Compound words: the linking -o-, and affixes first

The linking -o-

Between the roots you may put a linking -o-. The test is your mouth: keep it where the join is hard to say, leave it out where it is easy.

Tagm- is easy; noktm- stacks three consonants, so the -o- stays. Learn each established word in its settled form. The link is usually -o-, even after a verb (dormi); a few words keep another ending, such as multekosta (expensive).

The rooms of a house show both systems at once:

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1. 1kuirejo
2. 2dormoĉambro
3. 3salono
4. 4banĉambro

Kuirejo, the kitchen (kuiri, to cook, plus the place affix -ej-); dormoĉambro, the bedroom (sleep-room, with the linking -o-); salono, the living room; banĉambro, the bathroom (bath-room, no -o-).

Affix first, compound second

Where an affix carries the meaning, it beats a second root. The compound would be understood, and it would sound like a beginner:

Compound when no affix fits. There is no affix for iron or for steam, so fervojo and vaporŝipo are compounds. The two systems also mix inside one word, as malsanulejo showed.

Name a kind of thing, not a one-off

A compound names a kind of thing that recurs: naskiĝtago (birthday) is a kind of day, ĉefurbo a kind of city. For a relation between two particular things, use a preposition:

• la libro de mia patro - my father's book
• la domo apud la maro - the house by the sea

Patrolibro would name a kind of book (a book for fathers, say), not your father's own copy. Keep compounds to two or three roots; past that, a phrase usually reads better.

Mistakes English speakers make