"irge", "irga", etc.:
Do whatever you like. - Facez irgo quon vu volas.
Whatever might be his anger... - Irge quala/quanta esas ilua iraco.
Whoever they may be ...- Irge qui ilu esas ...
Whenever I hear the birds singing, - Irge kande me audas la uceli kantar,
Whichever is here, - Irge qua esas hike,
Give me anything whatever, - Donez a me irgo.
Let it be ever so small, - Irge quante mikra olu esos,
We have bought ever such a tiny cottage, - Ni kompris tote mikra rurdometo.
JUST
The word "just" can be
an adjective meaning "correct", translated "justa": He made a very just remark. - Ilu facis trejusta remarko.
an adjective meaning "righteous", translated "yusta": Bejust and fear not. - Esez yusta e ne timez.
an adverb meaning "the moment before now", translated "jus": She hasjust come. - Eljus arivis.
an adverb meaning "the moment now coming", translated "quik": She is just coming. - Elu esas nun venanta (quik venonta). I willjust do it, and then I am ready. - Me quik facos lo, e lore me esos pronta.
an adverb meaning "exactly", translated "exakte","juste": It'sjust the thing I want. - Olu esas juste to quon me deziras
BOTH
"Both", as a pronoun, is translated "we two", "they two", "the two":as an adverb, "at the same time together"; or, in many cases, by the use of "also":
They both went to the station. - Li du iris a la staciono.
We were both agreed. - Ni du konkordis.
Both the men were drunk. - Omna du viri esis ebria.
Both I and my brother think so. - Me ed anke mea frato opinionas tale.
All the tourists were both hungry and thirsty. - Omna turisti sam- tempe hungris e durstis.
The address was both on the paper and on the envelope. - La adreso esis sur la papero ed anke sur la kuverto.
Lesson 30 - Triadekesma Leciono Order of Words
English, having few inflexions, has to arrange its words logically, subject, verb, object: I love him. - Me amas ilu. Generally, this word order works well, and is the clearest manner of expression in Ido.
The adjective (if there is only one, and it's not too long) is bettter placed before the noun: A long way. - Longa voyo. (Voyo longa would also be correct.)
Adverbs are also normally placed before the word they modify: He truly said he fully understood. - Ilu vere dicis ke ilu tote komprenas.
The adverbs "ne" and "tre" must always be placed before the word the modify. Other placements change the meaning of the phrase:
I like him very much. - Me tre amas ilu.
Not entirely (= not quite). - Ne tote.
Entirely not (= not at all). - Tote ne.
Accusative
Any noun, adjective, or pronoun can be made an accusative, but only when it is the direct object of a verb and placed before the subject. Show you are dealing with an accusative by adding -N:
A fine story, he told me! - Bela rakonton ilu facis a me!
It was they that I called. - Lin me vokis.
The pronoun "il","el","ol", are abbreviations for "ilu","elu","olu", and their accusatives would be "ilun","elun","olun": She it was whom I loved so! - Elun me tante amis!
But the accusative is not necessary, if the subject comes before the object in the sentence:
I saw them (=I them saw). - "Me li vidis" is correct, but. "Me lin vidis." would be clearer.
Use the accusative whenever the object comes before (on the left side of) the verb. e.g.I love you. - Me tun amoras.
Compound Words
Nouns can be united as in English to do away with a preposition:
A tea-cup (= a cup for tea). - te-taso (= taso por teo).
A steam-ship. - vapor-navo.
The -O- between the words depends on the euphony: skribo-tablo or skrib-tablo, but tablo-tuko (not tabl-tuko). The hyphen is often better inserted: fervoyo-vagono (rather than fervoyovagono).
When the compound is formed with adjectives or adverbs, it may be useful to write the adjectival or adverbal termination:
English-speaking people. - Angle-parolanti.
Sky-blue - Ciel-blua.
Sunburnt - Sun-brulita
A dark-eyed, curly-headed little boy. - Nigr-okula loklo-hara pueruleto.
Compound words formed with prepositions take the preposition first and remain in the same order as in English: Subterranean - Sub-tera
Such compound words do not require the usual affixes, as the relation is expressed by the preposition: national - nacionala, international - internaciona
Again: natural - naturala, supernatural - supernatura, because -ala means "pri", naturala -> pri naturo, fenomeno supernatura -> fenomeno super naturo, so "fenomeno supernaturala" is understood to mean "fenomeno pri super naturo".
For compound words formed by a preposition and a verb, do not make combinations that alter the object of the verb. For instance:
I see the stones at the bottom through the water. - Me vidas la stoni di la fundo tra la aquo
"Tra-vidar" is "to see through". To use tra-vidar in this sentence, you have to be careful about what is seen, and what is being seen through: Me tra-vidas la stoni di la fundo en la aquo (not: me travidas la aquo).
The adjective "travidebla", therefore, cannot mean "transparent": it only applies to the stones, and means "visible through (the water)." The word "transparent" is "diafana": Stoni travidebla tra diafana aquo.
Impersonal Verbs
Impersonal verbs are used without a subject, and are followed by an infinitive:
oportas - it is necessary
importas - it is important
konvenas - it is convenient
decas - it is proper
suficas - it is sufficient
Oportas levar ni frue morte. - We must get up early tomorrow. (It is necessary to raise ourselves early tomorrow.)
Other impersonal verbs can be formed by the use of "esar" with an adjective:
Esas utila vakuigar la barelo. - It is useful to empty the barrel.
Derivation
The derivation of words constructed by adding affixes to roots is a powerful feature ofIdo. However, you cannot simply add any affix to any root to come up with an understandable derivation. You have to respect the logical relation of the words and affixes, as there are some combinations that might be grammatically legal, but logically unworkable.
For example, to derive the verb "to address" from the noun "address" ("adreso", on a parcel or letter), you must think of what one does with the address. In English, you can use the noun directly as a verb, and say "address the envelope", or "address the audience", or even "address the golf ball", and be correct with all the senses of meaning.
In Ido, you address an envelop by covering it with an address, so use the "-IZ-" affix to mean "to cover": adreso -> adresizar (not "adresar"). To address an audience, use "parolar". The difference is in the logical relation, which Ido expresses to a very precise degree.
When the root is a verb of action, the noun derived from it must logically relate to the action itself. You cannot derive the verb "to brush", from the noun "brush", because the action is in the root, not in the object. The root is the verb of action, "brosar", and the derived
noun "broso" can only mean the act ofbrushing. To name "a brush" as a noun, describe the "instrument used for brushing" by using the affix -IL- for "instrument" on the verb for "brush" to create "brosilo". The act, "broso", is quite different from the instrument, "brosilo", though the both can be derived logically from the root "bros-" of the verb "brosar".
In addition to the affixes that can only be affixes, many roots are used as affixes, to form a kind of compound word. Thus the root AG- of the verb "agar" meaning "to act, do, wield", is used with the roots for many names of instruments, particularly when the name of the instrument came first, and the word for the action describing its use developed later. "Martelo" is a hammer. To hammer something is to wield a hammer, "martelagar". Using the verb "martelagar" includes the sense ofhaving the tool at the time of the action: