Forms of the Verb:
a) The present tense ends in as, e.g. mi far′as, “I do”.
b) The past tense ends in is, e.g. li far′is, “he did”.
c) The future tense ends in os, e.g. ili far′os, “they will do”.
ĉ) The subjunctive mood ends in us, e.g. ŝi far′us, “
d) The imperative mood ends in u, e.g. ni far′u, “let us do”.
e) The infinitive mood ends in i, e.g. fari, “to do”. There are two forms of the participle in the international language, the changeable or adjectival, and the unchangeable or adverbial.
f) The present participle active ends in ant, e.g. far′ant′a, “he who is doing”; far′ant′e, “doing”.
g) The past participle active ends in int, e.g. far′int′a, “he who has done”; far′int′e, “having done”.
ĝ) The future participle active ends in ont, e.g. far′ont′a, “he who will do”; far′ont′e, “about to do”.
h) The present participle passive ends in at, e.g. far′at′e, “being done”.
ĥ) The past participle passive ends in it, e.g. far′it′a, “that which has been done”; far′it′e, “having been done”.
i) The future participle passive ends in ot, e.g. far′ot′a, “that which will be done”; far′ot′e, “about to be done”.
All forms of the passive are rendered by the respective forms of the verb est (to be) and the participle passive of the required verb; the preposition used is de, “by”. E.g. ŝi est′as am′at′a de ĉiu′j, “she is loved by every one”.
7. Adverbs are formed by adding e to the root. The degrees of comparison are the same as in adjectives, e.g., mi′a frat′o kant′as pli bon′e ol mi, “my brother sings better than I”.
8. All prepositions govern the nominative case.
C) General Rules
9. Every word is to be read exactly as written, there are no silent letters.
10. The accent falls on the last syllable but one, (penultimate).
11. Compound words are formed by the simple junction of roots, (the principal word standing last), which are written as a single word, but, in elementary works, separated by a small line (′). Grammatical terminations are considered as independent words. E.g. vapor′ŝip′o, “steamboat” is composed of the roots vapor, “steam”, and ŝip, “a boat”, with the substantival termination o.
12. If there be one negative in a clause, a second is not admissible.
13. In phrases answering the question “where?” (meaning direction), the words take the termination of the objective case; e.g. kie′n vi ir′as?“where are you going?”; dom′o′n, “home”; London′o′n, “to London”, etc.
14. Every preposition in the international language has a definite fixed meaning. If it be necessary to employ some preposition, and it is not quite evident from the sense which it should be, the word je is used, which has no definite meaning; for example, ĝoj′i je tio, “to rejoice over it”; rid′i je tio, “to laugh at it”; enu′o je la patr′uj′o, “a longing for one’s fatherland”. In every language different prepositions, sanctioned by usage, are employed in these dubious cases, in the international language, one word, je, suffices for all. Instead of je, the objective without a preposition may be used, when no confusion is to be feared.
15. The so-called “foreign” words, i. e. words which the greater number of languages have derived from the same source, undergo no change in the international language, beyond conforming to its system of orthography. ― Such is the rule with regard to primary words, derivatives are better formed (from the primary word) according to the rules of the international grammar, e.g. teatr′o, “theatre”, but teatr′a, “theatrical”, (not teatrical′a), etc.
16. The a of the article, and final o of substantives, may be sometimes dropped euphoniae gratia, e.g. de l’ mond′o for de la mond′o; Ŝiller’ for Ŝiller′o; in such cases an apostrophe should be substituted for the discarded vowel.
Grammatik
A) Das Alphabet
| Aa, a | Bb, b | Cc, c, z | Ĉĉ, tsch | Dd, d | Ee, e | Ff, f |
| Gg, g | Ĝĝ, dsch | Hh, h | Ĥĥ, ch | Ii, i | Jj, j | Ĵĵ, sh, j |
| Kk, k | Ll, l | Mm, m | Nn, n | Oo, o | Pp, p | Rr, r |
| Ss, ss | Ŝŝ, sch | Tt, t | Uu, u | Ŭŭ, kurzes u | Vv, w | Zz, s (wie in „lesen“) |
Anmerkung: ĝ lautet wie das englische g in gentleman; ĵ ― wie das französische j in journal; u ― wie das kurze u in glauben (wird nur nach einem Vokal gebraucht). Bei mangelnden Typen im Druck ersetzt man ĉ, ĝ, ĥ, ĵ, ŝ, ŭ durch ch, gh, hh, jh, sh, u.
B) Redetheile.
1. Der bestimmte Artikel ist la, für alle Geschlechter und Fälle, für die Einzahl und Mehrzahl. Einen unbestimmten Artikel gibt es nicht.
2. Das Hauptwort bekommt immer die Endung o. Der Plural bekommt die Endung j. Es gibt nur zwei Fälle: Nominativ und Akkusativ; der letztere entsteht aus dem Nominativ, indem die Endung n hinzugefügt wird. Die übrigen Fälle werden vermittelst der Präpositionen ausgedrückt: der Genitiv durch de (von), der Dativ durch al (zu), der Ablativ durch kun (mit)[4], oder andere, dem Sinne entsprechende, Präpositionen. Z.B. la patr′o, der Vater; al la patr′o, dem Vater; la patr′o′n, den Vater; la patr′o′j′n, die Väter (Akkusativ).
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