- Me (I) sta hao (good, well). – I'm well.
Compound words
1. When sequence of two words acquires a new meaning, at least a little, the words are written together and a compound word appears.
1.1. The last word is the main one in a sequence:
- gun (to work) + taim (time) = guntaim (action time)
- surya (sun) + flor (flower) = suryaflor (sunflower)
- maus (mouse) + kapter (catcher) = mauskapter (mouse trap)
1.2. Some words are regularly used to make compound words:
a) jen (person), man (man), gina (woman): jadu (sorcery) – jadujen (sorcerer/sorceress) – jadugina (sorceress) – jaduman (sorcerer)
b) yuan (employee): polis (police) – polisyuan (policeman)
c) guan (institution): kitaba (book) – kitabaguan (library)
d) lok(o) (place): habitilok (habitation)
e) menga (great amount): jenmenga (crowd)
f) fin (end): lekti (to read) – finlekti (to read completely)
g) swa (oneself): swa-luba (self-love), swa-kontrola (self-control)
h) for (ahead): for-gunsa (work continuation)
i) kontra (against): kontratoxin (antidote); kontrapon (to oppose)
j) sin (without): sinsensu-ney (meaningless)
k) tra (through): go (to go) – trago (to go through)
Interchange of one part of speech for another
1. Noun to adjective:
a) -ney (for nouns ending with -а the short form is acceptable: resta-ney = reste): interes (interest) – interes-ney (interesting)
b) -ful (full of): luma (light) – lumaful (full of light, luminous)
c) -lik (similar in appearance or character): gina (woman) – ginalik (feminine, womanly)
2. Adjective to noun:
2.1. Suffixes.
a) -a (only for adjectives ending in -e) (“something or somebody characterized with this quality”)
- adulte (grown-up) – adulta (a grown-up person), konstante (constant) – konstanta (a constant)
b) -(i)taa (makes abstract nouns): vere (true) – veritaa (truth), hao (good) – haotaa (goodness)
c) -nesa: gao (high) – gaonesa (highness) – gaotaa (height)
d) -nik (characteristic feature): hao (good) – haonik (good one)