Complete Manual of the Auxiliary Language Ido

When used as prefixes the numbers have special forms (except 3): mono-, bi-, tri-, quadri-, quinqua-, sexa-, septua-, okto-, nona-:

› mono-plano, bi-plano, tri-folio, quadri-pedo, etc.

Participles

The present participle active ends in -anta:

› vid-anta, seeing.

The past participle passive ends in -ita:

› vid-ita, seen.

These are the two chiefly needed; there are six altogether, the vowels -a-, -i-, -o- being used exactly as in the indicative and infinitive to form a present, a past, and a future participle, both in the active and in the passive. This gives us the complete set:

pres.	vid-anta, seeing;	act.
	vid-ata, being seen;	pass.
past	vid-inta, having seen;	act.
	vid-ita, seen;	pass.
fut.	vid-onta, about to see;	act.
	vid-ota, about to be seen;	pass.

Conversation

How old are you?	Quante vu evas?
I am ten (years old),	Me evas dek (yari),
She was thirty (years old).	El evis triadek.
When I was seven.	Kande me evis sep.
He is aged (of age).	Il esas ev-oza (grand-eva).
The aged gentleman.	La evoza sior-ulo.
I am forty years of age.	Mea evo esas quaradek yari.
The baby was five months old.	La infanteto evis kin monati.

Lesson VII

The Perfect Tenses of the verb are formed by means of the suffix -ab, placed after the root and before the grammatical ending:

› Me parol-ab-is, I had spoken.:

› Il fin-ab-os, He will have finished.:

› El en-fal-ab-us, She would have fallen in.:

› Fin-ab-ez, kande me arivos, Have finished when I (shall) arrive.:

For the Present Perfect the ordinary Past is used:

› Quon me skribis me skribis, What I have written. I have written.

The Progressive Forms (I am speaking, I was speaking) may be translated literally: but most languages find the simple forms of the verb sufficient, so that these are to be preferred in Ido:

› Me parolas, I speak, I am speaking.

› Me parolis, I spoke, I was speaking, I have spoken.

› Me parolos, I shall speak, I shall be speaking.

› Me parolus, I should (or would) speak, I should be speaking.

The future participle in -onta translates the English “to be about to,” “to be going to”:

› Me esas parol-onta, I am going to speak.

› Il esis parol-onta, He was about to speak.

› Kelka homi esas sempre o manjanta, o quik manjonta, o jus manjinta, some people are always either having a meal, or just going to have one, or just having had one.

The Emphatic Forms are translated by the Ido simple forms reinforced by the adverb ya, indeed:

› Me ya askoltas, I do listen, I am listening.

› Me skribis ya, I did write.

› Me atencis ya, I was attending.

› Venez ya, Do come!

Affixes

dis-, separation, dissemination:

› dis-donar, to distribute (by hand).

› dis-sekar, to dissect.

› dis-sendar, distribute (by letter).

des-, the contrary (of any action, quality, etc.):

› des-honoro, dishonour.

› des-plezar, to displease.

› des-facila, difficult.

› des-espero, despair.

› des-pruvar, to disprove.

ne-, really an adverb meaning “not,” is much used as a prefix to indicate negation. It differs widely from des-, which marks the “direct opposite.” There is all the difference in the world between a piece of evidence that does not prove a charge (atesto ne-pruvanta) and one that disproves it (atesto des-pruvanta):

› vole o ne-vole, willy-nilly.

sen-, a preposition meaning “without,” is also used as a prefix having the value of the English -less:

› sen-viva, lifeless.

› sen-hara, hairless.

mi-, half:

› mi-horo, half-an-hour.

› mi-apertita, half-open, ajar.

mis-, wrongly, amiss:

› mis-lektar, to misread.

› mis-pozar, to misplace. (Note the verb egarar, to mislay.)

-ach-, pejorative, giving a bad sense:

› popul-acho, populace.

› rid-achar, to guffaw.

› skrib-achar, to scrawl.

Conversation

You look pale,	Vu aspektas pala.
Are you unwell?	Kad vu esas ne-sana?
I have a cold,	Me havas kataro.
I have caught cold,	Me prenis kataro.
Don’t stand in the draught,	Ne restez en la aer-fluo.
Send for the doctor,	Querigez la mediko.
Are you often ill?	Kad vu esas ofte malada?
No, very seldom.	No, tre rare.
I don’t remember being ill since I was a child,	Me ne memoras esir malada, depos mea infanteso.
Last year I had a cold in the head,	Lasta-yare, me havis nazkataro.
I had to stay at home for two days,	Me mustis restar en la domo dum du dii.
But I did not go to bed,	Ma me ne restis en la lito.

Lesson VIII

THE PASSIVE VOICE is formed with the verb “to be” followed by passive participle:

› La puero esas am-ata, The boy is loved.

› La puero esis am-ata, The boy was loved.

› La puero esos am-ata, The boy will be loved.

The Perfect Tenses are formed with the suffix -ab-:

› La puero esabis amata, The boy had been loved.

› La puero esabos amata, The boy will have been loved.

All these forms can be contracted by adding the verb “to be” directly to the root:

› La puero am-esas, The boy is loved.

It is, however, advisable not to contract the -ab- forms as they are clumsy and hard to follow in conversation. Thus La puero esabos amata is to be preferred to La puero amesabos.

The present participle passive is most used, but the others are occasionally required. For example, the past perfect passive can be translated with the help of the past participle: