INTERLINGUE FOR BEGINNERS

By Wilfrid E. Reeve

Editoria : Interlingue-Institute

CH-1033 CHESEAUX SVISSIA

1966

Lesson 1

1

Interlingue is phonetic, that is to say, after studying the few rules of pronunciation given below you can read any text without difficulty. At the same time these rules allow us to write the words in a recognizable way.

2

The following consonants are pronounced just as in English -- b d f h k l m n p r t v w y. The letter r should however be trilled and must always be pronounced.

3

The letters c and g have two sounds. Before e and i, c is "ts", elsewhere "k". Before e and i, g is pronounced as in the middle of our word "vision" ; elsewhere as in "go" ; j is also as in "vision".

4

Qu is always "koo" ; z is "dz" ; zz is "ts" and x is "ks" ; ch and sh are as English "sh". The letter s between two vowels is like our "z", elsewhere as in "say". In order to preserve this sharp sound between two vowels we double the s, e.g., "possibil".

5

At the end of words in the combinations tia, tie, tion the "t" sound is followed by "s", e.g., "national" (natseeonahl) unless an s precedes, e.g. "question".

6

Each vowel has two sounds, a short and a long. These are heard in the following series: "pat", "pet", "pit", "pot", "put" and "barn", "bane", "bean", "bone", "boon". There are in Interlingue the following diphthongs: au (as in "cows"), ay (as in "high"), and ey (as in "they"). Other combinations of vowels must be pronounced separately.

7

Vowels are short in unstressed syllables and when followed by two consonants. All other vowels are long ; if however the second consonant is r or l a preceding stressed vowel is long. Hence the first vowels in these words are long : -- "pur", "robe", "blu", "fibre", "table" and short in these : -- "calm", "old", "potte", "flagga".

8

The stress is on the vowel preceding the last consonant. The endings -bil, -ic, -im, -ul, -um, -men and the plural -es however do not take a stress. Unusual stresses are marked, e.g., "societé", "armé".

9

Read these words carefully after studying the above mentioned rules. Most of the words in this lesson will be known to you from their similarity to English : --

special (spehtseeAhl), musica (mOOzica), long, militari, normal, present, rigid, station, stomac, organisation, papere, parte, expert, impulse, lettre, machine, metalle, agreabil, dangere.

Do not forget to sound the final "e".

10

Vocabulary.

11

"De li" and "a li" are usually abbreviated to "del" and "al", e.g.

Li patre del púer vadet al dom (The boy's father went to the house).

Note how we express the possessive by the use of "del".

12

Read aloud and translate.

Li lune es blanc. Li bocca del mann es apert. Un electric tren es rapid. Leer es un plesura. Un fertil region. Libertá es dulci. Li actressa es famosi.

Lesson 2

1

Nouns that end in a vowel add s to form the plural, those that end in a consonant add -es. Long words in "-ium" add -s.

Li serpente, li seprentes. Li structura, Li structuras. Li circul, li circules. Li person, li persones. Li vocabularium, li vocabulariums.

2

There is one exception to the rule given above. Words in "-c" and "-g" add only -s in order to preserve the hard sounds.

Li plug (plough), li plugs. Li flanc (side), li flancs.

3

Adjectives normally come before the noun but they can be placed after if so desired.

Un nigri cate (a black cat). Un lingue universal (a universal langauge). Li table es solid.

4

It is sometimes necessary for euphonic reasons to add a vowel at the end of a root. We can us -e for general purposes. This is usually regarded as more specifically applicable to nouns ; for adjectives we add -i (compare English "easy", "stringy"). these endings are frequently optional though there is a tendency to standardisation. In some cases the endings are really necessary.

Un povri fémina (a poor woman). Li nocte es obscur (the night is dark). Harmonie es un facte.

5

Adjectives, of course, do not normally take the plural "-s" unless they are used without nouns.

Maria have li verdis e Rosa have li bluis (Mary has the green ones and Rose has the blue ones).

6

Adverbs are formed from adjectives by the addition of the suffix -men ; the final "-i" can be retained if it helps the pronunciation.

Nationalmen (nationally), rigidmen (rigidly).

In many cases however the adjective itself can be used.

Li fémina lude bon (or bonmen), (the woman plays well)

7

Vocabulary.

8

Exercise.

Li tigre atacca violentmen. Li puella vade delicatmen along li strade. Li dictionariums es important. Li fémina porta un gay blu robe. Li mann have mult moné. Bell flores es un grand plesura.

Lesson 3

1

The personal pronouns are

2

As the object of a verb the following forms are used

Yo ama la (I love her), ella ama me (she loves me).

3

These forms can also be used for the indirect object :

Il da me li lettre (he gives me the letter).

If both the direct and indirect objects are pronouns, the latter comes first.

Il da me it (he gives it to me).

4

After a preposition we use the object forms except for the third person, when "se" is used.

5

The possessives are :

Mi tu(i) su ; nor (or nostri) vor (or vostri) lor.

Note that su means "his", "her" or "its".

Lor paccage es apert.

6

Some common prepositions are :

7

The feminine is indicated in three ways :

a) by using a different word

púer (boy), puella (girl)

bove (ox), vacca (cow)

b) by the suffix -essa :

poete, poetessa

leon, leonessa

c) by the ending a. In this case we indicate the masculine by -o and the neutral by -e:

Simie, simia, simio (monkey)

8

Vocabulary :

9

Exercise:

Il da me li orange privatmen. It es nu complet. Generalmen li aere es humid in li region u yo logia. Mi fratre es un director de un fabrica, ma mi sestra es in un laboratoria. Nor movement have mult membres in diversi partes del munde.

Lesson 4

1

The infinitive ends in -r.

If we cut off the -r we are left with the present stem. You will notice that this ends in one of three vowels.

2

This present stem is used for the present tense and applies to all person and both numbers.

Yo ama, tu ama, il ama, etc. (I love, etc.)

3

The past tense is formed by adding -t to the present stem.

Yo decident ella lavat noi finit

4

The future is formed by the auxiliary "va" and the conditional by "vell".

5

The past participle is the same as the past tense, e.g., "amat", "decidet", "finit". The present participle is formed by adding -nt to the present stem. In the case of verbs whose root ends in -i however ent is added, e.g., "amant", "decident", "finient".

6

The verb "to have" is "haver" but as an auxiliary this is shortened to "har" :

7

The passive is formed in the same way as in English.

Note however that the present tense of "esser" is "es".

It es productet de carbon. (It is produced from coal.)

8

Other auxiliaries are shown below. Note that "mey" is invariable.

9

The present stem is used as the imperative. A politer form consists of the word "ples" plus the infinitive.

Veni (or) Ples venir. (Come)

10

The participles can be used as adjectives, or by adding -e, -a or -o as nouns.

11

Vocabulary.

12

Exercise.

Probabilmen il va venir deman. Yo ha sempre regretat que yo nequande respondet a su lettre. Noi discusset lor desires relatent li selection de un nov secretario. Un serviente del guvernament guidat nos tra li porta. Ples observar li regules.

Lesson 5

1

There are many derivatives formed from verbs and when we have learned how to form these we shall have a greatly increased vocabulary at our disposal. These derivatives are formed either from the present stem or the perfect stem.

2

To the present stem are added the suffixes -bil, -da, and -ment.

3

The suffix -bil expresses possibility. Verbs in -er add -ibil.

4

The suffix -da expresses activity in duration; verbs in -er add -ida.

5

The suffix -ment expresses the concrete result of an action.

mover, movement. armar, armament. assortir, assortiment.

Note that verbs in -er with a vowel preceding lose the -e.

arguer, argument.

6

The perfect stem is found by what is known as the "Rule of de Wahl". We cut off the -r of infinitive or -er from verbs ending in this way. Then :

a) If we are left with a vowel, add -t.

b) If we are left with a -d or -r change this letter to -s.

c) In all other cases what we have left is the perfect stem. To the perfect stem are added the suffixes -ion, -iv, -ura, -or, -ori.

7

These rules are seen in the following examples :

8

The suffix -ion expresses action or the place of the action.

separar, separation. observar, observation. divider, division. prohibir, prohibition. posir (to put, place), position.

9

The suffix -ura denotes the concrete result of the action.

picter, pictura. mixter, mixtura. pleser, plesura. rupter (to break), ruptura. dictar (to dictate), dictatura (dictatorship).

10

The suffix -iv forms adjectives with the meaning "that which is".

decorar, decorativ. adherer, adhesiv. afirmar, afirmativ. prohibir, prohibitiv.

11

The noun-suffix -ie is often added to the present participles of static verbs to form abstract nouns indicating a state.

esser, essentie. consister, consistentie. perseverar, perseverantie.

12

It will be seen that the suffixes -ntie, -ion, -ment, -ura shade into each other, the latter being the more concrete. English usage will nearly always see you through.

13

Exercise.

Li audition evenit in li teatre u mult persones esset. Yo opine que li navigation es un arte. Ella condamnat li spíritu competitiv. Noi va competir con vos in li observantie del regules.

See more here: https://occidental-lang.com/derive-from-verb/

Lesson 6

1

The Rule of de Wahl regularises a great number of derivaties. There are six common verbs outside the rule which have special perfect stems.

Compound verbs agree :

conceder, concession. prevenir, prevention.

2

From nouns and adjectives we form verbs with the following suffixes :

3

We sometimes resort to direct derivation by simply adding -ar. There are five cases where we do this.

a) to indicate "provide with" :

arme (arm, military) ; armar (to arm)

b) with instruments :

scruve (screw) ; scruvar (to screw)

c) bodily function :

lácrime (tear) ; lacrimar (to weep)

d) with persons in executive positions :

judico (judge) ; judicar (to judge)

e) with adjectives, "to make" :

sicc (dry) ; siccar (to dry)

4

Adjectives are formed from nouns by the use of the affixes -al, -ari, -ic, and -in. These have a very similar meaning ; -ari is frequently used instead of -al when an -l occurs in the root. Examples :

nation, national ; regul, regulari ; nase, nasal ; manu (hand), manual ; ornament, ornamental.

5

The suffix -in is used in a general way as in "mare" (sea), "marin" or to indicate "made of", "aure" (gold), "aurin". Example :

un aurin anelle, a gold ring.

6

The suffix -ic is added to many words of Greek origin, but those which end in -ma add -tic.

angel, angelic ; barbare (barbarian), barbaric ; problema, problematic.

7

There are some other adjectival endings with special meanings :

Note that -an and -esi can be used as nouns in the forms -ane, -ese, e.g., "francese" (French person), "francesa" (Frenchwoman), etc.

8

The final -e must be retained if it is required to preserve the soft sound of c and g, e.g., "change", "changear".

9

Vocabulary.

10

Exercise.

Lor vivaci amíca es un finlandesa. Vor insistentie completmen astona me. Su tre feminin qualitás charma omni escutantes. Ili desira li nationalisation de omni industries. Noi sedet tra presc tri sessiones, durant li passat semane.

Lesson 7

1

The numbers are :

un, du, tri, quar, quin, six, sett, ott, nin, deci, 11 decidun, 12 decidu, etc., 20 duanti, 30 trianti, etc., 100 cent, 1000 mill, 1,000,000 million.

2

Unesim, prim, first duesim, secund, second triesim, ters, third un duesim, one half tri quaresimes, three quarters un vez, once du vez, twice

3

The negative is formed by using ne before the verb. In accordance with widespread usage double negatives may be used.

4

Questions are asked by prefixing the word esque to the sentence or by using a specific interrogative, e.g. :

5

Note that quo means "what" (thing) and that qui (who) is applied to persons only ; quel means "which" or "who" ; quem means "whom". These words can be used as relatives.

A plural form queles may be used if desired, e.g. :

6

Note the method of forming comparatives and superlatives.

7

Ti means "this", "that", "these" or "those". If really necessary we can add ci for "this, these" and ta for "that, those".

As a noun we use to.

8

Vocabulary.

9

Exercise.

Esque ti via ne ducte a vostri hem? Yes, ma on deve prender un litt ponte, quel sta un poc a dextri e poy ear a levul. Qui es li púer qui parlat? Tal besties es dangerosi. Nequande yo ha videt tant rubissim pomes. Esque vu have settanti quin annus? No, yo have solmen settanti tri.

Lesson 8

1

We have seen that nouns can be formed form the participles of verbs, e.g. "viagear" (to travel), "viageante" (traveller). This indicates an action at the time. For more havitual or professional action we use -or or -ero added to the perfect stem.

This suffix indicates an instrument too, e.g., "acumulator".

2

The suffix -ist corresponds to a follower of a system, dogma, idea or person.

social, socialist ; Deo (God), deist ; lingue, linguist.

3

Other personal suffixes are :

4

Other prefixes are :

5

Other suffixes are :

Specimens of Interlingue

GRAMMATICAL OR FREQUENT WORDS

(or with deficient internationality)

ENGLISH-INTERLINGUE VOCABULARY

Browse the dictionary at https://occidental-lang.com/dictionaries/?d=en