The Negative
The negative in Ido is formed by using "ne". It means "not".
In English we say "I am not, I must not, I have not (I haven't)". But in Ido the negation "ne" is usually in front of the verb:
Me ne es, Me ne havas, but,
Me ne mustas -1 don't have to...
Me NE mustas irar adibe. - Ido not have to go there.
Me NE mustas facar to. - I don't have to do it (no responsibility to do it).
Me mustas NE facar to. - I must not do it (total responsibility to NOT do it, stronger sense than "I don't have to do it.").
Most verbs in English add "does" or "do" to help form the negative:
I "do" not have (I don"t have). Peter "does" not read (doesn"t read).
Ido forms negatives without using an equivalent to "do" or "does". Ido uses the same simple "ne" pattern for all negatives:
Me ne havas (I do not have), Peter ne lektas (Peter does not read).
Derivation
Ido creates many new words (called "derivations") from a smaller group of "root" words (called "radicals") by adding new beginnings and endings to the roots to specify the meaning. We will have many, many examples of this process. Our first example shows how to make nouns from adjectives. The process is simple: change the adjective ending -A to the noun ending -O, and you have a noun with the same sense of the adjective:
bona - good -> bono - good one/ good man.
yuna - young -> yuno - young one/ young boy or girl
acesora - accessory -> acesoro - an accessory.
You can also go the other way, to create adjectives from nouns: oro - gold -> ora - golden, made of gold.
Exempli
I am - Me esas/es. I am not - Me ne esas/es.
I have - Me havas. I haven't - Me ne havas.
I see - Me vidas. I don't see - Me ne vidas.
I like - Me prizas. I don't like - Me ne prizas.
I walk - Me promenas. I am not walking - Me ne promenas
I am not old. - Me ne esas/es olda.
I don't see you. - Me ne vidas vu.
You don't see me. - Vu ne vidas me.
I don't like the house. - Me ne prizas la domo.
I am not eating the food. - Me ne manjas la manjajo.
The dog doesn't speak Ido. - La hundo ne parolas Ido.
You do not live in London. - Vu ne habitas en London.
The dog is not learning Ido. - La hundo ne lernas Ido.
Maria doesn't live in Paris. - Maria ne habitas en Paris.
You are not looking at Maria. - Vu ne regardas Maria.
You are not reading the book. - Vu ne lektas la libro.
The plate is not in the house. - La plado ne esas/es en la domo.
The dog isn't looking at the horse. - La hundo ne regardas la kavalo.
The cat is not sleeping in the box. - La kato ne dormas en la buxo.
bruna - brown chasas - chases do - so/therefore dop - behind ek - out of elu - she/her felica - happy feroca - fierce fisho - fish foresto - forest gazoneyo - lawn
grosa - fat hodie - today ilu - he/him magra - thin/lean nun - now ofte - often sama - same strado - street tre - very trista - sad adsur - onto/upon
The boy/girl is not drinking the milk.
-
La yuno ne drinkas la lakto.
Exempli
Felix is a thin old cat. - Felix esas/es magra olda kato.
He lives behind your house in the forest. - Ilu habitas dop vua domo en la foresto.
He often walks in my large garden. - Ilu ofte promenas en mea granda gardeno.
He often sleeps on my lawn. - Ilu ofte dormas sur mea gazoneyo.
Today Felix is chasing a fat brown mouse. - Hodie Felix chasas grosa bruna muso.
Today Felix hasn't got any food. - Hodie Felix ne havas manjajo. He is very sad. - Ilu esas/es tre trista.
So I put a fish for him on a plate in the garden. - Do me pozas fisho por ilu adsur plado en la gardeno.
Now Felix is very happy. - Nun Felix esas/es tre felica.
Maria sees Felix. - Maria vidas Felix.
She doesn't like Felix and chases him out of my garden. - Elu ne prizas Felix e chasas ilu ek mea gardeno.
Felix is on the street. - Felix esas/es sur la strado.
Rex is a fierce dog. - Rex esas/es feroca hundo.
Rex sees Felix and chases him. - Rex vidas Felix e chasas ilu.
Konversado
There are some grammatic points in this conversation that you haven't seen up to now. They will be explained in later lessons. You can understand and use these conversational phrases without knowing the grammatical fine points just yet.
Good morning! - Bona matino!
Goodday! - Bonajorno!
What is your name? - Quale vu nomesas?
My name is Peter. - Me nomesas Peter.
How are you? - Quale vu standas?
Very well. - Tre bone.
Thank you! - Me dankas!
Are you tired? - Ka vu esas fatigita?
Not at all! - Tote ne!
Yes, a little. - Yes, kelkete.
No, sir. - No, sioro.
If you please. - Me pregas.
I am hungry. - Me hungras.
Are you thirsty? - Ka vu durstas?
Give me a glass. - Donez a me glaso.
A cup of tea. - Taso de teo.
Do you want...? - Ka vu deziras...?
I don't mind. - Me ne objecionas.
It does not matter. - Ne importas.
Adjectives - Short Forms
You may drop the final "a" of adjectives for euphony: Bona -> Bon Konversado
Here is another conversation between Peter and Mary. P: Bonjorno! Quale vu standas? M: Tre bone, danko. E vu?
P: Me standas bone, danko. Me nomesas Peter. Quale vu nomesas? M: Me nomesas Mary. P: Til rivido, Mary! M: Til rivido, Peter!
Lesson 03 • Triesma Leciono
Questions
So far we have been making simple statements in Ido, such as: Me vidas la kato or Me tushas la hundo. Now we will see how to make questions.
The English language uses two basic models for questions:
Some verbs can be used as questions by changing the word order, for example: "I must" becomes "Must I?" "He is" becomes "Is he?" and "They can" becomes "Can they?".
Some other verbs require "do" or "does" at the beginning of the sentence to make it into a question: "He sings" becomes "Does he sing?", and "You come" becomes "Do you come?"
In Ido question-making is much simpler. First, the words are kept in exactly the same order as for a statement, but to make it clear that a question is being asked the word "Ka" (or "Kad") is placed at the beginning of the sentence.
"Ka/Kad" has no equivalent in English:
Vu havas kato (You've got a cat) becomes:
Ka vu havas kato? (Do you have a cat? Have you got a cat?)
Me manjas ovo (I am eating an egg) becomes:
Ka me manjas ovo? (Am I eating an egg?)
Note as with "ed/e", if the following word begins with a vowel then it is usual, though not obligatory, to use "kad" instead:
Ilu mustas (He must) -> Kad ilu mustas? (Must he?),
or, you may use "kad" always, regardless of the following word.
Note, if there is a question-word like who, where, etc., "ka/kad" is not used:
Ube vu habitas? - Where do you live? Kad vu komprenis? - Did you understand?
a - to
ad - to (before word beginning
with vowel)
arboro - tree
bona - good
blanka - white
bruna - brown
ibe - there
iras -goes
jupo - skirt no - no ol/olu - it parko - park policisto - policeman ponto - bridge rivero - river portas - carries/wears ucelo - bird venas - comes yes - yes