Ch 10 · Lesson 14Esperanto · Chapter 10 · Lesson 14 · Grammar primer
Words to learn whole: -um- and the internet
o, o, i, i: -um- promises a link to the root and never says which. Plus and , the upload and download every Esperanto website asks of you.
The short version
-um- is the suffix that promises nothing
.
Why?Hide
Every other affix computes: -il- is the tool, -ej- the place, -ig- to cause. -Um- is the official exception, marking a word as having something to do with the root and refusing to say what. o is a collar, is to hug, aerumi is to air a room, is to fulfil, and they share nothing but the wildcard. Keep , which computes to cooling the soup down, next to , which is pure convention and means catching a cold. Learn them; do not coin new ones.
-um: the suffix that guarantees nothing
Every regular affix computes. Meet a new word built from one and you can work out what it means:
| Affix | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
-- | the tool | |
-- | the place | |
-- | to make, cause | |
-- does not. The Fundamento's dictionary gives it no set meaning, and it plays the same role among suffixes as among prepositions: the official blank.
The words you will meet most:
| Word | Root | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| | a collar |
| | a cuff |
| | to hug |
| | to fulfil |
aerumi | | to air (a room) |
| | to water (plants) |
| | to fan |
| | to leaf through |
| | a community |
| | approximately |
| | to puzzle over |
.- She hugged her mother..- I am watering the flowers..- About a hundred people came.
Read down the Meaning column and you will find no thread. The root gives you the neighbourhood (something to do with the neck, something to do with air); usage picked the house.
-um on the internet: retumi
The web added one more: is a net, and the verb for browsing it is .
.- I browsed the web all evening..- I leafed through the book.
Two words you need on any Esperanto website are built from , to pour, with the prepositions (out of) and (towards). The pieces are regular, but the picture (pouring files) is convention, so learn them as a pair:
| Word | Pieces | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| | to download |
| | to upload |
| -- | a website |
.- I downloaded the book..- She uploaded the photo.
Going further: Convention or computation: malvarmumi and malvarmigi and the rest of the guide, when you want them. This lesson does not need them.
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