fa — conveys the meaning "to get, to become":
akwa fa-warme — the water is getting warm
fa-tume — it is getting dark
fa-gran — to get bigger, enlarge
fa-syao — to diminish, get smaller
fa-dey — it dawns
luy wangas fa-rude — his cheeks redden
Fa-garme-te. — It became hot.
Jiva fa-hao oltaim pyu. — Life is always getting better.
When used with verbs, makes them intransitive:
astoni — “to astonish”
fa-astoni — “to be (become) astonished”.
mah — causative prefix meaning "to make, render, transform into, bring into a condition" (synonymous with the suffix -isi). It is practical to use it with adjectives like ‘hao, gao’. E. g.:
treba mah-hao situasion — one should improve the situation.
This prefix also modifies verbs:
jal — to burn, be burning
mah-jal — to burn (something).
Lu zai mah-jal papir. — He is burning the papers.
• It should be noted that there is also a link-verb ‘mah’ meaning the same as the English “make”:
mah li zwo to — make them do it
mah kaval lopi — make the horse run
se ve mah yu fogeti to — this will make you forget it
se bu ve mah yu triste — this will not make you sad
mah koywan felise — to make someone happy
mah butas repari-ney — to have the boots repaired
mah gunsa zwo-ney — to get the work done.
mis — equal to the English mis-:
misyusi — to misuse
miskalkuli — to miscalculate.
ras — separation, division, or dispersion:
muvi — to move
rasmuvi — to move apart
dai — to give
rasdai — to distribute, give out to many
sendi — to send
rassendi — to send out/round
lwo — to fall
raslwo — to fall to pieces
ri — again, anew:
riapari — to reappear
rizwo — to redo.
tra — through(out):
tralekti — to read through (from begining to end);
tranochi — to spend the night.
Verb suffixes
isi — makes transitive verbs, means "to make, render, transform into, bring into a condition" (same as mah-):
agni — fire
agnisi — fire up, burn up
detal — detail (noun)
detalisi — detail (verb)
iri — be angry
irisi — anger, enrage
aktive — active
aktivisi — activate
klare — clear
klarisi — clarify
elektre — electric
elektrisi — electrify
If added to a noun ending in -ia, "-ia" is dropped:
mifologia
ifi — makes intransitive verbs, means "to get, to become" (same as fa-):
agni — fire
agnifi — flame up, burst into flame
iri — be angry
irifi — get angry
aktive — active
aktivifi — become more active
klare — clear
klarifi — become clear(er)
elektre — electric
elektrifi — electrify, become electric
vati — used for deriving verbs in cases where the use of –i is undesirable:
chay — tea
chayvati koywan — to take smb to tea
dandi — dandy, fop
dandivati — behave foppishly
kao — handcuffs
kaovati — to handcuff
pao — bubble
paovati — to bubble, form bubbles
surya — sun
suryavati koysa— to sun smth Nouns Noun endings
Most nouns end in -a or consonants (but, as a rule, not
lingwa — language
jiva — life
kordia — heart
vagon — carriage
situasion — situation
aksham — evening
profesor — professor
dwar — door
nivel — level
mes — month
fish — fish
chokolat — chocolate
handak — ditch
taraf — side
Nouns may end also in other vowels:
kino — cinema
oko — eye
shampu — shampoo
madu — honey
kafee — cafe
shosee — highway
mani — money
gari — cart
taxi — taxi
chay — tea
skay — sky
The word "ski"
The basic noun form does not convey the grammatical meaning of singularity. To specify singularity, use "un" (one) or the optional marker of the singular "ge" (piece, single item):
doga — dog/dogs
un doga, doga-ge — one dog. Plurals
The basic noun form does not convey the grammatical meaning of singularity. To specify singularity, use "un" one. In order to specify plurality, the plural form of noun may be used. Its ending is -(e)s. If a noun ends in a vowel, add -s; otherwise add -es:
lingwa — language/languages
lingwas — languages
boy — boy/boys
boys — boys
aksham — evening/evenings
akshames — evenings
• When speaking generally about a group or class of uniform objects, plural endings are not used:
Yan chi bush. — Sheep eat bushes.
Amiga sempre helpi. — A friend always helps.
Bobra es animal. — Beavers are animals.
• After any indication of plurality (numerals; quantifiers like ‘mucho’
pet jen — five people
tristo dolar — three hundred dollars
trishi kilometra — thirty kilometers
mucho yar — many years
shao jen — few people
kelke pes sukra — some pieces of sugar
oli dey — all days
oli jen — all people
Sey jenta es hao guner. — These people are good workers.
(
Li es may amiga. — They are my friends.
Luy amigas es studenta. — His friends are students.
Toy kelke rosa es jamile. — Those roses are beautiful.