Sirosyis ai garugayarono
Yascyi piyoi aivet. Epa vas dib. Trasi vairecada giniole varaulada trasi aibavi. Go vaxarandi garugayaron eher garuda, gon uma audepatta os oma buesnuliso beyava piyoi mebusi nu bayada yole yodas jabedi canpou e zoi. Ge yocelinda, zaranda: yoyole emebi bihari au, gadí beidugara, celini pesqia e soundi beyau. Li, syau rah vibisda aireci. Uma bahuda e ni nunieni sirosyis sediada e casari esnula iher ava. Avi yoqanbansyada busai yenda:
«Aju! Avi saut vayole Raoul. Mepa vagaruda. Ni svai budas boub esnuladiva eher hamoda nura?»
«Hoje,» vabepeqda. «Trasi butolisyada. Ni buhai abu hederada?»
«Rah,» yoyimabepeqatta. «Vavas pu raulada ganien.»
Veqomaqaizet
Translation
Another long day. It was hot. I was very tired because I worked very hard. When I took the train home I sat opposite a guy with rather long hair who looked about thirty.
yascyi, [yet] another, further
epa, weather: epa vas . . ., it is (was) . . .
aireca, fatigue: aireci, tired; airecada, be tired
go . . ., gon, when [. . ., then]
garuda, go home: eher garuda, home [lit, for go home]
uma audepatta, sit down
os -o, before, in front of: os oma -o, opposite sth (prep)
buesnulis, guy: goyesnulis, gal
beyau, hair: beyava, with hair
mebusi, rather
nu, who
bayada yole yodas, he looked [lit, it appeared that he had]
canpou e zoi, thirty or so
How handsome he is, I thought: clear blue eyes, white teeth, beautiful lips and blond hair.
celin, beauty, good looks: celinda, be beautiful, handsome
zaran, thought (n): zaranda, think
emeb, clarity: emebi, clear; emebda, be clear or obvious
bihar, blue colour: bihari, blue (adj)
au, eye[s]
gadi, white colour: gadí, white (adj)
beidu, tooth, teeth: beidugara, [a set of] teeth
pesqia, lip[s]
sounda, blond colour: soundi, blond[e] (adj)
Suddenly, I no longer felt tired. I wondered if this stranger would become a new friend to me. He smiled at me and said:
qanbansya, smile (n): qanbansyada, smile (intr)
li, suddenly (also, liyi)
syau rah, no longer, not . . . any more
ibis, feeling: ibisda, feel
bahuda, ask a question: uma bahuda, wonder
e ni, whether, if
sirosyis, stranger
casari, new: casari esnula iher ava, a new friend to me
“Hi, I’m Raoul. I’m on my way home. Would you like to come with me for a drink?”
mepa, in the process of
ni svai, would . . . like . . .?
das boub esnuladi, accompany, come with s.o.
hamo, drink (n): hamoda, drink (intr)
nura, of something
“Yes,” I replied. “You are very kind. Is your place far?”
“No,” he replied. “I used to work here.”
pu, aspectual of imperfect past: [once] was, used to, etc.
Uzeut
Remarks
1. When va– is prefixed to radicals (levis) of more than one syllable beginning with a vowel or y (-da and –di endings are not counted), the a is dropped (and the y becomes i): va+aireca[da] = vairecada; va+ibis[da] = vibisda; va+yorga[di], watch = viorgadi. When va– is prefixed to levis of only one syllable, a glide is inserted (the y stands): va+es[di], overcome = vayesdi; va+yen[da] = vayenda.
2. Verbs show no tense. Aspectuals are words which govern mood and tense, appearing directly before the verb, or, in the case of composite verbs such as causatives, between the first element and the second. Pu, “was (were)”, “used to”, etc., describes an action or state in the past, rather like the imperfect in English. It may describe an action that was going on when another took place (although in this instance it is frequently dropped): [pu] vaxarandi garugayaron go uzeutti celini gotou, I was taking the train when I noticed the beautiful woman; or a habitual action in the past: sasi Saba pu sebouda poumarvonjato, Mrs Saba used to (would) come in at eleven o’clock. Pu is not the tense of description: Raoul das bihari au, Raoul had (has) blue eyes (*pu das bihari au would mean they had changed colour), nor is it used if there is an indication of a time limit: yodas jabedi canpou go sejirda, he was thirty when he began. Do not use pu after syau rah, no longer, and cer rah, not yet. Mepa, “in the middle of”, “in the process of”, etc., is used rather like the present continuous in English when the need is felt to stress the progressive aspect of a present action: mepa vagaruda, I’m on my way home; or of a past action when another is taking place: pu yolesegada go mepa vadibanda, he would (used to) help [me] when I was busy. Aspectuals are routinely dropped in Taneraic should the writer not feel the need for them.
3. Transitive verbs end in –di (-ti for words already ending in t): they must be followed by a direct object (with or without an attributive adjective or possessive adjective in between): vavacandi casari hamoja; vavacandiyo; intransitive verbs, ending in –da (-ta), do not take a direct object: yoqanbansyada (impossible to make transitive); vasejirda (may be changed into a transitive: vasejirdi garu, I began my return home – not *vasejirda garu). Transitive verbs take the –da desinence when they end a sentence (i.e., the direct object comes before the verb): vaqaindiyo, I see him; nuni tou nuyole vaqainda, the man whom I see. Such differentiation allows for a greater flexibility in word order, allowing the more important elements of the phrase to be placed earlier.
Prepositions or conjunctions may follow intransitives: sediada e, become [like]; virda os mouzono, wait in front of the house. The reflexive (intransitive) is easy to recognise: the verb (with or without bound pronouns) is always preceded by uma for all persons. Most reflexive verbs relate to common human actions and are equivalent to English ones: uma audepatta, sit [oneself] down; others make sense if translated literally: uma bahuda, wonder [lit, ask oneself] (*uma zaranda is a redundancy to be avoided). Sometimes the reflexive takes a direct object; this is accomplished simply with the –di ending, without possessive adjectives (redundant in Taneraic): uma louzardi noub, wash one’s hands; uma neivadi la siyeb, shave one’s whiskers. A further example of a transitive reflexive is uma audepatti layi, sit on the grass, where the complement “on the grass” is expressed by a simple direct object.
4. Cardinals: poumarat (11), poviabat, poucanat, poumelat, pousut, povianat, povauanat, poujaunat, pousautat (19), yabbou (20), yabbou marnu (21), canpou (30), meipou, supou, yanpou, auanpou, jaunpou, sautpou sautnu (99), teqou (100), teqou marnu (101).
5. Placenames of national significance are kept in their original or adapted from Esperanto and written in italics.
(A) The –ujo(j) and –io desinences for countries is replaced by –ia: e.g., Anglujo becomes Anglia, Algherio becomes Aljeria.
(B) Compounds are separated: e.g., Novjorko becomes Nova-Yorka, Sudameriko becomes Suda-Amerika (note the hyphen; see orthography following).
(C) Orthographically, the Esperanto –o(j) desinence is replaced by –a; Esperanto consonants ch becomes cy; gh becomes j; hh becomes x; j becomes y; and sh becomes sy: e.g., Melburna, Melbourne; Cyikaga, Chicago; Nova-Yorka, New York. The caret on diphthongal u is dropped.
(D) Esperanto root-words ending in b, h, n, r or s are left as such in a Taneraic adaptation of proper nouns: e.g., Dolar, dollar, Dalas, Dallas, Aten, Athens. NB., countries take on the –ia desinence: e.g., Pakistania, Pakistan; also, names ending in the above consonants plus a vowel in their native languages take –a: e.g., Madona, Havana, Kilimanyara, Antigona.
(E) Other names are left in their original form: e.g., Armadale, Shropshire, Becket. Classifiers are not necessary before placenames: e.g., Parija or meyon e Parija, (the city of) Paris.