COMPLETE MANUAL OF THE AUXILIARY LANGUAGE IDO

THE VOWELS are a, e, i, o, u and are sounded as in the words father, veil, machine, soul, rule. The southern English tendency to dipthongize the vowels, especially those in veil, soul should be avoided; they should be single sounds as sung on a single note. Listen how a foreigner or a Scotchman pronounces them.

There are two dipthongs in Ido, au and eu. Give each half of the dipthong the sound it would have if standing alone, only making the u shorter and weaker. Thus, au is pronounced ah-oo (something like the ow in cow); eu is pronounced eh-oo.

THE ACCENT or stress of voice falls (1) on the last syllable of the infinitive (-âr, -îr, -ôr);

(2) on the last syllable but one of other words.

(3) But in polysyllabic roots, i and u immediately before a vowel cannot receive the stress.

E.g.: (1) am&acircr, kredîr, fin&ocircr (2) amâta, kredîta, finôta, esperêble, facînda, jôyo, boâo, muzêo, herôo, dîo, dûo; (3) fôlio, lîlio, mêntio, It&acirclia, akadêmio, melôdio, âquo, lînguo, pôtuo, rêvuo.

MANUSCRIPT. - The written forms of certain letters differ slightly in different countries. In international correspondence it is then advisable to choose these forms that most resemble the italic printed letters, especially in the case of capitals; e.g. the small e, g, x, the capital C, F, J, T, S. With regard to figures, the same rule holds. In a nutshell, write clearly and avoid flourishes.

PRONUNCIATION EXERCISE

Ka

vu

ja

lernas

la

nova

linguo

Kah

voo

zhah

lâirnahs

lah

nôhvah

lêengwoh

internaciona?

Me

komencis

studiar

ol

ante

eentairnahtsiôhnah?

meh

kohmêntsees

stoodeâhr

ohl

âhnteh

kelka

dii,

e

me

trovas,

ke

ol

esas

vere

kêlkah

dêe-ee,

eh

meh

trôhvahs,

keh

ohl

êhsahs

vêhreh

tre

facila.

Omna-die

me

lektas

texto

dum

treh

fahtsêelah.

ômnah-dêe-eh

meh

lêktahs

têkstoh

doom

un

horo;

me

sempre

lektas

laute.

Ka

vu

oon

hôhro;

meh

sêmpreh

lêktahs

lôuteh.

Ka

voo

komprenas

to?

komprêhnahs

toh?

Complete Manual - Lesson 1

LESSON I. ARTICLE. - The definite article (the) is la. There is no indefinite article (a or an):

patr-ulo,a father; la patr-ulo,the father.

NOUN. - The noun ends in -o in the singular; in -i in the plural:

frat-ulo,brother; frat-uli,brothers.

la frat-ino,the sister; la frat-ini,the sisters.

ADJECTIVE. - The adjective ends in -a (singular and plural):

bon-a,good; long-a,long.

bona patrulo, bona patruli.

VERB. - The present infinitive of verbs ends in -ar (bearing the accent or stress of voice):

kred-ar,to believe; don-ar,to give.

The present tense ends in -as:

me kred-as,I believe. me don-as,I give.

The past infinitive ends in -ir (accented):

kred-ir,to have believed. don-ir,to have given.

The past tense ends in -is:

me kred-is,I believed, I have believed.

me don-is,I gave, I have given.

QUESTIONS. - Questions are asked by beginning the sentence with kad:

Kad vu kredas? Do you believe?

Kad vu komprenis? Did you understand? (= Question you understood.)

If there is a word like who, where, etc., kad is not used:

Ube vu lojas? Where do you live?

NEGATION. - The word ne, not, is always placed before the verb or word it modifies:

Il ne esas,He is not.

DO, DID. - The English auxiliaries, do, did, are not translated:

Do you come? (= Question you come),

He does not say (= He not says),

Kad vu venas?

Il ne dicas.

Did you speak? (= Question you spoke),

They did not go (= They not went),

Kad vu parolis?

Li ne iris.

AFFIXES. - Gender is usually left unmarked in Ido, as is often the case in English:

filio,child. sekretario,secretary. kuzo,cousin.

When necessary, the suffix -ul marks masculine, -in feminine:

fili-ul-o,son; fili-in-o,daughter.

kuz-ul-o,male cousin; kuz-in-o,female cousin.

doktor-ul-o,man doctor, doktor-in-o,woman doctor.

When necessary, the prefix ge- marks common gender (both sexes together):

ge-patri,parents.

ge-avi,grandparents.

ge-filii,children, sons and daughters.

A few words are of one gender only:

viro,man. matro,mother. amazono,amazon. damo,married lady.

The suffix -id denotes offspring: Izrael-id-o, Israelite.