LESSON XI.


POSSESSIVE CASE.- (1) The English possessive case has to be turned round, and translated by the preposition di:
The father's dog (= the dog of the father),
La hundo di la patrulo.
The mothers' meeting (= the meeting of the mothers),
La asemblo di la patrini.
A mothers' meeting (= a meeting of mothers),
Asemblo di patrini.
A beggar's revenge (= the revenge of a beggar),
Venjo di mendikisto.
(2) With prepositions to and at, the possessive case is translated by che:
She lives at her uncle's (house),
El lojas che sua onklulo.
He went to his tailor's (shop),
Il iris che sua talioro.
(3) The possessive case was formerly used with all nouns. We still find traces of it in expressions like an hour's walk, where there is no real possession, and the preposition de is to be used:
Un horo de marcho, or: marcho de (or, dum) un horo.
(4) A few expressions where the possessive case is found can rendered by simpler forms:
at arm's length, ye brakio-disto.
for mercy's sake, pro kompato.
a hair's breadth, har-dikeso.
today's news, la cadiala novaji.
for form's sake, por la formo.
(5) Another form of possessive is the adjectival noun:
a railway carriage = fer-voyala vagono.
or better, vagono di fervoyo.
the park gate = la parkala pordego.
or better, la pordego di la parko.

POSSESSIVE = THAT.- The possessive case at the end of a sentence often has to be translated by the pronoun that:
He said his writing was better than his brother's (= than that of his brother),
Il dicis ke lua skribajo esas plu bona, kam ta di lua fratulo.
She liked her sister's best (= that of her sister),
El maxim prizis ta di sua fratino.
It is as good as my grandfather's (= as that of my grandfather),
Ol esas tam bona, kam ta di mea avulo.
It is the old man's (= that of the old man),
Ol esas ta di la oldulo,
or: It belongs to the old man,
Ol apartenas a la oldulo.

PARTITIVE ARTICLE.- When the indefinite adjectives some, anya, an, they are not to be translated:
The children have some bread, La infanti havas pano.
Did he get any money? Kad il recevis pekunio?
He wrote without any ink. Il skribis sen inko.
In such cases the word some or any could easily be left out.
Did he get any money? etc.
If the word some or any cannot be left out, then it is an adjective or a pronoun, and must be translated:
Whether he got any or not, I don't know,
Kad il recevis kelka o ne, me ne savas.

APPARENT PLURAL.- Note the following and all similar:

bellows, suflilo.contents, kontenajo.
breeches, pantalono.dregs, lizo.
scissors, cizo.alms, almono or almoni.
tongs, tenalio.means, moyeno or moyeni.
billiards, biliardo.news, novajo or novaji.

Some nouns of quantity remain singular in English when preceded by a number; they should, of course, be plural in Ido:
They had three brace of partridges and six dozen oysters,
Li havis tri pari [de] perdriki e sis dekedui [de] ostri.

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James Chandler 2000