Curso 01

Lesson 1 - Unesma Leciono

Nouns

The word 'noun' literally means a 'name'. It refers to any thing that you can actually see, hear, touch, or put a name to: table, chair, man, cat.
In Ido you will quickly recognise which words are nouns, because they all end with the letter -o: kato (cat), hundo (dog), tablo (table).

The Indefinite Article

The English language uses two little words 'a' and 'an', which do not exist in Ido.
In Ido it is enough to say 'ovo' for egg or 'an' egg; 'tablo' for table or 'a' table and so on.
You will soon see that it is not necessary to have an indefinite article, and that no confusion ever arises.

The Definite Article

The definite article (the) is 'la': matro - a mother; la matro - the mother

Esar

The Ido word 'es' is roughly the English word 'is', but be careful as it can also be translated as 'am' or 'are'.
For simplicity, what we say in Ido is the equivalent of: I is, You is, he/she/it is, we is, they is, and so on.
'Es' is a short form of 'esas', though 'es' is more convenient, 'esas' is just as common.
The learner may suit himself which form of the word he uses.

Vortaro (Vocabulary)

Learn the following words by heart:

buxo	box
hundo	dog
tablo	table
vu	you
yunino	girl
sur	on
domo	house
kato	cat
esar	to be
yuno	teenager, a youth
en	in
la	the
gardeno	garden
muso	mouse
me	I/me
yunulo	boy
sub	under

Exerco 1 (Exercise 1)

Examples to read and translate (Click here to go to the answers):

 1. Marie es yunino. 

 2. Charles es yunulo 

 3. La domo es en la gardeno 

 4. Me es en la gardeno 

 5. Me es en la domo. 

 6. Vu es en la domo 

 7. Vu es sub la tablo. 

 8. Hundo es sur la tablo en la domo. 

 9. Rex es hundo. 

 10. William es kato. 

 11. La hundo es en la domo. 

 12. La kato es sur la tablo. 

 13. La buxo es sub la tablo. 

 14. La kato es sur la buxo. 

 15. La muso es en la domo. 

 16. La muso es en la buxo. 

 17. La muso es sub la tablo. 

Verbs - Present Tense

A verb is an 'action' or 'doing' word: see, read, touch. These are all actions.
Verbs too, in Ido, can be easily recognised by their endings. The first ones you will learn in this book all have the ending that shows the present tense, that is the ending -AS.

The present tense is used when the action in the verb is happening NOW:
Me vidas la hundo. - I see the dog.
Vu tushas la kato. - You touch the cat.

These are actions taking place at the present moment, so the present tense is used. In English there is more than one present tense, but don't let this confuse you: I touch the dog. I am touching the dog.

If you think about it, these are both actions taking place in the present. Because the meanings of these two are so similar, Ido says them both in the same way: Me tushas (touch or am touching) la hundo.

'Me lektas la libro' could therefore be either 'I read the book' or 'I am reading the book', (or even 'I do read the book').

So remember this, especially when translating English into Ido. Don't translate 'I am touching' or 'you are reading' word for word. Until you can think naturally in Ido, it is best to change them in your mind to 'I touch' and 'you read' and then translate.

Ed/e

The Ido for 'and' is 'ed', but the final 'd', which is part of the root, is often dropped if the following word starts with a consonant. Officially you may suit yourself which word you use. It is a question of which sounds the better. In practice most Idists use 'e' if the following word starts with a consonant, and 'ed' if it starts with a vowel.
Note the same thing applies to three other words which you will learn later: a/ad, o/od, ka/kad.

 <img src="../../imaji/1_1.gif" width="294" height="186" border="2" alt="1_1">

Vortaro (Vocabulary)

drinkar	to drink
manjar	to eat
prizar	to like
regardar	to look (at)
tushar	to touch
aquo	water
lakto	milk
pomo	apple
stulo	chair
havar	to have
lektar	to read
promenar	to walk, to stroll
e/ed	and
vidar	to see
fenestro	window
libro	book
pordo	door

Exerco 2 (Exercise 2)

Examples to read and translate (Click here to go to the answers):

 1. Me havas hundo 

 2. Me vidas la hundo. 

 3. La hundo vidas me. 

 4. Me prizas la hundo. 

 5. Me prizas lakto. 

 6. La hundo havas la lakto. 

 7. La kato drinkas la lakto. 

 8. Vu drinkas lakto. 

 9. Me havas la pomo. 

 10. Me manjas la pomo. 

 11. La yuno manjas la pomo. 

 12. Me regardas la muso. 

 13. La muso vidas la aquo. 

 14. La muso manjas la libro. 

 15. La libro es sur la tablo. 

 16. Vu lektas la libro. 

 17. Vu lektas la libro. 

 18. La kato regardas me. 

 19. La kato regardas la pordo. 

 20. Vu tushas la pordo. 

 21. La kato tushas la fenestro. 

 22. Me tushas la fenestro. 

 23. Me promenas en la gardeno. 

 24. Vu e la hundo promenas en la gardeno 

 25. La tablo e la stulo es en la domo.

Vortaro (Vocabulary)

Bona jorno	Hello (Good day)
Til rivido	Good-bye (Until we meet again)
Quale vu standas?	How are you?
Tre bone danko	Very well thank you.

Now when you meet another Idist, or go to a congress or international gathering you have the beginings of a simple conversation.

Konversado (Conversation)

Here is a conversation between Peter and Mary.

 P: Bona jorno! 

 M: Bona jorno! 

 P: Quale vu standas? 

 M: Tre bone, danko. Quale vu standas? 

 P: Tre bone, danko. 

 M: Til rivido! P: Til rivido! 

Exerco

 1) Practice the conversation phrases.

 2) Think in Ido of the things you know: 

    Touch the door and say to yourself, 'Me tushas la pordo'; 

    read a book and say 'Me lektas libro'; 

    and so on to include as many of the words learnt as possible. 

 3) Please read aloud every Ido sentence in a lesson as many times as possible.

Exerco 1 - Solvi

(Click here to return to the exercise)

 1. Mary is a girl.

 2. Charles is a boy. 

 3. The house is in the garden.

 4. I am in the garden.

 5. I am in the house.

 6. You are in the house.

 7. You are under the table.

 8. A dog is on the table in the house.

 9. Rex is a dog.

 10. William is a cat.

 11. The dog is in the house.

 12. The cat is on the table.

 13. The box is under the table.

 14. The cat is on the box.

 15. The mouse is in the house.

 16. The mouse is in the box.

 17. The mouse is under the table.

Exerco 2 - Solvi

(Click here to return to the exercise)

 1. I have a dog.

 2. I see the dog.

 3. The dog sees me.

 4. I like the dog.

 5. I like milk.

 6. The dog has the milk.

 7. The cat drinks the milk.

 8. You drink the milk.

 9. I have the apple.

 10. I am eating the apple.

 11. The boy/girl is eating the apple.

 12. I am looking at the mouse.

 13. The mouse sees the water.

 14. The mouse is eating the book.

 15. The book is on the table.

 16. You read the book.

 17. You are reading the book.

 18. The cat looks at me.

 19. The cat looks at the door.

 20. You are touching the door.

 21. The cat is touching the window.

 22. I am touching the window.

 23. I am walking in the garden.

 24. You and the dog are walking in the garden.

 25. The table and chair are in the house.