The Basic Grammar of Ido/Content Words

Content words are categories of words which have a specific meaning within the sentence structure. Ido has four types of content words: nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs. All these words have their own endings. Nouns Nouns are the names of all concrete and abstract things. For example, "apple" and "freedom" are both nouns. Singular nouns end in "o", whilst plural nouns end in "i". For example, "pomo" (apple, singular) and "pomi" (apples, plural). Definition of the singular and plural A noun is singular only if its quantity is strictly equal to 1. In all other cases, it is plural. Adjectives Adjectives are words that describe or define nouns. For example, "good" and "beautiful" are both adjectives. The adjective ends in "a". For example, "bela" (beautiful) and "dolca" (sweet). Verbs Verbs are words that express actions, activities or states of being. For example, "eat", "go" and "be" are all verbs. Present The present tense is used to express actions in progress or current states. It ends in "as". For example, "La kato manjas fisho" (The cat eat a fish). Past The past tense is used to describe actions or states that have already finished. It ends with "is". For example, "La kato manjis fisho" (The cat ate a fish). Future The future tense is used to express actions that will take place or future states. It ends in "os". For example, "La kato manjos fisho" (The cat will eat a fish). Conditional The conditional tense is used to express hypothetical actions or states in conditional clauses. It ends in "us". For example, "Se la fisho esus granda, la kato manjus la fisho" (If the fish is big, the cat will eat the fish). Imperative The imperative tense is used to express commands or requests. It ends in "ez". For example, "Manjez la fisho" (Eat the fish). Infinitive The infinitive abstracts the verb into a concept, making it resemble a noun, whilst still retaining its verb function. For example, "La kato volas manjar fisho" (The cat wants to eat fish). Meanwhile, the stress in infinitive verbs always falls on the final syllable. For example, "MAN-jas" and "man-JAR". The infinitive has three tenses, indicated by the endings: AR: present IR: past OR: future Here are some specific examples. +Present + infinitiveInfinitiveIdoEnglishPresentLa kato volas manjar fishoThe cat wants to eat fishPastLa kato volas manjir fishoThe cat wants to have eaten fishFutureLa kato volas manjor fishoThe cat wants to eat fish in future +Past + infinitiveInfinitiveIdoEnglishPresentLa kato volis manjar fishoThe cat wanted to eat fishPastLa kato volis manjir fishoThe cat wanted to have eaten fishFutureLa kato volis manjor fishoThe cat wanted to eat fish in future +Future + infinitiveInfinitiveIdoEnglishPresentLa kato volos manjar fishoThe cat will want to eat fishPastLa kato volos manjir fishoThe cat will want to have eaten fishFutureLa kato volos manjor fishoThe cat will want to eat fish in future Adverbs Adverbs are words used to modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, determiners, clauses, prepositions or sentences. The difference between adverbs and adjectives is that adverbs cannot modify nouns. For example, "quickly" and "freely" are both adverbs. In Ido, adverbs end in "e". For example, "rapide" (quickly) and "libere" (freely). Additionally, Ido has primitive adverbs which, from the start, have served only an adverbial function. They do not have regular endings. For example, "nun" (now) and "plu" (more) Exercises Identify the grammatical category of each word in the following sentences (nouns and their number, verbs and their tenses, adjectives, adverbs): Granda homo drinkis aqui. Infanto kuras rapide. Yuna personi regardas la telefonili. Answers * Translation: A big man drank water. Granda: big, adjective Homo: man/human, singular noun Drinkis: drank, past tense verb Aqui: water, plural noun Translation: A child runs quickly. Infanto: child, singular noun Kuras: run, present tense verb Rapide: quickly, adverb Translation: Young people look at their phones. Yuna: young, adjective Personi: persons, plural noun Regardas: look, present tense verb Telefonili: telephone, plural noun Category:Book:The Basic Grammar of Ido