In this lesson you will learn:

11 verbs (muvi, flai, lopi, sidi, stan, somni, plei, lekti, skribi, remembi, fogeti)
11 nouns (jen, kinda, amiga, dom, flor, kitaba, taim; sabah, dey, aksham, nocha)
5 adjectives (hao, buhao, syao, gran, jamile)
6 adverb modifiers to adjectives (muy, idyen, aika, basta, tro, ga)
7 special verbs (bi / es / bin, ye, yok, hev, sta)
7 possessive pronouns (may, nuy, yur, suy, luy, elay, ley)
5 index words (se, to, sey, toy, tal)
1 preposition (de)
1 question word (kwel)
8 suffixes (-ina, -o, a / sa, ing, shil, bile, kin, gron)
8 particles (-ge, gin-, man-, da, den, -ney, gro-, -ki)

. . . for a total of 70 units of the dictionary

(+ 97 from lessons 1 and 2, for a total of 167 units)

Nouns

Nouns - words that answer the question "What?" (Kwo?) or "Who?" (Hu?).

Nouns can be simple, or they can be derived compounds.

Examples of simple nouns:

jen (people)
kinda (child)
flor (flower)
kitaba (book)
dom (house)
amiga (friend)
taim (time)

Importantly, the noun itself conveys no clue as to number or amount.

Thus, depending on context, the word flor, for example, may refer to either a "flower" or to "flowers". To uniquely clarify the intended meaning, you can put the word un (one) before the word:


un flor	one flower (a flower)

Another way to specify that a word is singular (one thing, one piece) is to add the particle - ge as a quantifier or denumerator after the word:


flor-ge	[a single] flower, one piece

An adjective like mucho ("a lot") can specify the sense of quantity, countability or plurality' (See also Lesson 5.)


mucho flor	many flowers

A number of word pairs distinguish gender in nouns denoting relationships among people:

gina (woman) / man (man)
gela (girl) / boy (boy)
mata (mother) / patra (father)
docha (daughter) / son (son)
sista (sister) / brata (brother)
tia (aunt) / onkla (uncle)
oma (grandmother) / opa (grandfather)
kindocha (granddaughter) / kinson (grandson)

If necessary, information on gender can be supplied in other cases:

by the prefixes gin- and man-.


gin-leker (female doctor)	man-leker (male doctor)
gin-kota (female cat)	man-kota (male cat)

or by replacing the ending a with -ina or -o.


amigina (girlfriend)	amigo (boyfriend)

Nouns do not have declensions or case forms in Lidepla. However, the information provided by case endings as to the role or function in the sentence can be provided by a noun's sentence position:

The subject ("nominative case") is shown by placing the noun before the verb:


me jan.	I know.
amiga samaji.	A friend understands.

The indirect object ("dative case") or direct object ("accusative case") is shown by being placed after a preposition or after a verb, respectively


Yu samaji me	You understand me.
Me shwo om amiga	I'm talking about a friend.

If necessary, to indicate the case value of a word when changing the order of words (for example, to emphasize the meaning of a word), you can use special particles da for the nominative and den for the indirect case:


Me vidi amiga. Den amiga me vidi.	I see a friend. I see a friend.
Om hu yu shwo? - Den amiga om.	Who are you talking about? - About a friend.
Ob lu samaji ela? - Non, samaji da ela (hi) den lu.	Does he understand her? - No, she understands him.

Such particles make possible the almost free order of words in a sentence. We note, however, that it is not worth abusing these particles.

Verbal Nouns

Nouns can be formed from verbs.

A common noun associated with an action, denoting a process or result, is formed by:

replacement of the final "i" on "a" (if the verb ends in a consonant + i):


lubi	luba (love)

addition of "a" (if the verb ends in a consonant + i, but is monosyllabic):


pri	pria (liking)

addition of "sa" (if the verb does not end in i):


gun	gunsa (work)

It is important to note that in all these cases the noun is associated with the verb, but carries some additional meaning. You can, however, also form a pure verbal noun, denoting precisely the action as such, using the suffix -ing:


swimi (to swim)	swiming (swimming)
janmi (to be born)	janming (birth) (janma - birth)

Translation exercise

English	Lidepla
hope
knowledge
help
request
joy
question
answer
coming
song
journey

Adjectives

Adjectives answer the question kwel? "which one?" or "what is it like?"

Examples of adjectives:

hao (good)
buhao (bad)
gran (big)
syao (small)
jamile (beautiful)

(Reminder:
in the combination ao, a is under stress,
the letter j reads like a light semi-soft fused "dzh", just like English j)

Together with adjectives, to clarify the meaning, the words are used:

muy (very)
idyen (a little)
aika (rather)
basta (enough)
tro (too much)
ga (entirely)

"quite" can be translated either as aika or as ga.


ga syao	completely small
basta gran	big enough
muy jamile	very beautiful
aika hao	rather good

Adjectives can be formed from verbs.

An adjective with the meaning "inclined to do something" is formed from the verb by adding the suffix shil (the position of stress does not change):


samajishil	understanding
dumishil	thoughtful
gunshil	industrious

Adjectives with the meaning "which can .." are formed using the suffix bile (the word gets extra stress on the suffix):


vidibile	visible
audibile	audible
samajibile	clear

Translation exercise

English	Lidepla
fond of traveling
fond of asking questions
believable
hopable
amorous
hopeful

Verb bi / es / bin

In Lidepla, verbs do not change their form - except for the single verb "to be": the exception verb bi has the form es in the present tense and bin in the past. The future form is expresed as ve bi.

The linking verb bi/es/bin is usually preceded by a noun and followed by an adjective.

The verb bi/es/bin is never omitted.


Kinda es ga syao.	The kid is quite small.
Ob flor bin muy jamile?	Was the flower very pretty?
Ob kitaba es basta hao?	Is the book good enough?

In special questions with the verb bi (es, bin), inversion is possible and usually occurs, that is, the verb is placed immediately after the interrogative word:


Wo es yu?	Where are you?

In a complex sentence with a question word, as a rule, there is no inversion:


Me jan wo yu es.	I know where you are.

Translation exercise

English	Lidepla
The book is big enough.
The child is too small.
Where's the flower?
The flower was rather beautiful.
What will the house be like?
The house will be very good.

If the subject is expressed by the word se ("this") or the pronouns ta or it, it can be omitted, both in the question and in the answer to it (if the meaning is clear from the context):


Kwo es se? Kwo es?	What's this? What is it?
Se es kinda. Es kinda.	This is a child. It's a child.
Kwel es ta? Kwel es?	Which one are they? Which one?
Ta es ga syao. Es ga syao.	They are quite small. It's quite small.

Adjective as an attribute

Of course, nouns, like personal pronouns, can act as the subject or object of the verb.


Ob kinda jan-te?	Did the child know?
Me vidi un flor.	I see one flower.

In this role, nouns can be accompanied by adjectives.

The adjective is usually placed before the word being described.


Syao kinda bu ve samaji yu.	A small child will not understand you.
Me pri jamile flor.	I like beautiful flowers (in general).

Pointing words:

sey (this)
toy (that)
tal (such)


Sey flor es jamile.	This flower is beautiful.
Toy kitaba es syao.	That book is small.
Me bu pri tal jen.	I don't like such people.

Translation exercise

English	Lidepla
This kid is small, but quite understanding.
That person was very good.
I don't like this house: it's too small.
You don't need to talk to such a person: they will not be a good friend to you.
That house is big enough for us to live in.
This child is too fond of asking questions.

Verbs of availability ye, yok, hev

Sometimes you need to say "is" not in the sense of quality, but in the sense of the presence or absence of something: "there is".

In this case, instead of the verb bi, the words ye (there is, there are) and yok (there is no, is absent) are used:


Ob ye kitaba?	Is there a book?
Ya, kitaba ye.	Yes, there's a book.
Non, kitaba yok.	No, there's no book.

In order to report that something belongs to someone, use the verb hev - to have.


Me hev un jamile flor.	I have a beautiful flower.

Translation exercise

English	Lidepla
There is a small house there.
There are no flowers here.
We will have a child.
They had such a book.

Possessive adjectives and pronouns

To ask the question "whose?" and answer it, the defining particle -ney is used:


Hu-ney kitaba es?	Whose is the book?
Es kinda-ney kitaba.	It's the child's book.

Possible compound adjectives:


sey-kinda-ney kitaba	this child's book

The same meaning can be expressed using the preposition de:


Es kitaba de sey kinda.	It's the book of that child.

Using the same particle -ney, one can, in principle, form possessive pronouns: me-ney, yu-ney, ta-ney, etc. But possessive pronouns are used very often in speech, so there are also short forms for them: may (mine), yur (your, yours), nuy (our), ley (their pl.), suy (his, her, their sing.), luy (his) , elay (her).

	Singular	Plural
1st person	may	nuy
2nd person	yur
3rd person	suy luy, elay	ley

The reflexive pronoun swa can be used to form the possessive pronoun swa-ney (one's own).

Translation exercise

English	Lidepla
my child
my child's book
your book
own house
our child's friend
their time
his flower

Particles gro- and -ki

The following are widely used in Lidepla language:

augmentative particle prefix gro-
diminutive particle suffix -ki

These particles can be used with all parts of speech:


gro-pri	like it very much, love it very much
gro-jen	big person (in different senses)
gro-hao	wonderful
kinda-ki	baby
somni-ki	doze off, nap

To form the diminutive of a noun or name, you can replace the final vowel with "i". A long name can be shortened to one syllable (this method is not always applicable):


doga (dog)	dogi (doggy (pet form))
Dimitri	Dimi
Konstantin	Konsti

The language also has derivational suffixes -kin and -gron, which serve to form nouns with some new quality:


kitaba (book)	kitabagron (huge tome)
dom (house)	domkin (greenhouse (for example))

Translation exercise

English	Lidepla
huge
gorgeous
be in dire need
ardently desire
little person
little flower

New verbs


muvi	move	me muvi it, yu bu muvi-te, nu ve muvi
flai	fly	li bu flai-te, me bu ve flai, ta janmog flai
lopi	run	ela lopi-te, ob lu ve lopi? me bu lopi
sidi	sit	nu sidi-te, me ve sidi, ob yu sidi?
stan	stand	me stan, yu stan-te, li ve stan
somni	sleep	nu bu somni-te, ob yu somni? ta ve somni
plei	play	nu plei-te, me bu plei, li ve plei
lekti	read	ta lekti-te, li ve lekti, nu lekti
skribi	write	me skribi, ob yu ve skribi? nu bu skribi-te
remembi	remember	me bu remembi, nu ve remembi, yu bu remembi-te om me
fogeti	forget	ela fogeti, ob yu bu fogeti-te? me bu ve fogeti

Translation exercise

I have a friend.

They are an excellent person.

They are very hardworking and understanding.

They have a small child.

My friend wants to be with the child, wants to see how their child lives.

But they can't, because they have to work.

They don't have time to play with their child.

When they arrive, the child is asleep.

My friend hopes that when the child is big, they will be able to read books to them and talk about them with them.

My friend's child can't understand why their father can't play with them.

The child cannot sit without playing. They want to run, sing, dance.

Also my friend has a father. He is very old.

They don't remember what their name is.

They do not see and therefore (because of this) cannot read and write.

They need to sleep.

Text

Read the text. Check the meaning of unknown words.

Try to retell this text and/or make up your own.

Me bu jan-te fon wo ta lai. Wen ta vidi may avion, ta kwesti:

- Kwo es sey kosa?

- Bu es kosa. Es avion. It flai.

- Also yu toshi lai fon skay? Es drole! Fon kwel planeta?

Also ta lai fon skay. Me kwesti:

- Fon wo yu lai? Wo es yur dom? A wo yu yao pren may yan?

(afte Antuan de Sent Exuperi)

avion - airplane
kosa - thing
skay - sky
drole - funny, amusing
planeta - planet
yan - sheep

Etiquette: “Good afternoon!”, “How are you?”

When greeting at different times of the day, you can use the following expressions:

Hao sabah! - Good morning!
Hao dey! - Good afternoon!
Hao aksham! - Good evening!
Hao nocha! - Good night!

(By themselves, the words sabah, dey, aksham, nocha denote morning, afternoon, evening and night, respectively.)

To ask "How are you?" you need the verb sta ("to be in some state"):


Komo yu sta?	How are you?
Me sta hao.	I'm well.
Me sta muy hao.	I'm very well.
Me bu sta hao.	I'm not well.
Me sta buhao.	I'm not fine.

Languages in focus: Spanish and Portuguese

By number of native speakers, the Spanish language is the second largest after Chinese (about 400 million).

Spanish belongs to the Romance languages group and, therefore, derived from Vulgar Latin, the language that was spoken among ordinary Romans, and which began to spread into the territory of modern Spain at the end of the 3rd century BCE, after Spain became a Roman dominion.

At that time the Iberian Peninsula was home to a large number of distinct tribes, the most numerous of which were the Iberians and the Celts. Along the shore of the Mediterranean there were some Greek colonies. In addition, by the 5th century, Germanic tribes had begun settling within the peninsula. As a consequence, a great number of words in modern Spanish have a direct link with Celtic, Greek, Phoenician and Visigoth analogues.

From the 8th to the 15th centuries, Moors from North Africa dominated the territory of the Iberian Peninsula. Interaction of Arab and Christian cultures was not simple and straightforward. Be that as it may, the influence of Arabic into Spanish was significant and undeniable.

In the Middle Ages, Spain was in a fragmented state, and different regions spoke different dialects. But the land of Castile gradually became most powerful and influential, and the Castilian dialect became the basis of modern Spanish. Nevertheless, differences in pronunciation and vocabulary remain clearly visible in the different provinces of Spain to this day.

Excerpt from The Little Prince

(Accent mark placed before the stressed syllables, The diphthongs ue and ua are pronounced together, with an emphasis on the second sound):

¡Ah, principito!	aa prinsi′pito
Así, poco a poco, comprendí tu pequeña vida melancólica.	a′si ′poko a ′poko kompren′di tu pe′kenya 'vida melan′kolika
Durante mucho tiempo tu única distracción fue la suavidad de las puestas de sol.	du′rante mucho ′tyempo tu ′unika dis′trakf/sion fue la suavi′dad de las pu′estas de sol
Me enteré de este nuevo detalle, en la mañana del cuarto día, cuando me dijiste:	me ente′re de ′este ′nuevo de′taye en la ma′nyana del ku′arto ′dia ′kuando me di′histe
Me encantan las puestas de sol.	me en′kantan las ′puestas de sol

Portuguese is closely related to Spanish, and is also one of the world’s very widely spoken languages.

Excerpt from The Little Prince in Portuguese:

Ah, Principezinho!	aa prinsipezinyu
Assim, aos poucos, fui ficando a conhecer a tua melancólica vidinha!	assim aus poukus fui fikandu a konyeser a tua melankolika vijinya
Durante muito tempo, a tua única distracção foi a beleza dos crepúsculos.	duranchi muintu tempu, a tua unika jistrasaun foi a beleza dus krepuskulus
Fiquei a sabê-lo na manhã do quarto dia, quando me disseste:	fikei a sabelu na manyan du kwartu dia, kwandu mi jiseschi
Gosto muito dos pores do Sol.	gostu muintu dous poris ji sou.

Spanish and Portuguese, being both in the Romance family of languages, contain a great number of words of Latin origin, many of which have become international. Such words make up a large part of the vocabulary of Lidepla.

The most frequent words borrowed from Spanish:

Function words: a (to), kada (each), kwanto (how much), es (is), ela (she), mil (thousand), mucho (a lot), komo (a), sol (only), sin (no), i (and), muy (very), basta (enough), ambi (both), segun (according to).
Nouns: kosa (a thing, something), flor (flower), tasa (cup), kamina (road), tren (train), avion (airplane), amiga (friend), vos (voice), munda (the world), oton (autumn), mes (month), isla (island), mar (sea).
Verbs: skribi (to write), fumi (to smoke), inviti (to invite), visiti (to visit), resolvi (to solve a task), regi (to rule, reign), kresi (to grow), konsenti (to agree), doni (to give).
Adjectives: gran (big), blan (white), lente (slow), otre (other), alegre (cheerful), agude (acute), vere (real), tarde (late), kare (expensive), libre (free), sane (healthy).

Exercise keys

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