He hammered (at) the picture. - Ilu martelagis la pikturo.
To hammer with some other tool, for instance a rock, requires the affix -UZ- ("to use"), since the affix -AG- automatically includes a hammer as the tooclass="underline"
He hammered (at) the picture with a stone - Ilu marteluzis la pikturo pri la stono.
In the same way we have: klefagar - to lock, from klefo - a lock; butonagar -to button, from butono - a button; frenagar - to apply the break, from freno - a brake; pedalagar - to pedal, from pedo (foot) -> pedalo (foot-board or pedal).
Titles of Courtesy
In addressing noble persons, etc., use the word "Sinior(ul)o", "Siniorino", followed (when necessary) by the name of the dignity:
Sinioro Rejo, me humile pregas..
Sinioro Episkopo di London.
Siniorino Komto - The Countess..
Yes, Sinioro, - Yes, your Honor, your Worship.
Elision
The final "a" of "la" and of adjectives, particularly derived adjectives in -AL-, may be dropped when when the meaning is clear without it:
Ilu parolis a l'infanto.
La nacional sentimento.
The accent remains on the same syllable as if the "a" was inserted. The definite article "la" may be contracted with certain prepositions: dal = da la, dil = di la, del = de la, al = a la
Compound Words, Again
A noun can be the root (that is, subject) of a compound with any element, except those prepositions that would change the role of the noun from a subject to an object:
A steam-ship - vapor-navo : A ship (the subject) that moves by means of steam.
But for "submarine", translating directly as "sub-maro" would mean the ocean (the subject) is below something. The subject is changed into an object by the verb-like action of the preposition.We need to position the ship below the ocean to make "submarine". So, for a "below water ship" we to apply an adjective to describe "moving under water" to a ship that does the moving:
under-water ship - sub'mara navo (places the ship under the water)
Other prepositions showing positional relationships also work better as compound adjectives than they might as compound nouns:
international - inter'naciona (positioned among nations)
supernatural - super'natura (positioned above or beyond nature)
fenomeno super'natura (phenomenom happening beyond nature)
Translating English words that contain prepositions requires some thought:
forearm - "avan-brakio" would be a part at the fore of (in front of) the arm, which is the hand.
"avana-brakio", changing the preposition "avan" into the adjective
"avana", positions the object as part of the arm, not separately in front of it, as that part of the arm in front of the elbow, or the (English) forearm
What is a "vice-president"?
Because Ido draws upon a number of languages to build an internationally-accepted vocabulary, official words and roots sometimes fit most contributing languages, but not all of them. For instance, the office meaning of'vice" in Ido is "alternative". That means a "vice-presidanto", strictly speaking would be an "alternative president", or a person working in parallel with and equal to the current president. However, the internationally-accepted meaning of vice-president is "sequentially second", a person standing-by to replace the current president if necessary.
Some day, in the far distant future, we may all be speaking Ido as our primary language. Until that day, bear in mind that there may be subtle differences in understanding among native speakers of different languages, and be willing to rephrase your Ido statements when it would be helpful to clarify your meaning.
Appendix - Notes on Derivation
We have as a word basis the invariable stem, ordinarily termed "root", which is selected on the principle of maximum internationally or facility. Disregarding the particles and adverbial forms, these roots fall naturally for the most part into three classes :
(1) Verbal roots indicating an action, as : ir(ar), ba(tar), salt(ar). (
2) Nominal roots denoting an object, as : hom(o), dom(o). puer(o).
(3) adjectival roots expressing a quality, as : bon(a), facil(a), avarl(a). These roots, plus the appropriate terminal letters : -ar, -o, -a, -e, constitute the fundamental grammatical forms.
The addition of these grammatical finals : -ar, -o, -a, -e, is termed "immediate" or "direct" derivation. "Mediate" or "indirect" derivation is accomplished by means of affixes (prefixes and suffixes), as : des-, refro-, -estr-, -in-. The sum of the words that can logically be formed from any one root by mediate or immediate derivation constitutes the "word family."
It is a fundamental principle that a root expresses one basic signification, modified as it may be by the different affixes, each of which in turn carries one invariable sense. One root, one meaning; one affix, one meaning. Knowing the form (spelling) and meaning of a root, we can logically and clearly express all related ideas by use of the proper affix. This characteristic is termed the principle of "unasenceso", one sense, one word, uniqueness in signification, unambiguity.
For example, the fundamental idea of music is expressed by the root: muzik-, this idea of music therefore is carried in all forms of the root: nouns, adjectives, or what not. The suffix -isto indicates a person occupied professionally with something. Muzik-isto can therefore only signify a (professional) musician. Given the verbal root: dorm-ar to slccp, we know that the substantive form is dormado and means sleep as a substantive and cannot refer to a sleeper or a sleeping place. There is thus a reciprocal relation between form and sense. This carries with it a second principle, that of "reversibility" which Professor Couturat formulated as follows :
"Every derivative must be reversible; that is to say, if one passes (forward) from one word to another of the same family by virtue of a certain rule, one must be able to pass inversely from the second to the first in virtue of the rule which is exactly the reverse of the preceding."
Given pac-o, peace, pac-ar can only signify to be at peace, in a state of peace.
Pac-ar cannot signify to pacify, because if it did the substantive could only mean pacification, the making of peace. To express the idea of to pacify, pacification, we must add the suffix -if- which adds to the root the idea of: to make, render, cause to be. Pac-if-ar therefore logically expresses the idea of to pacify (someone) and pac-if-o translates pacification.
If we should depart from the substantive kron-o, a crown, the immediate verbal form kron-ar could have no rational meaning. Kron- ar, as derived from kron-o in the sense of a crown, cannot logically express the idea of: to crown (someone), because the meaning of the substantive inversely derived from "to crown" is and can only logically be : the act of crowning, the coronation, not the crown itself. To express the idea of: to crown (someone), we use the suffix -iz- which adds to the root the idea of: covering, furnishing, providing. "To crown" is only logically expressed, therefore, by kron-iz-ar (kron : crown, plus -izar : to cover with). From this verbal form, we logically get kron-izo, meaning coronation.
This capability of reversing a derivative form and arriving at the original meaning is the practical test of the rightness of a derived form. Attention is especially called to this point because in our "natural" languages, especially the English, almost any simple noun may be used as a verb without change of form — we "ship goods": and "ship a crew" and send the goods and the crew to the ship. We understand such meanings from an inspection of the sentence as a whole and because we are familiar with the diction. In a logically constructed language to be used by diverse linguistic groups such use is not admissible. It is an obvious fact that a substantive derived from a verb, can have logically no other meaning than the state or action expressed by the verb and, consequently, no verb can be directly derived from a noun unless the noun expresses an act or condition, in which case the verb must signify to do that act or be in that condition. This is likewise true in regard to the impossibility of deriving verbs directly from adjectives - we must add the appropriate verbal suffix (-ig, -esk, -if) or, for passive senses, the proper form of the verb esar.