Lingwa de Planeta | Adverbs and Comparisons

In this lesson you will learn:

• 15 verbs (studi, talimi, lerni, raki, pedi, sendi, sembli, dukti, sekwi, kuydi, yusi, lasi, pluvi, snegi, fengi)
• 28 nouns (urba, vilaja, mar, universitet, profesor, studenta, matematika, skola, leson, bus, tren, auto, kaval, leker, taimer, suter, kuker, shofer, programer / programista, kosa, sporta, yuan, guan, meteo, skay, surya, badal)
• 16 adjectives (lente, kway, interes-ney, fasile, muhim, vere, reale, adulte, konstante, intele, karim, lenge, warme, garme, klare, tume)
• 11 adverbs (sempre, oftem, rarem, pinchanem, neva, serem, semblem, gro, wek, sun, ausen)
• 18 grammatical words (pyu, meno, zuy, minim, kem, maiste, sam, kom, tem, la, las, wan, lo, tu, bay, ver, ti .. na, kel)
• 9 suffixes (m, nem, er, tul, ka, wat, tura, taa, nesa)

A total of 97 vocabulary units (+ 330 from lessons 1-5 = a total of 427 units)

Adverbs

Adverbs are words that characterize the action. In a sentence, adverbs refer to verbs (while adjectives describe nouns). Adverbs are often formed from adjectives (which end in e) by adding m:

• lente - slow
• lentem - slowly
• jamile - beautiful
• jamilem - beautifully

When forming an adverb from an adjective, the stress position does not change.

Adjectives ending in o and y have the same form as adverbs:

• hao - good, well
• kway - fast, quickly

From a noun, you can form both adjectives with the particle -ney, and adverbs with the particle -nem:

• amiga - friend
• amiga-ney - belonging to a friend, friendly
• amiga-nem - in a friendly way

In the same way, from (cardinal) numerals, you can form ordinal numerals and the corresponding adverbs:

• un-ney - first
• un-nem - firstly
• dwa-ney - second
• dwa-nem - secondly

Interrogative word: komo (how), demonstrative: tak (so).

The preposition bay introduces the means, the instrument:

Translation exercise

• This car is slow (lente). It moves slowly. This train (tren) is fast.
• We are going on it (now) very fast.
• He is a kind (karim) person. He looks at me kindly, friendly.
• Don't look at me like that. - How?

With the copulative verbs bi / es / bin, sta, bikam, adjectives are generally used:

Adverbs of frequency:

• sempre - always
• oftem - often
• rarem - rarely
• pinchanem - usually
• neva - never

double negation does not change the meaning of the sentence

Miscellaneous adverbs:

• sertem - certainly
• semblem - apparently, it seems
• gro - very, strongly
• for - further
• wek - away
• sun - soon

Comparisons

For comparisons with adjectives and adverbs, the following words are used:

• pyu - more
• meno - less
• zuy - the most
• minim - the least
• kem - than

In the word minim the stress is on the first syllable, it is an exception

The words pyu, meno, zuy and minim can be used alone with the meanings, respectively, "more", "less", "the most", "the least":

• zuy mucho = maiste - most

To indicate comparability, equality, the words sam (as) and kom (as) are used:

The construction "the... the..." - kem .. tem:

Translation exercise

• My sister (sista) is taller than my brother (brata).
• This house is the smallest in our city (urba).
• My father (patra) is the best.
• Most people here want to help this child.
• The taller the house, the more people live in it.

Adjectives and verbs as nouns

When comparing, it is sometimes necessary to repeat the same noun. To avoid this, noun substitutes are used: the particles la and las:

Sometimes forms like otres ("others") are used as nouns (this is a form derived from an adjective according to the law of plural formation of nouns). But such forms are rather abbreviations of the grammatically correct otre-las.

If it is a person, the word wan can be used:

Also sometimes it is necessary to talk about a concept, about something abstract. In this situation the particle lo is used:

Instead of a noun in such a sentence, a verb can be used. To show that the verb is used practically with the meaning of a noun, the particle tu is placed before it:

A verb with the particle tu can also be used as a subject with the verb bi / es / bin:

Translation exercise

• I would like to live in the city (urba) and study (studi) there at the university (universitet).
• I think that at the university they teach (talimi) better than at school (skola), and that in the city it is more interesting (interes-ney) to study.
• I live in the village (vilaja). To go to the city you have to travel (go bay) for a long time, first by bus (bus) and then by train (tren).
• I don't like to travel (raki), I like to walk (pedi) more, although traveling is faster.
• Walking is the slowest and the most interesting.
• The main thing is not to forget to try to see the beautiful.

Agent and object nouns of action

Nouns that denote the agent or the instrument that performs a certain action are formed with the suffix er (the specific meaning is determined by the context):

The suffix er is always unstressed

• talimi - to teach, to give classes
• talimer - teacher
• ofni - to open
• ofner - opener

To specify the meaning of the instrument, the suffix tul can be used:

• vinti - to screw
• vintitul - screwdriver

Many names of professions are formed with the suffix er (although not always from verbs):

• leker - from leki (doctor)
• talimer - from talimi (teacher)
• suter - from suti (tailor)
• kuker - from kuki (cook)
• shofer - driver

However, it must be recognized that the names of some very widespread professions are formed with the suffix -ista, as are the names of the adherents of one or another doctrine (-ismo) (in both cases, these words are formed from nouns):

• jurnalista - journalist
• ateista - atheist

In some (rare) cases a double formation is possible, for example the profession of programmer:

• programer (from the verb programi)
• programista (from the noun programa)

We have talked about who performs the action. Now let's talk about what the action is performed on.

The most general way to form a noun that designates the object of an action, or something related to the action, is with the suffix -ka (it can be considered an abbreviation of the word kosa - thing; with this suffix nouns can be formed not only from verbs).

• plei - to play
• pleika - toy
• trani - to drag
• tranika - tail, trace, what is dragged
• jivi - to live
• jivika - living being, creature

To specify the direct object of the action, the suffix -wat can be used:

• pi - to drink
• piwat - drink
• sendi - to send
• sendiwat - package, shipment

To denote the concrete result of an action, there is the suffix -tura:

• skribi - to write
• skribitura - writing, inscription
• shwo - to speak
• shwotura - saying, maxim

Translation exercise

• seller
• dish / food / delicacy
• reading device / reader
• mixture (mixi)

Nouns related to quality

To form a noun from an adjective, the suffix -taa is mainly used (the final 'e' of the adjective is replaced by 'i' before adding the suffix).

• hao - good
• haotaa - goodness
• vere - true, real
• veritaa - truth, reality

Nouns with this suffix acquire a certain own and additional meaning.

A noun that denotes a pure quality can be formed using the suffix -nesa (in adjectives ending in -ney, -ney is replaced by -nesa).

• reale - real
• realitaa - reality as a new concept, an entity in itself
• realenesa - reality as a quality or property
• gao - high
• gaotaa - height, the specific measurement of something
• gaonesa - greatness, nobility, the quality of being elevated or sublime

In some cases, by replacing the final 'e' with an 'a', a noun can be obtained with the meaning of "someone or something characterized by said quality":

• adulte - adult
• adulta - adult person
• konstante - constant
• konstanta - constant

The already known suffix -ka forms a noun with the meaning of "something/an object related to a quality/possessing a quality":

• mole - soft
• molika - pulp
• syao - small
• syaoka - trifle

Translation exercise

• beauty
• length
• weight
• beauty (person)

Methods of expressing definition

Most of the time, the definition of a noun is expressed with an adjective. But this is not the only possibility. To make a definition from a noun, the particle -ney is usually added to it, but in this way definitions are mostly obtained that answer the question "whose?" or "related to":

To establish a more general relationship, nouns can simply be placed one after the other (and, if necessary, for clarity, joined with a hyphen):

If the result of the combination of two concepts is something new, a new concept for which a new word is needed, the components are written together:

There are a number of words that regularly participate in the formation of these new words, for example:

• jen - person
• yuan - employee, worker
• guan - institution

In addition, the definition can be expressed by a subordinate clause. If the subordinate clause is before the defined word, it (the clause) is highlighted with the special construction ti .. na:

If the subordinate clause is after the defined word (as in Russian), it is introduced with the word ke – provided that the defined word is not part of that subordinate clause. If after the construction the sentence continues, it is better to separate the construction with the particle na, or to formulate the word with the definition as the subject of the sentence:

The construction to ke:

If the defined word is the subject of the subordinate clause, the word kel is used:

Also kel is used with prepositions:

Translation exercise

• I would like to be a professor (profesor) at the university.
• I would teach mathematics (matematika) to the students (studenta).
• I would make sure that the students I teach understand well what I say.
• They would remember well what they hear during my classes (leson).
• I would like to talk to the students who study well.
• After my classes they would become more thoughtful.

New verbs

Text

Pet-ney planeta es muy kuriose. Es zuy syao. Dar ye plasa sol fo un fanus e un
fanusyuan. Syao prinsa bu mog samaji way oni nidi fanus e un fanusyuan on tanto
syao planeta wo jen ga yok. Yedoh lu dumi: "Mogbi sey jen es absurde. Bat ta es
meno absurde kem rega e kem bisnesjen. To ke ta zwo hev sensu. Wen ta lumisi
suy fanus, es kwasi yoshi un stara o yoshi un flor janmi. Es verem utile por ke
es jamile."

• kuriose - curious, funny
• plasa - place
• fanus - lantern
• absurde - absurd/ridiculous
• rego - king
• bisnes - business
• sensu - sense
• luma - light
• kwasi - as if / almost
• stara - star
• janmi - to be born
• utile - useful

Etiquette: talking about the weather

As is known, the most suitable topic for a trivial conversation is the weather (meteo).

The expression "outside / on the street" (if the conversation takes place indoors) is conveyed by the adverb ausen (outside).

About the temperature you can say with the adjectives:

• lenge - cold
• warme - warm
• garme - hot

In an informal conversation, a direct question with "ob" is not very appropriate. You can ask in another way, using the word ver (from vere / true) and get an answer:

If you need to report some change, you can use the expression with fa-:

For precipitation there are special verbs: pluvi (for rain) and snegi (for snow), as well as fengi (for wind):

The same can be said using the nouns pluva, snega, feng and the verbs ye (there is) and yok (there is not):

Words needed to describe the state of the sky:

• skay - sky
• klare - clear
• tume - dark
• surya - sun
• badal - cloud

On some excursion, the expressions fa-dey, fa-nocha will also not be superfluous:

Finally, you can simply comment:

And hear in response:

Language in focus: Russian

Russian is the native language of about 150 million people. However, in terms of its prevalence on the Internet, Russian is second only to English.

Specialists divide the history of the Russian language into several periods. Proto-Slavic separated from Proto-Indo-European approximately in the 1st century AD. By the 5th century, Proto-Slavic had split into several branches, in particular Old Russian and Old Church Slavonic. People spoke Old Russian, but at the same time, in the church, in books and documents, Old Church Slavonic was used, and therefore the influence of the latter on Russian was quite large. Thus, in modern Russian you can find pairs of words like "голова" (golova - head, from Old Russian) and "глава" (glava - chapter, leader, from Old Church Slavonic), where one word describes a common phenomenon, while the other belongs to the realm of educated language.

The Tatar-Mongol invasion and the influence of the Tatar khanates led to the borrowing of a certain number of Turkic words. By the 18th-19th centuries, Old Church Slavonic was displaced from official use; however, at the same time, borrowings and calques (that is, words constructed in the manner of foreign ones) from Western European languages began to penetrate abundantly into Russian speech, for example, from French, in which young nobles communicated with each other, and from German, which at that time was the language of science.

The Russian literary language was definitively formed at the beginning of the 19th century.

In the 20th century, the arrival of the Bolsheviks significantly influenced the language (many new words appeared, a spelling reform was carried out). Nor can one fail to mention the modern influence on Russian of the English-speaking culture.

Fragment from "The Little Prince" (the transcription is presented here for uniformity):

О Маленький принц!
oo 'malinki prints.

Понемногу я понял также, как печальна и однообразна была твоя жизнь.
panim'nogu ya 'ponil takz/she kak pi'chalna i adnaa'braz/sna be'la tva'ya z/shiz/sn.

Долгое время у тебя было лишь одно развлечение: ты любовался закатом.
'dolgae 'vremi/a u ti'bi/a 'byila lish ad'no raz/svli'chenie: tyi li/uba'valsi/a z/sa'katam.

Я узнал об этом наутро четвертого дня, когда ты сказал:
ya uz/s'nal ab 'etam na'utra chit'vi/ortava dni/a kag'da tyi ska'z/sal:

Я очень люблю закат.
ya 'ochin li/ub'li/u z/sa'kat

Words taken from Russian (Russian words have many forms, so it is often a matter of borrowing the root):

Non-lexical words:

• koy - some, any
• sey - this
• dabe - so that, in order that
• dwa - two
• sem - seven
• sto - hundred
• krome - except, besides
• po - by (example: by threes)
• tem - as (in comparisons: as... as...)
• snova - again
• toshi - also
• yoshi - and also

Verbs:

• ye - there is, there are
• treba - it is required, it is necessary
• dai - to give
• dumi - to think
• lubi - to love, to like
• nadi - to hope
• gloti - to swallow
• goni - to hunt, to chase
• kupi - to buy
• sidi - to sit
• krushi - to crush, to destroy
• tuki - to hit
• leki - to cure (from the lexicon of "healer")
• chihi - to sneeze
• kuti - to wrap, to bundle up
• lisi - to lick
• plaki - to cry
• shuki - to search, to rummage (Ukrainian, Belarusian)

Nouns:

• boh - god
• brata - brother
• gorba - hump
• lada - harmony, order, peace
• juk - beetle
• kasha - porridge
• kota - cat
• masu - meat
• nocha - night
• docha - daughter
• oko - eye
• poklon - bow, greeting
• shapa - hat
• snega - snow
• slama - straw
• vesna - spring
• yama - pit, hole
• shum - noise

Adjectives:

• dale - far
• blise - near
• glube - deep
• mokre - wet
• suhe - dry
• osobe - special, particular
• pyan - drunk
• rane - early
• yarke - bright

Answers to the exercises | Next lesson