Salute, Jonathan!/Grammar (adverbs)

Note: the content below references scenes from the story Salute, Jonathan! and thus contains spoilers.

Adverbs

Adverbs can be created from adjectives using the suffix -men, which is similar to the suffix -ly in English.

Adding -men

• Avan Jonathan es li via, e solmen li via. - Before Jonathan es the road, and only the road. (sol = sole, alone)
• Li altri cochero prende li bagage con su fort manus, e tre rapidmen li cose es finit. - The other coachman takes the baggage with his strong hands, and very quickly the affair is finished. (rapid = fast, rapid)
• Li cavallos vermen ne ama que li lupos ulula. - The horses truly do not like that the wolves are howling. (ver = true)

Adding -men does not change the stress of a word:

• rapid = rapíd
• rapidmen = rapídmen (not rapidmén)

Implied -men

The suffix -men is often dropped when an adjective alone suffices to make the meaning clear. This generally occurs with short adjectives like bon, mal, rapid, etc., but the addition of -men is always permitted.

• Jonathan ha bon dormit, e it es pos midí. Il avigila se, lava se, e intra li chambre in quel il e li Comto manjat. - Jonathan has slept well (= good), and it is afternoon. He wakes himself, washes up, and enters the room in which he and the Count ate.

Words that are adverbs by nature

Many words by themselves are adverbs: tre, sempre, strax, etc.

• Nu il pensa que anc su lette es tre bell. - Now he thinks that his bed is very nice too.
• Dunc quande il vide Dracula, il es sempre calm. Quande Dracula questiona le: “Qualmen vu standa?” il di sempre “Yo standa bon, mersí. E vu?” e ili fa mult parladas. - Thus, when he sees Dracula, he is always calm. When Dracula asks him: "How are you doing?" he always says "I'm doing well, thank you. And you?" and they talk a lot.
• Dracula: “Ah! Li matine va strax arivar. Vu es fatigat e li témpor ha venit por dormir. A revidentie!” - Dracula: "Ah! The morning will soon come. You are tired and the time has come to sleep. Until later!