COMPLETE MANUAL OF THE AUXILIARY LANGUAGE IDO

They walked themselves dry,

Li per marcho sikigis su.

Complete Manual - Lesson 17

LESSON XVII.

Passive Voice translated by on.

When the speaker does not want to name, or does not know, the author of an action, he states it in the passive voice in English:

The father is loved.

In Ido, the indefinite pronoun is used:

On amas la patrulo.

This avoids such passive constructions as:

He was not told the whole truth,

On ne dicis ad il la tota verajo.

Sometimes, instead of the passive voice, a pronoun is used in English; the pronoun we is used when the speaker wants to associate himself with the statement:

We are all mortal.

Ni omna esas mortiva.

But when the statement applies to everybidy, on should be used:

When we hear hear but one bell, we hear but one sound,

Kande on audas nur un klosho, on audas nur un sono.

The same is true of the pronouns they, you and the expressions people, somebody:

They manage those things better in America,

On administras ta kozi plu bone en Amerika.

You cannot eat your cake and have it,

On ne povas manjar sua kuko e konservar ol.

People say it is their own fault,

On dicas, ke ol esas lia propra kulpo.

A man is not always lucky,

On ne sempre esas fortunoza.

Preposition before Infinitive.

Any preposition can be used before an infinitive, as the infinitive is the equivalent of a noun:

Loko por studiar (= loko por studio).

A place for studying (= a place for study).

Sen dormar,without sleep.

Ante departar,before starting.

Ante departo,before departure.

Sen parolir,without having spoken.

Preposition to is not translated if it is part of the infinitive:

I want to come, me volas venar.

If it means in order to, use por:

He wrote to come,Il skribis por venar.

If you could use the form in -ing with nearly the same sense, the por is not necessary:

To be or not to be (= being or not being), Esar o ne esar.

After an adjective, preposition to means neither in order to nor an infinitive:

Easy to learn (= easily learnable), Facile lernebla.

Difficult to understand, Desfacile komprenebla.

They have only themselves to blame,Li ipsa esas sola blaminda.

For the infinitive clause, "I want you to come," etc., see Lesson XII

Impersonal Verbs.

Verbs like to rain, to snow, to hail have no real subject; therefore the English pronoun it is not translated:

It rains.Pluvas.

It snowed.Nivis.

It is going to hail.Esas balde grelonta.

(See also Lesson XX.)

The same is true when the pronoun it does not refer to anything:

It is you.Esas vu.

"I am cold"

Translate such phrases by means of sentar, to feel, used reflexively:

Me sentas me kolda.

Vu sentos vu tro varma.

"There is, there are"

These are simply translated by the verb to be, the real subject being the word that follows:

There is a hill outside the town,

Esas kolino exter la urbo.

There are twelve hens in the cage

Esas dek-e-du hanini en la kajo.

But when there is points to a person or thing, use yen:

There he is (= There he comes!)Yen il venas!

Time of Day.

An hour is horo, but time by the clock is expressed by kloko, kloki:

What time is it?Qua kloko esas?

It is two o'clock,Esas du kloki.

At half-past two,Ye du kloki e duimo.

Always reckon quarters and minutes from the last hour, not to the next one:

A quarter to eight,

Sep kloki e tri quarimi, or Sep kloki quaradek-e-kin minuti.

Twenty to ten (= 9.40). Non kloki quaradek.