IDO QUICK REFERENCE WRITING AND PRONUNCIATION Ido uses the twenty-six letters of the English alphabet. The following consonant letters have the same pronunciation as in English: b,d,f,k,l,m,n,p,t,v,w,z,qu,sh. Other consonant letters as follows: 'c' as "ts"; 'g' always "hard"; 'h' always pronounced; 'j' like the "s" in "pleaSure"; 'r' rolled if possible, but always pronounced, even after vowels (this is important); 's' always unvoiced; 'x' as English "ks"; 'y' always a consonant as in 'Yellow'; 'ch' always as in "CHurCH". Vowels as follows: 'a' as in "fAther"; 'e' as in "pEt"; 'i' as in "machIne"; 'o' as in "glOry"; 'u' as in "rUde". In words of more than one syllable, a stress accent falls on the next to last syllable, except that verb infinitives have the stress accent on the last syllable, and if the last vowel is preceded by 'i' or 'u', the two vowels are treated as if in one syllable. _________________________________________________________________ GRAMMATICAL ENDINGS -o singular noun NOTE: The accusative forms -i plural noun -on and -in are only used -a adjective in the instance of inverted -e adverb word order. in addition to the verb endings below. _________________________________________________________________ VERB ENDINGS -ar present infinitive, -ir past infinitive, -or future infinitive -as present tense, -is past tense, -os future tense -us conditional -ez imperative, hortative -ab- suffix used in conjunction with past, future and conditional endings to form perfect tenses (e.g., had gone, will have gone, would have gone). In 1947 it was decided that -ab- may also be used with the present to form a perfect tense: me vidabas - I have seen. -es- passive -ant- present active participle: e.g., seeing -int- past active participle: e.g., having seen -ont- future active participle: e.g., going to see -at- present passive participle: e.g., being seen -it- past passive participle: e.g., having been seen -ot- future passive participle: e.g., going to be seen The participles are most commonly found with the adjective ending -a, but also sometimes with -e (adverb) or -o/-i (noun). _________________________________________________________________ COMPARISON plu more min less maxim most minim least _________________________________________________________________ DIRECT DERIVATION These are the four methods of direct derivation in Ido: Verb to noun: By replacing the -ar of an infinitive with -o, we form the noun meaning the simple action or state implied by the verb: brosar - to brush, broso - a brushing. The continuous or frequent action is indicated by -ad-: brosado - brushing. Adjective to noun: By replacing the -a of an adjective with -o, we form the person or thing having that property: bona - good, bono - good one, good man. Noun to adjective: By replacing the -o of a noun with -a, we describe something as made of the substance indicated by the noun: oro - gold, ora - made of gold. Adjective to adverb: By replacing the -a of an adjective with an -e, we describe something as happening in the manner indicated by the adjective: bela - beautiful, bele - beautifully. The last element in a compound is the main one in determining the meaning, while the preceding element only modifies the meaning. _________________________________________________________________ PREFIXES These are placed before a word (often with a hyphen) in order to change its meaning. arki- pre-eminence: arki-episkopo archbishop bo- related by marriage: bo-patro father-in-law centi- hundredth part, centi-: centi-litro centilitre des- contrary, direct opposite: des-facila difficult dis- separation: dis-sendar to distribute equi- equality, equi-: equi-distanta equidistant ex- former, late, retired: ex-oficiro ex-officer ge- both sexes together: ge-frati brother(s) and sister(s) (Note: in 1929 genitori replaced ge-patri for "parents".) hiper- over-, excessively, hyper-: hiper-agiva hyperactive hipo- under, insufficiently, hypo-: hipo-pela hypodermic ho- "in which one is living": ho-die today mi- half: mi-horo a half-hour mis- wrongly: mis-komprenar to misunderstand ne- negation: ne-utila useless par- completely, thorough action (with verb roots): par-lektar to read through para- warding off: para-suno parasol poli- many (more than one), poly- pre- before: pre-dicar to predict prim- primitive: prim-avi forefathers pseudo- false, pseudo retro- back, backward (with verbal roots): retro-venar to return, come back ri- again, repetition (with verbal roots): ri-dicar to say again sen- without: sen-viva lifeless stif- step-: stif-matro = stepmother vice- vice-, deputy _________________________________________________________________ SUFFIXES These are placed at the end of a word, but before the grammatical ending, in order to change its meaning. Hyphens are not used. -ach- pejorative, giving an unfavourable or disparaging meaning: domacho hovel -ad- frequency, repetition: dansado dancing -ag- used with nouns (especially tools) to form verbs meaning to act with the tool: martelo hammer, martelagar to hammer -aj- material substance: manjajo food; act, process etc.: amikalajo act of friendship; that which: rezultajo something which results, a result -al- relating to: nacionala national -an- member of: senatano senator -ar- collection: homaro mankind -ari- receiver, object of an action: legacario legatee -atr- like: sponjatra spongy -e- coloured: rozea rose-coloured -ebl- possibility: videbla visible -ed- quantity held by: manuedo handful -eg- largeness: pluvego downpour -em- inclined to: laborema industrious -end- something to be done: solvenda which must be solved -er- amateur: fotografero (amateur) photographer -eri- establishment: distilierio distillery -es- to be: amesar to be loved -esk- to begin to, become: dormeskar to fall asleep -estr- head, chief: urbestro mayor -et- smallness: rivereto stream -ey- place for: kavaleyo stable -i- domain: komtio parish -id- offspring, descendent: Izraelido Israelite -ier- 1) holder; 2) a tree or plant bearing the fruit etc indicated; 3) characterised by -if- to produce: florifar to bloom -ig- to cause to be or do, make, render, transform into: beligar to beautify -ik- sick: alkoholiko an alcoholic -il- tool, instrument, means (verbal roots): brosilo a brush -im- fraction: duimo half -in- feminine: fratino sister -ind- worthy of, deserving to be: aminda lovable -ism- system, doctrine: socialismo socialism -ist- professional, adherent: artisto artist -iv- that can do, capable of: instruktiva instructive -ivor- indicates what something eats: karnivora meat-eating, carnivorous -iz- to supply or cover with: armizar to arm -oid- having the form of, -oid: cirkloida in the form of a circle -oz- full of, containing: poroza porous -ul- masculine: katulo tom-cat -um- all-purpose suffix with indeterminate meaning: foliumar to flick through, leaf through (a book etc.) -ur- result or product of action: pikturo picture -uy- container: inkuyo inkpot -yun- young of: bovyuno calf _________________________________________________________________ NUMERAL SUFFIXES These are only used with numbers. -esm- ordinal: unesma first -im- fraction: duimo a half -op- distributive: quarope four at a time -opl- mutiplying: triopla triple _________________________________________________________________ NUMBERS 1 un 11 dek-e-un 2 du 12 dek-e du 3 tri 20 duadek 4 quar 30 triadek 5 kin 45 quaradek-e-kin 6 sis 57 kinadek-e-sep 7 sep 726 sepacent-e-duadek-e-sis 8 ok 9 non 10 dek 100 cent 1000 mil 1000000 miliono Note the use of the letter 'a' to link numbers which are multiplied together (as in duadek for twenty, i.e., two times ten), and the use of -e- to link numbers which are added to make the required larger number. _________________________________________________________________ CORRELATIVES The following table gives the correlatives that exist in Ido. It should be read first along the top, then down the left, e.g., what place=where=ube. | WHAT THAT SOME ANY NO EVERY ---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------- PERSON | qua/i (i)ta/i ulu/i irgu/i nulu/i omnu/i THING | quo/i (i)to/i ulo/i irgo/i nulo/i omno/i PLACE | ube ibe ul-loke irga-loke nul-loke omna-loke TIME | kande lore ul-tempe irga-tempe nul-tempe sempre WAY | quale tale ul-maniere irga-maniere nul-maniere omna-maniere REASON | pro quo pro to pro ulo pro irgo pro nulo pro omno QUANTITY | quanto/e tanto/e ul-quanto/e irga-quanto/e nulo/e omno/e _________________________________________________________________ COMPARISON Comparatives and superlatives are made using the words plu, min, maxim and minim. For example, plu forta = stronger, and min forta = less strong. Similarly, maxim granda = biggest or largest, while minim saja = least wise. _________________________________________________________________ PRONOUNS The main personal pronouns are: me - I, me tu - you (intimate singular form) vu - you (singular) ilu or il - he, him elu or el - she, her olu or ol - it lu - he, she or it ni - we, us vi - you (plural of 'vu') li - they (plural of 'lu'); (ili, eli, oli for specificity) onu or on - one su - oneself, himself, herself, itself, themselves mea - my, mine vua - your, yours (singular) ilua - his elua - her, hers olua - its lua - his, her, hers, its nia - our, ours via - your, yours (plural) lia - their, theirs onua - one's sua - one's own, his own, her own, its own, their own _________________________________________________________________ GRAMMATICAL WORDS a(d) - to aden - into alonge - along (alongside) an - at, on (contiguity, juxtaposition) anke - also, too ankor(e) - still, yet ankorfoye - again ante - before, by, earlier than ante nun - ago apud - beside, at apuda - adjacent avan - in front of balde - soon ca - this che - at (with) (French "chez") ci - these co - this (thing) da - by, done by (doer of action) de - from, of (starting from, origin, derivation, quantity) di - of do - therefore dop - behind du - two dum - during, through dum ke - while e(d) - and ek - from, of (out of, made of) en - in exter - outside (of), besides fore - away forsan - perhaps, maybe hike - here hodie - today ibe - there irga - any (at all) infra - bottom (lowest (of several levels)) inter - between, among interne di - inside irgakande - whenever irge qua - whichever irgube - wherever iti - those, those ones ito - that, that thing ja - already, yet ka(d) - whether, if (interrogative) kam - than kand(e) - when ke - that [conj.] kom - [prep.] as (being), in the capacity of konseque - therefore kontre - against kun - with [together] la - the (definite article; no indefinite article) lor - on (at the time of) lore - then (at that time) ma - but malgre - in spite of min - less ne - [placed before the verb] not no - no (as an answer) nula - no (before a noun) nun - now nur - only [prep.] o(d) - or; o(d)...o(d) - either...or per - with, by means of, through plu - [with adjective or adverb] more po - at (the price of), for, per; in exchange for por - for, to (in order to + inf.) por ke - in order that pos - after pose - then (after that) pri - concerning, about, on pro - because of, due to, on account of, owing to pro ke - because pro quo - why proxim - near, by, close to (in time or space) qua - which quale - how quankam - while (although) quo - what retro - [adv.] back, backwards se - if segun - according to sen - without singla - each [adj.] singlu - each [pron.] sub - under sur - on, upon, on top of; [arith.] divided by ta - that (not this) tam...kam - as...as tamen - nevertheless, however til - until [prep.] til ke - until [conj.] til nun - yet, until now tra - through trans - across (the other side of) tre - very tro - too (+ adj.) tri - three ube - where un - one unfoye - once, one time ya - indeed, truly (emphatic) ye - [prep.] at, by (used when no other fits the meaning) yes - yes _________________________________________________________________ CALENDAR Sunday sundio January januaro Monday lundio February februaro Tuesday mardio March marto Wednesday merkurdio April aprilo Thursday jovdio May mayo Friday venerdio June junio Saturday saturdio July julio August agosto September septembro October oktobro November novembro December decembro _________________________________________________________________