Easy Ido/Lesson seven

Verb + Infinitive

The English sentence 'I need to go home' is in the form Verb ('I need') + Infinitive ('to go'). Ido uses the same construction. Here are some verbs which can be found in sentences like this:

povar - to be able (to do something)
mustar - to have to (by necessity)
bezonar - to need (to)
volar - to want (to)
devar - to have a duty (to), 'should'

Times

One can talk about time using words such as the following:

hiere - yesterday
hodie - today
morge - tomorrow
horo - hour
kloko - o'clock
dio - day
semano - week
monato - month
yaro - year

Short words

Like in many languages, the hardest to learn can be the short words. To make matters worse, some words in Ido are very similar while their translations in English are quite different. The converse can also be true. Here are a few sets of words which need special attention.

That

ta - used when 'that' is an adjective, e.g. it precedes a noun. Ta libro esas granda, 'That book is big'.
to - used when 'that' is a pronoun, e.g. it precedes a verb. To esas libro, 'That is a book'.
ke - used when 'that' is a conjunction, e.g. it joins two clauses. Me pensas ke hundi esas animali, 'I think that dogs are animals'.

N words

nek - neither and nor. Me manjas nek frukti nek legumi, 'I eat neither fruits nor vegetables'.
nur - only. Me havas nur un frato, 'I have only one sibling'.
nun - now. Me mustas irar nun, 'I must go now'.
nam - for, since. Me skribis la vorto, nam me ne savis olu, 'I wrote the word, for I did not know it'.

Ul words

ulo - something. Forsan ulo plu bona venos., 'Perhaps something better will come.'
ulu - anyone, someone. Kad ulu savas ube ol esas?, 'Does anyone know where it is?'
ula - any, some. Kad vu havas ula libri pri cienco?, 'Do you have any books about science?'

Tr words

tra - through. Me marchis tra la parko., 'I walked through the park.'
tro - too. Mea libro esas tro olda., 'My book is too old.'
tre - very. Ta libro esas tre interesanta., 'This book is very interesting.'

Others

Once you have mastered the words above, try learning these last few. Also, try using them in sentences.

dum - during
yen - here is/are, there is/are (as in 'There is the train!')
do - so, consequently
ma - but
ja - already
se - if
ya - indeed, truly
tante - so (as in 'so big', 'so quickly')

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