(
A note: plural endings may be used after “mucho” and “shao” in order to specify that countable objects are implied (in cases where a noun may be countable as well as uncountable):
shao ananas — few pineapples
shao ananases — few pineapples
shao de ananas — little of pineapple
mucho fish — many fishes
mucho fishes — many fishes
mucho de fish — much fish.
• In case of pair objects the plural endings are usually used:
okos — eyes
labas — lips
handas — hands
plechas — shoulders. Sex indication
There is no grammatical gender. Animate nouns may be of both sexes:
doga — a dog (never mind whether male or female)
amiga — friend (generally)
gova — a bull or a cow (such notion is practical in plural form: govas — cows and bulls)
swina — a pig of any sex
gansa — a goose or a gander (gansas — geese).
If there is need to indicate sex, it may be done two ways.
The first, more frequent, way is the use of particles ‘man’ and ‘gin’:
man-doga — male dog
gin-doga — female dog
man-studentas — male students (‘studentas’ are students generally)
man-gova — bull
gin-gova — cow
man-swina — boar.
Another, less frequent, way is the use of suffixes -o for masculine and -ina for feminine. If a noun ends in
rega — king/queen
rego — king
regina — queen
dogo — male dog
dogina — female dog
studento — male student
studentina — female student
govo — bull
govina — cow
swino — male pig
swinina — female pig
ganso — gander
gansina — female goose.
It is obvious that it is not always needed to indicate sex, so it is correct to say:
Ela es hao leker. — She is a good doctor.
Ela es hao amiga. — She is a good friend.
Juchka es pumbe doga. — Zhuchka is a silly dog.
• In several cases different words are used for the male and female:
mata/patra — mother/father
oma/opa — grandmother/grandfather
docha/son — daughter/son
kindocha/kinson — granddaughter/grandson
tia/onkla — aunt/uncle
sinior/madam — sir/madam. Genitive
Genitive is formed with the particle -ney (hyphenated):
sedey-ney sivilisasion — the today's civilization
mata-ney kitaba — mother's book
Alex-ney jaketa — the jacket of Alex.
Nouns meaning action
The correspondence between noun's form and its meaning is basically the following:
MeaningNouns for i-verbsNouns for other verbs (type 1) (type 2) Act and its manifestation/instance/result/resulting state -a -sa The very action as process; repeated action;
occupation, hobby, sport -ing -ing
adi — to add
ada — addition (both act of adding and what is added)
konvinsi — to convince
konvinsa — persuasion, conviction, convictions, beliefs
konekti — to connect
konekta — connection
judi — to judge
juda — judgement (both judging and decision)
reflekti — to reflect
reflekta — reflection (action as well as image)
inviti — to invite
invita — invitation
inuspiri — to inhale
inuspira — inhalation
lubi — to love
luba — love
darbi — to strike
darba — strike
jivi — to live
jiva — life
joi — to rejoice
joisa — joy
gun — to work
gunsa — work
jan — to know
jansa — knowledge
begin — to begin
beginsa — beginning
kan — to look
kansa — a look
flai — to fly
flaisa — flight
krai — to cry
kraisa — a cry
prei — to pray
preisa — prayer
zwo — to do
zwoing — doing
go — to go
going — going; course
swimi — to swim
swiming — swimming
fishi — to fish
fishing — fishing
ski — to ski
skiing — skiing
boxi — to box
boxing — boxing
fumi — to smoke
fuming — smoking
bru — to brew
bruing — brewing
piloti — to pilot
piloting — piloting.
A note: if verb ends in -i, that ending is replaced with
-ing; in other cases -ing is added. The only exception is monosyllabic
i-verbs (ski
An important remark: "ng" in this suffix may be read simply as "n". The suffix is never stressed.
shuti — to shoot
shuta — a shot
shuting — shooting
gloti — to swallow
glota — a swallow
gloting — swallowing
kiki — to kick
kika — a kick
kiking — kicking
kliki — to click
klika — a click
kliking — clicking
salti — to jump
salta — a jump
salting — jumping
lansi — to throw
lansa — a throw
lansing — throwing. The concretizing suffixes -(i)ka, -tura, -wat
The suffix -(i)ka has the meaning "object, thing, something concrete":
mole — soft
molika — pulp
nove — new
novika — something new, novelty
metal — metal
metalka — a metal thing
brili — to shine
brilika — something shining
ofni — to open
ofnika — opener
plei — to play
pleika — toy, plaything
Derivation: in adjectives ending in -e and nouns ending in -a, this last vowel is transformed into -ika; in other cases -ka is added. With monosyllabic i-verbs, -ika is added with a hyphen:
ski — ski-ika
pi — pi-ika.
It should be reminded that the ending -ika is unstressed.