An Attempt Towards An International Language/Part II

by Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof

PART II.

Complete Manual of the International Language.

A. The Alphabet.^[1]

A a	as in “far.”
B b	as in “be.”
C c	as in “cinnamon.
[1]Ch ch	as in “chair.”
D d	as in “date.”
E e	as a in “make.”
F f	as in “fly.”
G g	as in “go.”
[1]Gh gh	as j in “John.”
H h	as in “half.”
[1]Hh hh	as kh
I i	as e in “me.”
J j	as y in “yoke.”
[1]Jh jh	as z in “azure.”

K k	as in “key.”
L l	as in “long.”
M m	as in “make.”
N n	as in “now.”
O o	as in “fore.”
P p	as in “pay.”
R r	as in “rare.”
S s	as in “see.”
[1]Sh sh	as sh in “shine.”
T t	as in “tea.”
U u	as oo in “fool.”
Û û	as ou in “mount.”
V v	as in “very.”
Z z	as in “zenith.”

B. Parts of Speech.

1. There is but one article, “la,” the definite, unchangeable for all genders, numbers and cases.

2. Substantives are formed by the addition of the suffix “o” to the root. The plural takes “j.” There are two cases, the nominative and the objective; the latter is formed from the nominative by the addition of the suffix “n.” All other cases are made by the use of prepositions, which are followed by the nominative form of the noun.

	⁠Singular.	Plural.
Nominative.	La patr-o, the father.	La patr-o-j, the fathers.
Genitive.	De la patr-o, of the father.	De la patr-o-j, of the fathers.
Dative.	Al la patr-o, to the father.	Al la patr-o-j, to the fathers.
Objective.	La patr-o-n, the father.	La patr-o-j-n, the fathers.
Ablative.	Kun la patr-o, with the father.	Kun la patr-o-j, with the fathers.

3. Adjectives are formed by suffixing “a” to the root; they take the same changes for case and number as the substantives. The comparative degree is made by prefixing “pli” (more), the superlative by “plej” (most). The word “than,” after a comparison, is to be translated by “ol,” thus, pli blank-a ol negh-o, more white than snow.

4. Numeral cardinal adjectives are not declinable; they are unu (1), du (2), tri (3), kvar (4), kvin (5), ses (6), sep (7), ok (8), naû; (9) and dek (10), cent (100), mil (1000). The ten and hundreds are made by the simple union of the first ten cardinals; thus, kvin-cent (500), tri-dek (30), dek-ok-cent ok-dek ok: is 1888, etc., etc.

Ordinal numerals are formed by means of the adjective termination, “a;” thus, kvar-a, fourth.

Multiplicative numerals take the suffix obl-a; thus, tri-obl-a, triple. For numerals that designate fractions “on” is to be added; thus, kvar-on-a, the fourth part.

Collective numerals end in “op;” thus, kvar-op-e, by fours.

Distributive numerals prefix “po.”

Adverbial nouns can be formed from cardinal numerals; thus, unu-o (unity), du-e (secondly), kvar-on-e (the fourth).

5. Pronouns.

(a) The personal are:

Mi, I or me.		Ni, we or us.
Vi, you, thou, thee.
Li, he or him.	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	Ili, they or them
Shi, she or her.
Ghi, it.
Si, oneself.		Oni, they (indefinite, as in they say. The French “on.”)

(b) Possessive pronouns are formed by the addition of the adjective ending “a;” thus mi, me–mia, mine; vi, you–via, yours; li, he–lia, his.

All pronouns are declined like snbstantives; thus, mi, I–min, me; li, he–lin, him, etc.

6. The verb remains unchangenble in person and number, only changing for tense; thus, mi far-as, I do; ni far-as, we do; la patr-o far-as, the father does.

The verb takes the following forms:

(1) The Present ends in as: mi far-as, I do.
(2) The Past ends in is: mi far-tis, I did or have done.
(3) The Future ends in os: mi far-os. I shall do.
(4) The Conditional ends in us: li far-us, he should do.
(5) The Imperative ends in u: far-u, do; ni far-u, let us do.
(6) The Infinitive ends in i: far-i, to do.

Participles are as follows:

(a) Active form.

(7) Present ends in ante: far-ante, doing.
(8) Past ends in int: far-int-a, having done.
(9) Future ends in ont: far-ont-a, he who shall do.

(b) Passive form.

(10) Present ends in at-a: far-at-a, that which is done.
(11) Past ends in it-a: far-it-a, that which has been done.
(12) Future ends in ot-a: far-ot-a, that which shall be done.

The passive forms of the verb are composed of the verb “to be” (“est”) and the present passive participle, followed by the preposition “de;” thus, li est-as am-at-a de chiu-j, he is loved by all.

7. Adverbs terminate in “e” and are compared with “pli” and “plej,” the same as adjectives. For example, mi-a frat-o kant-as pli bon-e ol mi, my brother sings better than I.

8. All prepositions govern the nominative case.

GENERAL RULES.

1. Pronounce each word as it is written.

2. Accent the syllable before the last.

3. Compound words are formed by the union of independent ones separated by a hyphen, the principal idea being placed at the end; thus, steamship is vapor-shipo, where vapor means steam, ship, ship, and “o” is the substantive termination.

4. Double negatives are not allowable.

5. A word designating a place towards which action is, directed takes the accusative termination; thus, kie vi est-as, where are you? ki-en vi ir-as, whither are you going.

6. Every preposition has a determinate and fixed signification, but where it is needed in a phrase where a choice is not definitely indicated, the preposition “je,” having no set meaning is to be employed ; thus “ghoj-i je ti-o,” to rejoice over it; “enu-jo je la patr-uj-o,” longing for one’s fatherland; “rid-i je ti-o,” to laugh at it, etc.

Every language poms this indefinite method of usage with more or less damage to the perspicuity of the meaning Here we only use “je,” and indeed where no obscurity is likely to occur the accusative can be used without any preposition.

7. “Foreign” words change only to conform to my orthography; that is, in the case of primary words. Derivative words had better be formed after my method; thus, “tragedi-o,” but “tragedi-a,” tragical; “teatr-o,” theatre; “teatr-a,” theatrical.

8. The termination “o” of the substantive and “a” of the article can be elided if desired, as, Shiller, instead of Shiller-o; de l’ Mond-o, instead of de la Mondo.

END OF THE SECOND PART.

1. Dr. Esperanto uses for the letters ch, gh, kh, jh and sh, the letters c, g, h, j, s, in usual type, surmounted by a circumflex accent, which, as no such letters are in a printer’s usual stock, we have replaced as above.