Novial/Hound Lesson 2

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ContentsLesson 1 - Lesson 2 - Lesson 3 - Lesson 4Lesson 5Lesson 6Lesson 7

PrefixesSuffixes

Li Malediktione del Baskervilles edit

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“Me have in men poshe manuskrite,” doktoro James Mortimer did dikte.

“Me observad lu kand vu envadad li chambre,” Holmes dikted.

“Lu es oldi manuskrite. ”

Frui dek-otesmi sekle, exept si lu vud es fraudo.”

Qualim vu sava tu, sinioro?”

”Vu ha prisenta pluri sentimetre de lu omnitem durant ke vu ha parla. Me vud es mal experte si me non vud pove data lu ye akurateso de sirk yardeko. Me data lu kom de mil-setsent-trianti.”

”Li exakti date es mil-setsent-quaranti-du.” Doktoro Mortimer did tira lu ek sen bruste-poshe. ”Sinioro Charles Baskerville donad disi familial papere a me. Lo mori ante tri mensus in Devonshire. Lo esed inteligenti e praktikal homo. Tamen lo did trakta dis dokumente kom seriosi.”

”Lu sembla es konstatatione.”

”Yes, lu es konstatatione de serteni legende del familie Baskerville. ”

Vocabulary edit

  • akurateso accuracy
  • ante before (in time)
  • brustechest, breast
  • bruste-poshebreast-pocket
  • chambreroom
  • data (to) date
  • datedate
  • dek-otesmieighteenth
  • did – (past auxiliary verb – see section)
  • dikte(to) say
  • dis(i) this
  • dokumentedocument
  • dona (to) give
  • durant kewhile
  • durantduring
  • ekout of, from
  • envada (to) enter
  • exaktiexact
  • exept siunless
  • exeptexcept
  • experte (an) expert
  • familial(i)familial, family
  • fraudoforgery
  • fru(i) early
  • hahave, has (perfect auxiliary verb – see section)
  • have(to) have, possess
  • homoman, male person
  • inteligentiintelligent
  • kandwhen
  • komas, as being
  • konstatationestatement
  • legendelegend
  • mal(i) bad
  • malediktionecurse
  • manuskritemanuscript
  • mensumonth
  • mil-setsent-quaranti-du1742
  • mil-setsent-trianti1730
  • mori (to) die
  • observa(to) observe, (to) watch
  • oldiold
  • omnitemalways, all the time
  • paperepaper
  • parla (to) speak
  • pluriseveral
  • poshepocket
  • pove (to) be able, can
  • prisenta (to) present, set before one
  • qualimhow
  • sava(to) know
  • seoneself, himself etc. (the reflexive pronoun – see section)
  • sekle (= yarsento) century
  • senone’s own, his own etc. (the reflexive pronoun – see section)
  • sentimetrecentimetre
  • seriosiserious
  • serteni (a) certain, particular
  • siif
  • sirkabout, around, round
  • tamenhowever, nevertheless
  • tira (to) draw, pull
  • trakta (to) treat, handle
  • trithree
  • tuthat (one)
  • vudwould (conditional auxiliary verb – see section)
  • yardekodecade
  • ye – (indefinite preposition – see section )

Grammar Notes edit

Verbs – Past and Conditional Tenses edit

The past preterite (simple past) is formed with the auxiliary verb did before the present or equivalently by adding -d (-ed after a consonant) to the present:

  • me did parla (= me parlad) I spoke
  • vus non did dona (= vus non donad) you didn’t give (Literally: you not gave)
  • les esed (= les did es) bonthey were good

Note that the English auxiliaries do and did used in questions and negative statements are not translated:

  • ob vu venido you come'? (Literally: is it that you come? )
  • lo non diktehe does not say (Literally: he not says)
  • ob vu parlad? (= ob vu did parla?) did you speak? (Literally: is it that you spoke? )
  • les non envadad (= les non did envada)they did not enter (Literally: they not entered)
EXERCISE • Hound Lesson 2 • Present and Past Preterite Tenses

In the following sentences change the present tense into the past preterite (simple past) and translate the English in brackets into Novial.

  1. Li doktore tira li papere ek (his or her) poshe. (But not the doctor’s pocket.)
  2. La dona li hunda a (her own) amikes.
  3. Li oldi homo mori in (their) chambre.
  4. Me envada (her) chambre.
  5. Lo prisenta li fraudo a (my) amike.
  6. La parla ofte pri (our) malediktione.
  7. Les pove ama nur (their own) filies.
  8. Li experte data (his) manuskrite. (Not the expert’s manuscript.)
  9. Las trakta me kom (their own) amike.
  10. Nus non es expertes ma sava (our) dokumentes.
  11. Vus have laboro nur por (yourselves).
  12. Vu renkontra li bon doktore in (his) chambre. (Not the doctor's own room.)
  13. Los non sava (themselves).
  14. Les observa (their own) chambres.
  15. Les ofense non li altres, ma (their own) familie.
SOLUTION • Novial/Hound Lesson 2 • Present and Past Preterite Tenses
  1. Li doktore tirad li papere ek len poshe. (or did tira)
  2. La donad li hunda a sen amikes. (or did dona)
  3. Li oldi homo morid in lesen chambre. (or did mori)
  4. Me envadad lan chambre.(or did envada)
  5. Lo prisentad li fraudo a men amike. (or did prisenta)
  6. La parlad ofte pri nusen malediktione. (or did parla)
  7. Les poved ama nur sen filies. (or did pove)
  8. Li experte datad lon manuskrite. (or did data)
  9. Las traktad me kom sen amike. (or did trakta)
  10. Nus non esed expertes ma savad nusen dokumentes. (or did es)
  11. Vus haved laboro nur por vus. (or did have)
  12. Vu renkontrad li bon doktore in lon chambre. (or did renkontra)
  13. Los non savad sen. (or did sava)
  14. Les observad sen chambres. (or did observa)
  15. Les ofensed non li altres, ma sen familie. (or did ofense)

The perfect tense is formed with the auxiliary verb ha before the present form:

  • me ha parlaI have spoken
  • vus non ha donayou have not given
  • les ha es bonthey have been good
  • ob les ha es bon?have they been good?

The conditional of a verb is formed with the auxiliary verb vud before the present:

  • lo vud diktehe would say
  • les vud parlathey would speak

Numbers – Cardinal and Ordinal edit

The cardinal numbers are:

  • serozero
  • unone
  • dutwo
  • trithree
  • quarfour
  • sinkfive
  • sixsix
  • setseven
  • oteight
  • ninnine
  • dekten
  • dek-uneleven
  • dek-dutwelve
  • dek-trithirteen
  • dek-quarfourteen
  • dek-sinkfifteen
  • dek-sixsixteen
  • dek-setseventeen
  • dek-oteighteen
  • dek-ninnineteen
  • duantitwenty
  • duanti-untwenty-one
  • duanti-dutwenty-two …etc.
  • triantithirty
  • trianti-duthirty-two
  • quarantiforty
  • quaranti-triforty-three
  • sinkantififty
  • sinkanti-quarfifty-four
  • sixantisixty
  • sixanti-sinksixty-five
  • setantiseventy
  • setanti-sixseventy-six
  • otantieighty
  • otanti-seteighty-seven
  • ninantininety
  • ninanti-otninety-eight
  • senta hundred
  • sent-duanti120
  • sinksent-trianti-set537…etc.
  • mila thousand
  • mil-un1001
  • mil-sent1100
  • mil-dusent-tri1203
  • mil setsent-quaranti-du1742
  • milionea million
  • miliardea thousand million (American billion)
  • bilionemillion million, billion (American trillion)

Units, tens and hundreds are separated by hyphens for ease of reading. The tens are formed from the units with the ending -anti (notice the adjective ending as all numbers before a million are adjectives). Hundreds have their number in front of sent: otsenteight hundred. Thousands, millions and higher are separated from their multiplier by spaces: ot mileight thousand. Milione, miliarde and bilione are nouns so multiples take the plural ending -s: tri miliardes setsent-sixanti-six miliones sent-quaranti-nin mil dusent-sixanti-set – (American:) three billion seven hundred and sixty-six million one hundred and forty-nine thousand two hundred and sixty-seven (3 766 149 267)

Ordinal numbers are formed from the cardinals with the ending -esmi which is added only to the last component of the number:

  • unesmifirst
  • duesmisecond
  • trisent-quaranti-sinkesmithree hundred and forty-fifth (345th)

Ordinals may be abbreviated as: 1smi (1smi), 2smi (2smi), 345smi (345smi) etc.

The Indefinite Preposition edit

The preposition ye has no definite meaning, and is used when it is not obvious which preposition is exactly appropriate in a literal sense:

  • ye akurateso dewith/at an accuracy of
  • ye dis dieon this day

The Reflexive Pronoun edit

The reflexive pronoun is se, himself, herself, itself, themselves (third person only). Note that se is used only when the object of the verb refers back to the subject of the verb.

  • la observa seshe observes herself
  • la observa lashe observes her
  • lo parla a sehe speaks to himself
  • lo parla a lo he speaks to him
  • les parla a sen hundesthey speak to their (own) dogs
  • les parla a lesen hundesthey speak to their dogs (somebody else’s dogs)

This pronoun avoids awkward ambiguity which sometimes occurs in English.

The first and second persons use no special pronoun:

  • me observa meI observe myself (Literally: I observe me)
  • vu parla a vuyou speak to yourself (Literally: you speak to you)

Adjectival Suffix -AL edit

Novial uses prefixes and suffixes added to root words to make related words.

The suffix -al(i) is added to a root word X to make an adjective meaning “of X or X related”. Any final -e, -o, -a or -i of a noun is removed to provide the root then -al(i) is added to the root.

  • nature – natural (nature – natural)
  • universe – universal (universe – universal)
  • natione – national (nation – national)
  • doktore – doktoral (doctor – doctoral, of a doctor)
  • familie – familial (family – family related, of a family)
  • sientie –siential (science – scientific, science related)
  • laboro – laboral (work – work related, of work)
  • alkali – alkalal (alkali – of alkali)
  • mensu – mensual (month – monthly, of a month)

Notice that a final -u is part of the root and not dropped before adding -al. Novial is here much more regular than English. Many derived adjectives are similar to the English but it is not possible for all to be so, because the English derivation system is very mixed and irregular.

Substantival Suffix -ESO edit

The suffix -eso is added to the root of an adjective (i.e. without the final -i) to form the corresponding abstract noun:

  • bon – boneso (good – goodness)
  • akurati – akurateso (accurate – accuracy)
  • inteligenti – inteligenteso (intelligent – intelligence)

If the sense permits, more than one suffix may be added to the root:

  • amike – amikal – amikaleso (friend – friendly – friendliness)

Notice again how irregular the English system is.

EXERCISE • Hound Lesson 2 • Word Derivation

Use endings and affixes to convert the following Novial root words to the English words indicated.

  1. amike – female friend
  2. praktikal – practicality
  3. siniore – lady
  4. disi – this male
  5. exakti – exactness, exactitude
  6. inteligenti – intelligence
  7. nome – nominal
  8. experte – expertise
  9. mali – evil
  10. pluri – plurality
  11. ti – that female
SOLUTION • Novial/Hound Lesson 2 • Word Derivation
  1. amika
  2. praktikaleso
  3. siniora
  4. diso
  5. exakteso
  6. inteligenteso
  7. nomal
  8. experteso
  9. maleso
  10. plureso
  11. ta

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Novial homePronunciation Guide

ContentsLesson 1 - Lesson 2Lesson 3 - Lesson 4Lesson 5 - Lesson 6Lesson 7

PrefixesSuffixes