LESSON VII.


The Perfect Tenses of the verb are formed by means of the suffix -ab, placed after the root and before the grammatical ending:
Me parol-ab-is, I had spoken.
Il fin-ab-os, He will have finished.
El en-fal-ab-us, She would have fallen in.
Fin-ab-ez, kande me arivos, Have finished when I (shall) arrive.
For the Present Perfect the ordinary Past is used:
The Progressive Forms (I am speaking, I was speaking) may be translated literally: but most languages find the simple forms of the verb sufficient, so that these are to be preferred in Ido:
Me parolas, I speak, I am speaking.
Me parolis, I spoke, I was speaking, I have spoken.
Me parolos, I shall speak, I shall be speaking.
Me parolus, I should (or would) speak, I should be speaking.
The future participle in -onta translates the English "to be about to," "to be going to":
Me esas parol-onta, I am going to speak.
Il esis parol-onta, He was about to speak.
Kelka homi esas sempre o manjanta, o quik manjonta, o jus manjinta, some people are always either having a meal, or just going to have one, or just having had one.
The Emphatic Forms are translated by the Ido simple forms reinforced by the adverb ya, indeed:
Me ya askoltas, I do listen, I am listening.
Me skribis ya, I did write.
Me atencis ya, I was attending.
Venez ya, Do come!

AFFIXES.- dis-, separation, dissemination:
dis-donar, to distribute (by hand). dis-sekar, to dissect.
dis-sendar, distribute (by letter).
des-, the contrary (of any action, quality, etc.):
des-honoro, dishonour. des-plezar, to displease.
des-facila, difficult. des-espero, despair.
des-pruvar, to disprove.
ne-, really an adverb meaning "not," is much used as a prefix to indicate negation. It differs widely from des-, which marks the "direct opposite." There is all the difference in the world between a piece of evidence that does not prove a charge (atesto ne-pruvanta) and one that disproves it (atesto des-pruvanta):
vole o ne-vole, willy-nilly.
sen-, a preposition meaning "without," is also used as a prefix having the value of the English -less:
sen-viva, lifeless. sen-hara, hairless.
mi-, half:
mi-horo, half-an-hour. mi-apertita, half-open, ajar.
mis-, wrongly, amiss:
mis-lektar, to misread.
mis-pozar, to misplace. (Note the verb egarar, to mislay).
-ach-, pejorative, giving a bad sense:
popul-acho, populace. rid-achar, to guffaw.
skrib-achar, to scrawl.

CONVERSATION.

You look pale,Vu aspektas pala.
Are you unwell?Kad vu esas ne-sana?
I have a cold,Me havas kataro.
I have caught cold,Me prenis kataro.
Don't stand in the draught,Ne restez en la aer-fluo.
Send for the doctor,Querigez la mediko.
Are you often ill?Kad vu esas ofte malada?
No, very seldom.No, tre rare.
I don't remember being ill since I was a child,Me ne memoras esir malada, depos mea infanteso.
Last year I had a cold in the head,Lasta-yare, me havis nazkataro.
I had to stay at home for two days,Me mustis restar en la domo dum du dii.
But I did not go to bed,Ma me ne restis en la lito.

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James Chandler 1997