese has an interrogative particle ka, only placed at the end of the sentence (Edwards, Ét. phon. de la L. Jap., § 135); Finnish, too, has an enclitic -ko, -kö to denote questions. Occ uses E if in dependent questions; this is not good as it may be taken to mean condition. Russian li (postponed) is out of the question.

There is, however, one word in a well-known language that seems to me to fulfil all the requirements, namely D ob. This at first was used in dependent questions (wer weiss, ob er kommt), but is now used pretty often in direct questions as well (Ob er kommt?). I propose in Novial to use the same word in both applications: Ob lo veni? Does he come? Que sava ob lo veni? It may even be used put twice (as Z uses cxu . . . cxu) to denote two alternatives (Ido from L sive . . . sive), as in rendering Goethe's "Er liest es jedem froh und laut, Ob es uns quält, ob es erbaut!" Lo lekte lum a chake lautim joyosi, ob tum jena nus, ob tum edifika nus. Ob vu silentia, ob vu parla, on sal blama vu, whether you say nothing or speak, they will blame you.

title: Novial/AIL Particles


text:
Novial/AIL Prepositions

Prepositions
With most of the prepositions it is of practical importance to have two forms, one to be used with an object (the preposition proper) and the other when the object is understood (what would generally be termed a prepositional adverb). As it is best for the latter not to have too heavy a form, N adds -u to the preposition, simplifying -eru into -ru wherever there is occasion. Adjectives in -i may also often be formed. The discrimination and correct use of prepositions is a very important thing in an IAL, and as Ido has contributed much to perfection in this point, I have used most of the Ido prepositions. I add examples to show some of the cases in which a conjunction can be formed by adding ke, and some of the compounds into which prepositions enter without or with the ending -u. I take first the local, then the temporal prepositions, and finally those which are neither.

In; inu (Lo non es inu he is not in).

Exter, extru without, outside. Exter ke lo es mediko, besides his being a medical man.

An at, on, denoting contiguity or juxtaposition: apoga skale an li mure prop a ladder against the wall; li fenestres an li strade the windows opening on the street; London lia an Thames. (Anu.)

Proxim close by, near, next to: ni lojia proxim li statione. Lo sidad proxim li porte, e lon marita stead (stood) proximu (= proxim lo). This may also be used of time, etc.: proxim li venko near the victory. Proximi adjective: li proximi venko. Proximeska draw near.

Che at, by, in the house of (F chez): che men patro at my father's; che nus es kustome ke... (Cheu.)

Later by the side of, on one side of: li kapitano stead later li generalo. Latru by the side of him (her, it).

Dexter on the right side of; dextru.

Left to the left of; leftu.

Sis on this side of: sis li Alpes. Sisu.

Trans on the other side of, beyond. Transu.

Nord, sud, est, vest to the North, etc., of. Nordu, etc.

Devan before, in front of, ahead of. Devanu. Devan(u)-brakie forearm; devan(u) pedes front feet (of animal), devan-chambre anteroom.

(Koram in the presence of. Koramu.)

Inter between, among. Intru. Interakto (what is between the acts), international(i), interstatal(i). Intruspatie (room between something else), intrutempe meantime, interval, intruregno. With verbs it is more natural to use inter, though intru would be more comfortable to the general rule: Intermixa, interpesi, interrupte, interveni.

Mid amidst, in the middle of. Midu. (The adj is medi.)

Sur on (=super with contact): sur li table, mare, strade. Suru. In compounds, there is no necessity to use the -u-form: surshu, surnome (= familienome), surposi.

Super over, above (without contact). Supru: suprunomat aforesaid, before-mentioned. Supernatural, supernombral supernumerary. Supruposi; suprutaxe; suprupasa, supruvada surpass, supruvido survey; suprucharjo overloading; supruhome superman: in some of these the form super- might be defended. (Superhomal).

Res level with (F rez de, au rez de): res li strade. Resu.

Sub under, below. Subu. Submaral, subteral, subpelal subcutaneous, subofisiro; sub(u)skripte, sub(u)veste undergarment, sub(u)komitate, sub(u)grupe, etc.

Hinter behind. Hintru. Hintrupedes, hintrumaste, hintruland; hintrubutike is a back-shop, hinterbutike would be a room behind the shop.

Hinter is D, known in E from hinterland, and akin to hind(legs), behind. Ido dop is very bad: it is taken from I dopo, which is chiefly temporal, not local as Ido dop.

Konter against (in space, inimical, contrary to): konter li enemikes; konter expektatione; konter li fluo against the current. Konter ke while (in contrast). Kontru on the contrary, on the other hand. Kontervoli unwilling, reluctant; kontervenene counterpoison; konternatural unnatural (= non-natural, but stronger); cf. anti-. Kontruproposo counterproposal; kontrupapo antipope; kontrudikte contradict; kontruakte counteract; kontrukomploto counterplot.

Oposit opposite (to): nus lojia oposit li banke. Opositu.

Sirk round (about), also temporal, etc.: sirk un hore; sirk mil frankes. Sirku. Sirkumure enclosing wall; sirkuregarda look around.

Paralel: nus mova paralel li strade paralelu.

Along: along li strade, li fluvie. Alongu.

Fro (E Sc) from. Frou therefrom. (Ido has de, but it is confusing to have the three prepositions de, di, da - here supplanted by fro, de, da.)

Fro may be combined with other prepositions: fro hinter li arbe from behind the tree, fro sur li table, fro inter li arbres, fro che nus, etc. Ek out of, from out: ek li urbe; pasu ek libre; indicating material: ornamento ek ore, of gold; from among: un ek men amikes; duanti ek chak regimente. Ekmigra emigrate, ekpulsa expel.

A to (of place and time, cf. til): fro London a Paris; fro tempe a tempe; fro li generalo al simpli soldato; util a omnes; parla al direktere; for the indirect object: dona 10 dollars al povres; also: amo al homes; invidio a altres, etc. Combined with other prepositions: salta a sur li stule jumps on to the chair; a hinter; a trans; a inter, etc. (cf. en, below).

En into, used instead of a in. Vada en li chambre enter the room. Chanja plombe en ore change lead into gold. In compounds: endukte, enporta, enskripte, envada, enspira inhale (inspira inspire).

Vers towards, in the direction of; also of time: vers li somre. (Versu.)

Til to, up, to, till, of space and time, emphasizing that some point has been reached. Might be supplanted by some combination like uske a, but til (E Sc) is more convenient, especially in til nun, til tand (with adj tilnuni, tiltandi previous, which has been up to now, up to then, hitherto); til ke.

Preter past, passing by, indicates motion from one side of the object to the further side. (Pretru.) Preterpasa, pretervada pass by, pass beyond.

Tra through, across: tra London, tra li porte. Trau: lo pasad trau sin stopa. Trapasa, travada pass through; traviva.

A distinction may be made between travidabli transparent (which you may look through; a plot, etc., easily seen through) and trauvidabli (which can be seen through something else); but there is rarely occasion to use the latter adj., and for the former it is probably better to have transparenti (which is more internationally known than Ido diafan).

Ante before, only of time (cf. devan). Anteu (or better ante tum) formerly. Ante ke. Longitem ante nun long ago. Ante yer before yesterday; preyer the day before yesterday (see Prefixes).

After. Aftru afterwards, later. After ke. Aftrutempe after-time. Aftermorge the day after to-morrow. Tri yares after nun in three years.

After (E, D in some compounds, Sc efter) is really more international than Ido and Occ pos, an abbreviated L post, which survives only in some compounds like postscriptum.

Depos since: me es hir depos sundi, depos du semanes I have been here since Sunday, for two weeks. Deposu since then. Depos ke me saveskad lum since I got to know it.

Depos in Novial is a separate word (F depuis, S despues, P depois), not as in Ido a compound of de (for which we say fro) and pos, the meaning of which cannot really be inferred from that of the components.

Durant during (the whole period of). Durantu during that time. Durant ke while.

Ido has L dum like Esp--one of those L words which have not survived in any language.

Klok o'clock: klok du at two; klok du e duime = klok du trianti; klok du e tri quarimes a quarter to three; klok sink [= 5 minutes] ante tri. Qui klok es? Klok sink minutes anteu at five minutes to. Samiklok, altriklok, tiklok.

This use of an invariable particle seems preferable to the Ido conception of kloko, plural kloki: ante du kloki before two o'clock, ante du hori before two hours--as if it were a separate species of hours, though really it is the same kind of hours, only counted from one particular point (midday or midnight). If kloki are distinguished from hori in this way, we should consistently have a special name for minutes in indications of time of day.

Per by means of: venka per ruse; pruva per exemples. (Peru by that means.) Per ke through the fact that: lo sava per ke lo vidad li krime.

Da by (the agent; the converted subject): ti libre es (skriptet) da Wells. Li venkateso de Napoleon da Wellington = li venko de Wellington sur N.

Por for, in favour of, in view of: vota por X (the opposite of konter); disum es por vu (destined) for you; por li forme; por (tu) vida plu bonim in order... Por quum for what purpose? Por ke on (mey) judika justim, in order that.

Pro because of, on account of, owing to: povre pro pigreso poor owing to laziness; lo morid pro sen vunde he died from his wound. Me sava pro ke (because) me vidad lum self. Pro quum why? Prou, better pro tum therefore, on that account.

Malgre in spite of, despite (F malgré); malgre ke though, notwithstanding the fact that. Lo marid se malgre li desiro de sen patro; malgre ke lon patre interdikted lum. Malgre omnum. Malgreu = tamen.

Pri concerning, about, of: parla, pensa, sava pri speak of, think of, know about.

Segun (S P segundo, F selon) according to, in accordance with. Evangelie segun Markus. Segun men opinione (segun me). Paga segun li laboro, non segun li sexu del laboriste. Segunu. Segun tum kel lo dikte after what he says. Segun qualim lo responda according as (according to the way in which) he answers. Segunvoli optional.

Po (from R Po, Esp, Ido) may be used to indicate price or value: me ha kompra li libre po tri frankes I have bought the book for 3 fr.; tri sigares po un franke chakum; six po sent.

Kun (together) with, in connexion with: lo veni kun sen filies. Les veni kunu. Kunexista co-exist; kunlabora; kunlernante school-fellow; kunvenio meeting, gathering; kunvivo life together: in these compounds kunu would be more correct, but less convenient.

The form kun (as in Esp Ido) is chosen, because the L kon (con) is found in so many compounds in which it has lost its original meaning, and which we must have in the derived meaning: konveni, kontesta, kontrakte, etc.--Talmey proposes kune as a rendering of E conjunction both: La es kune beli e boni. But how then to render "they are together both night and day"? Cf. et...e.

I may seize this opportunity to warn my fellow-interlinguists against the common mistake of using kun in combinations where E with, G mit, etc., are used idiomatically without the meaning 'together with': one may be kontenti kun sen amikes (in company with one's friends), but 'he is content with his wages, er ist mit seinem Lohn zufrieden,' should be rendered lo es kontenti pro (pri) sen salarie. In cases of doubt one may use ye.

Sin without (L sine, S sin, F sans, I senza, P sem). Sin duto, sin jeno. Sinu without that: me prisa (I like) vine, ma pove viva sinu. Ob nus pove fa tum, sin ke lo vida lum can we do that without his seeing it? Sinkuraji = nonkurajosi.

Exept except: omnes ha veni, exept Anna. Me es kontenti, exept ke me povud desira.... Exeptu with that exception.

Ulter besides: ulter lo, lon filio ha es dar. Lo parla pluri lingues ulter sen patrial lingue. Ultru, further, moreover. Ultru, me voli dikte. Ulter ke la es belisi, la es belim vestat. --Cf. preter, above.

Insted instead of (G anstatt). Instedu. Lo non poved veni, ma sendad sen asistanto instedu. Insted ke lo visitad me, me mused visita lo. Insted tu obedia, lo furieskad instead of obeying he got angry.

Ido has vice, which is used in no language by itself, but is derived ingeniously from words like vice-president--which, however, means a man standing next below the president rather than one who acts instead of him.

Relat in relation to. Relatu.

Dank thanks to (F grâce à): dank lon afableso, nus vidad omnum. Danku.

De of, to be used in all (or nearly all) those cases in which flexional languages have a genitive, thus to express not only possession, but relation generally; the meaning is necessarily somewhat vague, and the limits cannot be drawn too narrowly, but special prepositions da, fro, pri, etc., should be used wherever ambiguity might be feared: li vestes del emperere; li marito de Anna (= Annan marito); li amikos, joyes, pasiones, maladeso de N; li programe del teatre, del vespre; li nombre del monumentes de Paris; li monumente de Napoleon; li deskovro de Amerika (da Columbus); li deskovro de Columbus (= da); li komedies del franses; li komedies de (= da) Molière; li portretes de Molière. Li portretes de Rembrandt may be taken in two meanings, or even three, for it may mean those which he possessed; but the context will often show which is meant: li portretes de disi kolektere (de ti musee); portretes de generales; portretes de (da) fransi artistes.

Ye, indefinite preposition, created by Zamenhof's genius to be used in all those cases in which a preposition is wanted, but none of the existing precisely fits the occasion. It thus comes to be used where ordinary languages have idiomatic combinations which cannot be rendered literally, e.g. ye ti konditione on that condition; ye ti sirkumstanties under. . .; ye li fino del libre at the end of the book; ye dek kilometres fro li mare; pleni ye bonvolio; longi ye tri metres. La es ye duanti she is twenty (years old). Vu es ye justum you are right (F vous avez raison).

title: Novial/AIL Prepositions