Esperanto/Lesson 9

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Advanced derivation[edit | edit source]

We have seen in lesson 4 that new words can be derived by changing the ending of a word and that words can be put together in a compound word. In lesson 6 we have seen that compounds can also be created by tacking on a preposition to a word. Here we will learn yet another way of deriving new words.

Words can also be derived by tacking on a part-of-speech ending or even a suffix to an entire phrase, usually to construction like "en la domo" or "sur la tablo". This is, however, not limited to those: Occasionally entire sentences are even used, such as "Kiel vi fartas?". When this is done, any article in the phrase is normally dropped. Usually, the part-of-speech endings are dropped from words in the middle of the phrase, unless this sounds awkward or would be unclear. The endings of ordinal numbers and possessive pronouns are never dropped. Examples are:

Examples
Base phrase Meaning Derived word Meaning Audio
en la domo in the house endome in the house
sur la tablo on the table surtabla '... that is on the table'
multaj flankoj many sides multflanke on many sides
kvar anguloj four angles kvarangulo
by tacking on -o
tetragon, quadrilateral
du sencoj two meanings dusenca ambiguous (with two possibilities)
pluraj sencoj multiple meanings plursenca ambiguous (with multiple possibilities)
pluraj lingvoj multiple languages plurlingva multilingual
la kapo al la tero the head to the ground kapaltere (done) with the head to the ground
sama lando same country samlandano compatriot
alia mondo different world alimondulo someone from another world (figuratively)
Kiel vi fartas? How are you? kielvifartasulo someone who doesn't get passed saying basic phrases in Esperanto
duba senco dubious meaning dubasenca with a dubious meaning
magra kvalito low (meager) quality magrakvalite of a meager quality
povi pagi (to) can pay pagipova
note that order of the words has to be changed here
able to pay
mia opinio my opinion miaopinie in my opinion
via hejmo your home viahejme at your home/place
unua rango first rank/grade unuaranga first-grade
dua klaso second class duaklase in second class


The new word may then also get affixes tacked on to it:

Examples
Base phrase Derived word Meaning Audio
dubasenca dubasencaĵo something dubious
surseĝa surseĝulo someone sitting on a chair
dulingva dulingveco bilingualism


Occasionally, part-of-speech ending are also added to verbs in the imperative (-u).

Examples
Base phrase Derived word Meaning Audio
vivu! vivui to call 'live!', to acclaim, to applaud
savu! savuo a call for rescue
helpu! helpui to call for help

Theme vocabulary[edit | edit source]

Exercises[edit | edit source]


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