Novial/Hound Lesson 2

Contents – Lesson 1 - Lesson 2 - Lesson 3 - Lesson 4 – Lesson 5 – Lesson 6 – Lesson 7

Li Malediktione del Baskervilles

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“Me have in men poshe manuskrite,” doktoro James Mortimer did dikte.

“Me observad lu kand vu envadad li chambre,” Holmes dikted.

“Lu es oldi manuskrite. ”

“Frui dek-otesmi sekle, exept si lu vud es fraudo.”

“Qualim vu sava tu, sinioro?”

”Vu ha prisenta pluri sentimetre de lu omnitem durant ke vu ha parla. Me vud es mal experte si me non vud pove data lu ye akurateso de sirk yardeko. Me data lu kom de mil-setsent-trianti.”

”Li exakti date es mil-setsent-quaranti-du.” Doktoro Mortimer did tira lu ek sen bruste-poshe. ”Sinioro Charles Baskerville donad disi familial papere a me. Lo mori ante tri mensus in Devonshire. Lo esed inteligenti e praktikal homo. Tamen lo did trakta dis dokumente kom seriosi.”

”Lu sembla es konstatatione.”

”Yes, lu es konstatatione de serteni legende del familie Baskerville. ”

Vocabulary

akurateso – accuracy
ante – before (in time)
bruste – chest, breast
bruste-poshe – breast-pocket
chambre – room
data – (to) date
date – date
dek-otesmi – eighteenth
did – (past auxiliary verb – see section)
dikte – (to) say
dis(i) – this
dokumente – document
dona – (to) give
durant ke – while
durant – during
ek – out of, from
envada – (to) enter
exakti – exact
exept si – unless
exept – except
experte – (an) expert
familial(i) – familial, family
fraudo – forgery
fru(i) – early
ha – have, has (perfect auxiliary verb – see section)
have – (to) have, possess
homo – man, male person
inteligenti – intelligent
kand – when
kom – as, as being
konstatatione – statement
legende – legend
mal(i) – bad
malediktione – curse
manuskrite – manuscript
mensu – month
mil-setsent-quaranti-du – 1742
mil-setsent-trianti – 1730
mori – (to) die
observa – (to) observe, (to) watch
oldi – old
omnitem – always, all the time
papere – paper
parla – (to) speak
pluri – several
poshe – pocket
pove – (to) be able, can
prisenta – (to) present, set before one
qualim – how
sava – (to) know
se – oneself, himself etc. (the reflexive pronoun – see section)
sekle (= yarsento) – century
sen – one’s own, his own etc. (the reflexive pronoun – see section)
sentimetre – centimetre
seriosi – serious
serteni – (a) certain, particular
si – if
sirk – about, around, round
tamen – however, nevertheless
tira – (to) draw, pull
trakta – (to) treat, handle
tri – three
tu – that (one)
vud – would (conditional auxiliary verb – see section)
yardeko – decade
ye – (indefinite preposition – see section )

Grammar Notes

Verbs – Past and Conditional Tenses

The past preterite (simple past) is formed with the auxiliary verb did before the present or equivalently by adding -d (-ed after a consonant) to the present:

me did parla (= me parlad) – I spoke
vus non did dona (= vus non donad) – you didn’t give (Literally: you not gave)
les esed (= les did es) bon – they were good

Note that the English auxiliaries do and did used in questions and negative statements are not translated:

ob vu veni – do you come'? (Literally: is it that you come? )
lo non dikte – he does not say (Literally: he not says)
ob vu parlad? (= ob vu did parla?) – did you speak? (Literally: is it that you spoke? )
les non envadad (= les non did envada) – they did not enter (Literally: they not entered)

EXERCISE • Hound Lesson 2 • Present and Past Preterite Tenses

In the following sentences change the present tense into the past preterite (simple past) and translate the English in brackets into Novial.

Li doktore tira li papere ek (his or her) poshe. (But not the doctor’s pocket.)
La dona li hunda a (her own) amikes.
Li oldi homo mori in (their) chambre.
Me envada (her) chambre.
Lo prisenta li fraudo a (my) amike.
La parla ofte pri (our) malediktione.
Les pove ama nur (their own) filies.
Li experte data (his) manuskrite. (Not the expert’s manuscript.)
Las trakta me kom (their own) amike.
Nus non es expertes ma sava (our) dokumentes.
Vus have laboro nur por (yourselves).
Vu renkontra li bon doktore in (his) chambre. (Not the doctor's own room.)
Los non sava (themselves).
Les observa (their own) chambres.
Les ofense non li altres, ma (their own) familie.

SOLUTION • Novial/Hound Lesson 2 • Present and Past Preterite Tenses

Li doktore tirad li papere ek len poshe. (or did tira)
La donad li hunda a sen amikes. (or did dona)
Li oldi homo morid in lesen chambre. (or did mori)
Me envadad lan chambre.(or did envada)
Lo prisentad li fraudo a men amike. (or did prisenta)
La parlad ofte pri nusen malediktione. (or did parla)
Les poved ama nur sen filies. (or did pove)
Li experte datad lon manuskrite. (or did data)
Las traktad me kom sen amike. (or did trakta)
Nus non esed expertes ma savad nusen dokumentes. (or did es)
Vus haved laboro nur por vus. (or did have)
Vu renkontrad li bon doktore in lon chambre. (or did renkontra)
Los non savad sen. (or did sava)
Les observad sen chambres. (or did observa)
Les ofensed non li altres, ma sen familie. (or did ofense)

The perfect tense is formed with the auxiliary verb ha before the present form:

me ha parla – I have spoken
vus non ha dona – you have not given
les ha es bon – they have been good
ob les ha es bon? – have they been good?

The conditional of a verb is formed with the auxiliary verb vud before the present:

lo vud dikte – he would say
les vud parla – they would speak

Numbers – Cardinal and Ordinal

The cardinal numbers are:

sero – zero
un – one
du – two
tri – three
quar – four
sink – five
six – six
set – seven
ot – eight
nin – nine
dek – ten
dek-un – eleven
dek-du – twelve
dek-tri – thirteen
dek-quar – fourteen
dek-sink – fifteen
dek-six – sixteen
dek-set – seventeen
dek-ot – eighteen
dek-nin – nineteen
duanti – twenty
duanti-un – twenty-one
duanti-du – twenty-two …etc.
trianti – thirty
trianti-du – thirty-two
quaranti – forty
quaranti-tri – forty-three
sinkanti – fifty
sinkanti-quar – fifty-four
sixanti – sixty
sixanti-sink – sixty-five
setanti – seventy
setanti-six – seventy-six
otanti – eighty
otanti-set – eighty-seven
ninanti – ninety
ninanti-ot – ninety-eight
sent – a hundred
sent-duanti – 120
sinksent-trianti-set – 537…etc.
mil – a thousand
mil-un – 1001
mil-sent – 1100
mil-dusent-tri – 1203
mil setsent-quaranti-du – 1742
milione – a million
miliarde – a thousand million (American billion)
bilione – million million, billion (American trillion)

Units, tens and hundreds are separated by hyphens for ease of reading. The tens are formed from the units with the ending -anti (notice the adjective ending as all numbers before a million are adjectives). Hundreds have their number in front of sent: otsent – eight hundred. Thousands, millions and higher are separated from their multiplier by spaces: ot mil – eight thousand. Milione, miliarde and bilione are nouns so multiples take the plural ending -s: tri miliardes setsent-sixanti-six miliones sent-quaranti-nin mil dusent-sixanti-set – (American:) three billion seven hundred and sixty-six million one hundred and forty-nine thousand two hundred and sixty-seven (3 766 149 267)

Ordinal numbers are formed from the cardinals with the ending -esmi which is added only to the last component of the number:

unesmi – first
duesmi – second
trisent-quaranti-sinkesmi – three hundred and forty-fifth (345th)

Ordinals may be abbreviated as: 1smi (1^smi), 2smi (2^smi), 345smi (345^smi) etc.

The Indefinite Preposition

The preposition ye has no definite meaning, and is used when it is not obvious which preposition is exactly appropriate in a literal sense:

ye akurateso de – with/at an accuracy of
ye dis die – on this day

The Reflexive Pronoun

The reflexive pronoun is se, himself, herself, itself, themselves (third person only). Note that se is used only when the object of the verb refers back to the subject of the verb.

la observa se – she observes herself
la observa la – she observes her
lo parla a se – he speaks to himself
lo parla a lo – he speaks to him
les parla a sen hundes – they speak to their (own) dogs
les parla a lesen hundes – they speak to their dogs (somebody else’s dogs)

This pronoun avoids awkward ambiguity which sometimes occurs in English.

The first and second persons use no special pronoun:

me observa me – I observe myself (Literally: I observe me)
vu parla a vu – you speak to yourself (Literally: you speak to you)

Adjectival Suffix -AL

Novial uses prefixes and suffixes added to root words to make related words.

The suffix -al(i) is added to a root word X to make an adjective meaning “of X or X related”. Any final -e, -o, -a or -i of a noun is removed to provide the root then -al(i) is added to the root.

nature – natural (nature – natural)
universe – universal (universe – universal)
natione – national (nation – national)
doktore – doktoral (doctor – doctoral, of a doctor)
familie – familial (family – family related, of a family)
sientie –siential (science – scientific, science related)
laboro – laboral (work – work related, of work)
alkali – alkalal (alkali – of alkali)
mensu – mensual (month – monthly, of a month)

Notice that a final -u is part of the root and not dropped before adding -al. Novial is here much more regular than English. Many derived adjectives are similar to the English but it is not possible for all to be so, because the English derivation system is very mixed and irregular.

Substantival Suffix -ESO

The suffix -eso is added to the root of an adjective (i.e. without the final -i) to form the corresponding abstract noun:

bon – boneso (good – goodness)
akurati – akurateso (accurate – accuracy)
inteligenti – inteligenteso (intelligent – intelligence)

If the sense permits, more than one suffix may be added to the root:

amike – amikal – amikaleso (friend – friendly – friendliness)

Notice again how irregular the English system is.

EXERCISE • Hound Lesson 2 • Word Derivation

Use endings and affixes to convert the following Novial root words to the English words indicated.

amike – female friend
praktikal – practicality
siniore – lady
disi – this male
exakti – exactness, exactitude
inteligenti – intelligence
nome – nominal
experte – expertise
mali – evil
pluri – plurality
ti – that female

SOLUTION • Novial/Hound Lesson 2 • Word Derivation

amika
praktikaleso
siniora
diso
exakteso
inteligenteso
nomal
experteso
maleso
plureso
ta

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Novial home – Pronunciation Guide

Contents – Lesson 1 - Lesson 2 – Lesson 3 - Lesson 4 – Lesson 5 - Lesson 6 – Lesson 7

Prefixes – Suffixes