The equality of compared objects: sam... kom - as... as:
Lu es sam riche kom ela. - He is as rich as she is.
The expression 'the more..., the more' — 'kem pyu... tem pyu...': Kem pyu lao, tem pyu stupide. — The older, the sillier.
Compound words
In compound words the modifying word stands before the main word: guntaim working time, flaifish flying fish, suryaflor sunflower, akwagarmiser water-heater, mauskapter mouse trap, lernikitaba textbook, sendijen envoy, saltikorda skipping-rope.
The adjective suffix -e may be dropped: garibjen stranger (garibe jen), platbotaflat-boat (plate bota).
Diminutive and augmentative particles and suffixes
There is an augmentative particle gro-, a diminutive particle -ki (these particles are hyphenated), an augmentative suffix "gron", and a diminutive suffix "kin".
The suffixes are used to make notions which qualitatively differ from the basic noun:
dom house — domkin a house that is inherently small (cabin, hut) — domgron a house that is
inherently large (mansion);
denta tooth — dentagron tusk;
barela barrel — barelakin keg.
As to the particles, they modify the meaning within the limits of a given quality; gro- is used before the modified word, -ki after it: dom-ki a little house; gro-dom a big house.
The suffixes are used to form nouns only, while the particles may be used with different speech parts:
gro-danke thank you very much, great thanks
gro-gran huge
gro-gao greatly high
gro-chifan to guzzle, overeat
gro-pluvi it is pouring
pluvi-ki it drizzles
treba chifan-ki one should take a snack.
It should be noted that there is also an intensifying adverb "gro", so that the mentioned phrases may also be constructed as: chifan gro; pluvi gro. "Gro" expresses a greater extent of augmentation/intensification, than "muy" (very): muy hao! very well! gro-hao! great! excellent!
The particles may also be used with proper nouns: Jon-ki Johnny.
Nouns meaning action
The correspondence between noun's form and its meaning is basically the following:
Meaning
Nouns for i-verbs (type 1)
Nouns for other verbs
(type 2)
Act and its
manifestation/instance/result/resulting state
-a
-sa
The very action as process; repeated action; occupation, hobby, sport
-ing
-ing
Examples:
adi to add — ada addition (both act of adding and what is added) konvinsi to convince — konvinsa persuasion, conviction; convictions, beliefs
konekti to connect — konekta connection
judi to judge — juda judgement (both judging and decision)
reflekti to reflect — reflekta reflection (action as well as image)
inviti to invite — invita invitation
inuspiri to inhale — inuspira inhalation
lubi to love — luba love
darbi to strike — darba strike
jivi to live — jiva life
joi to rejoice — joisa joy
gun to work — gunsa work
jan to know — jansa knowledge
begin to begin — beginsa beginning
kan to look — kansa a look
flai to fly — flaisa flight
krai to cry — kraisa a cry
prei to pray — preisa prayer
zwo to do — zwoing doing go to go — going going; course swimi to swim — swiming swimming fishi to fish — fishing fishing ski to ski — skiing skiing boxi to box — boxing boxing fumi to smoke — fuming smoking bru to brew — bruing brewing piloti to pilot — piloting piloting.
A note: if verb ends in -i, that ending is replaced with -ing; in other cases -ing is added. The only exception is monosyllabic i-verbs (ski to ski, fri to fry): in their case -ing is added (skiing, friing). An important remark: "ng" in this suffix may be read simply as "n". The suffix is never stressed.
Further examples:
shuti to shoot — shuta a shot — shuting shooting
gloti to swallow — glota a swallow — gloting swallowing
kiki to kick — kika a kick — kiking kicking
kliki to click — klika a click — kliking clicking
salti to jump — salta a jump —salting jumping
lansi to throw — lansa a throw — lansing throwing.
The concretizing suffixes -(i)ka, -tura, -wat
The suffix -(i)ka has the meaning "object, thing, something concrete":
mole soft — molika pulp
nove new — novika something new, novelty
metal metal — metalka a metal thing
brili to shine — brilika something shining
ofni to open — ofnika opener
plei to play — pleika toy, plaything.
Derivation: in adjectives ending in -e and nouns ending in -a, this last vowel is transformed into -ika; in other cases -ka is added. With monosyllabic i-verbs, -ika is added with a hyphen: