dialect
diminutive
English
ecclesiastical
electricity
except, -ion
exclamation, -atory
feminine
figurative, -ly
finance, -ial
French
future
German
generally
geography
Greek
grammar
history
intransitive
id est, that is, i.e.
International
Language
including
infinitive
interrogative
ironical
Italian
juridical
Latin
SHORT INTRODUCTION TO THE ENGLISH EDITION
The English edition of the “M6thode Rapide de Neo,f (Brussels, 1965) needed much more preparation and time than we had expected ; the work of translating the dictionary from French-Neo to English-Neo proved to be particularly arduous; no doubt there are many imperfections; for there is seldom an exact match between a term in one language and a term in another; we hope readers will bring to our attention the errors they happen to notice. The coverage is considerably greater than for the M6thode Rapide, and we estimate the present size at about 20,000 words for either part.
The delay in publication of the English edition has provided the opportunity of amending a few NEO words and grammatical usages — without impairing the essential structure of the language. Language has to adapt itself to the needs of the day and to take account of advances in technology; otherwise it runs the risk of being discarded like the Latin that was left behind by its all too prolific progeny. We would have liked to express our thanks to Mr. Douglas S. Blacklock who gave freely of his time for the early publication of this Rapid Method; but he too is well aware of the imperfections that must attend any such compilation — and of the great debt which all linguistic engineers owe to those who have toiled in the same field before their time. So perhaps it would be invidious to single out Mr. Blacklock or any other individual; all we can say is that without him the book could not have been published in the year after International Cooperation Year.
We wish to express to Mr. N. H. Divall, 5, Cliveden Road, London S. W. 19, our warmest thanks for his help in the correction of the printing proofs.
NEO GRAMMAR IN TWO PAGES
PRONUNCIATION. Neo, like Spanish, is pronounced exactly as it is spelt. No letter is silent. Every letter has one sound,always the same.
VOWELS. There are 5 vowels : a, e, i, o, u ; they may v^ary in length and are indifferently short or long. They are pronounced as follows : a like palm, father; e like bet, bay, late, leather; i like bit, beet, in, if, easy; о like on, off, go, low; u like foot, rule, moon.
CONSONANTS : с and ch are pronounced like church, China; g like go, get, gun; j like jet, John; г like red, rag, round, rat; s like sit, sue, son, summer; z like zoo; x like axe, box, excited (never gz like example). All other letters same as in English.
Definite article lo : the.
Ending о may be dropped before words beginning with a voweclass="underline" l’arbo, 1’arbos the tree, the trees ;
in the plural, when preceding an invariable word, ending s may be added : los Smith, los Nelson the Smiths, the Nelsons; it may be added also when suggested by a want of clearness or euphony.
INDEFINITE ARTICLE un : a, an.
The ADJECTIVE ends with the letter a : bona good; loria strong.
the ADVERB deriving from an adjective ends with the letter e : lorie strongly.
The NOUN ends with о (plural os) : frato, fraios brother, brothers; soro, soros sister, sisters; gardeno, gardenos garden, gardens; tablo, tablos table, tables; libro, libros book, books.
Ending о is frequently dropped IN THE SINGULAR, so long as the pronunciation remains very easy : frat, sor, garden. One may not say tabl, libr, because the pronunciation would be difficult. THE PLURAL ENDING os IS NEVER DROPPED.
NUMBERS :
un du tre qar qin sit sep ot non is ek mil milyon
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 100 1000 million
All other numbers by compounding these 13 elements : isun isdu istre isqar isqin issit issep isot isnon duis duisun
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 duisdu treis treisot qaris qarisqin qinis siiis sepis otis 22 30 38 40 45 50 60 70 80
otisun nonis nonisnon ek un ek sepisot duek treek qarek 81 90 99 101 178 200 300 400
qinek sitmil otmil qarek sepmil nonisqin
500 6000 8400 7095
ORDINAL NUMBERS : prima, una first; dua second; irea third; qara fourth; ota eighth; isa tenth; eka hundredth.
PRONOUNS
SUBJECT (1) OBJECT (1) POSSESSIVE
mi I me me ma my; mine
tu you te you ta your; yours
il he le him la his
el she le (-y) her la her; hers
it it le, it it la its
so oneself; one se oneself sa his; one’s
nos we ne us na our; ours
vu you ve you va your; yours
zi they ze them za their; theirs
zel they (fem.) ze (-y) them(fem.)
IMPORTANT : After a preposition the pronoun takes always the “subject” form : mi gar kon il I go with him; Venar vu kon nos ? are you coming with us ?
Example for possessive adjective : ma dom, ma domos my house, my houses; possessive pronouns end with s in the plural : lo ma, lo mas mine.
The VERB. Conjugation of the verb i (to have) (same form for all persons)
Present ar mi, tu, il, nos, vu, zi ar I have, you
have, he has
Past tense, Imperfect .. ir mi, tu, il, nos, vu, zi ir I had, you had,
he had, we had
Future or mi, tu, il, nos, vu, zi or I shall have,
you will have
Conditional (3) ur mi, tu, il, nos, vu, zi ur I should have,
you would have
Imperative, Subjunctive iu Iu duldo! have patience! (pron i-u)
Past participle at had (mi ar at I have had)
Present participle ande having (adjective: anda)
Compound participle .. inde having had (adjective inda)
(3) The “conditional” tense may be ignored by beginners and by persons who don’t use this tense in their mother tongue.
This verb i is the pattern and the ending of ALL OTHER VERBS :
si to be; mi sar I am; il sir he was; el sur she would be; sat been; fl to do; tu far you do; nos fir we did; vu ar fat you have done; vidi to see; nos vidar we see; el vidor she will see; vidinde having seen; promeni to walk; zi promenir they walked; el ar promenat she has walked.
VOCABULARY : ya yes; no no, not; forse perhaps; sem always; ni never; of often; vo where; ik here; ye there; toye everywhere; de of; da from ; e and; о or; kon with; sen without; an also ; nur only ; parli to speak; angla English ; Anglal English (language); xena foreign ; kompreni to understand; pli to please; pi to be able; par vu ? can you ? po for; somo something; epe a little; dezi to wish; lente slowly; vit quickly; speri to hope; kras tomorrow : oje to-day; yer yesterday; fas almost; mul much, many; muy very.
Parlar vu Anglal ? No, mi xena. Do you speak English ? No, I am
a foreigner.
Mi komprenar epe, mo no par I understand it a little, but I cannot
parli. speak it.
Mi dezur apreni an Neo. I should like to learn Neo too.
Neo un linguo iza e plaza. Neo is an easy and pleasant language.
Par mi fl somo po vu ? Can I do something for you ?
Pli, parlu lente, mi no kompre-Please, speak slowly, I don’t under—
nar. stand.
Mi sperar ve vidi kras. I hope to see you tomorrow.
Sar vu of ik ? Fas sem. Are you often here ? Almost
always.
Bonid, Sir. Bonser, Madam. Good morning, Sir. Good evening,
Madam.
Alvid, Darnel Janin. Bonnox. Good-bye, Miss Jane. Good night.
After reading these two pages, you know all essential rules of Neo.
FIRST PART
GRAMMAR
The ALPHABET comprises 26 letters : 5 vowels (a, e, i, o, u) and 21 consonants :
For letter с pronunciation ts like tsar is acceptable.
Letter q needs no following u to convey its kw sound, just as the sound of x is really ks. Rather than proper letters, q and x are convenient signs to replace respectively ku (or kw) and ks; both ku (or kw) and ks are available if preferred. Letter q is always followed by a, e, i or o.