Classes at Stanford > Reference Material > Lessons > Lesson 2 Affixes
Basically, this lesson is just to learn the following list of affixes (parts added before or after a "root"). The grammar in Esperanto is so simple that my "Lesson Zero" covers enough for someone to begin creating meaningful sentences almost immediately. But, Esperanto is a full language. It will indeed take some effort to learn because the student has to learn a word for everything... hair, pencil, leaf, house, peace, mother, etc. But Esperanto vocabulary is easy to learn because when you learn one root, you learn many words just by adding the affix.
There will be many more examples in the classroom and you will immediately double your vocabulary in this lesson (actually probably a lot more than double but the advertising people tell me that nobody will believe it, so i'll just claim double).
- put before the root
bo- | in-law | frato = brother | bofrato = brother-in-law |
dis- | dispersal / separation | doni = to give | disdoni = to distribute / to give out |
ek- | start | flugi = to fly | ekflugi = to take off |
eks- | former | prezidento = president | eksprezidento = ex-president |
fi- | immoral | libro = book | filibro = "dirty" book |
ge- | both sexes | (vir)patro / patrino = father / mother | gepatroj = parents |
mal- | opposite | alta = high | malalta = low |
mis- | incorrect | kompreni = to understand | miskompreni = misunderstand |
pra- | distant in time | (vir)avo / avino = grandfather / grandmother | praavoj = "forefathers" / ancestors |
re- | again | legi = to read | relegi = to reread |
vir- (see -in *) | male / masculine | kato = cat | virkato = tomcat |
- put after a root, but before the endings
-aĉ- [-acx-] | disparagement | domo = house | domaĉo [domacxo] = hovel |
-ad- | continuation | paroli = to speak | parolado = a speech |
-aĵ- [-ajx-] (see -ec-) | concrete idea | manĝi [mangxi] = to eat | manĝaĵo [mangxajxo] = food |
-an- | member | kurso = course | kursano = member of a course |
-ar- | group | hundo = dog | hundaro = pack of dogs |
-ĉj- [-cxj-] (see -nj-) | male / masculine nickname | (vir)patro = father | paĉjo [pacxjo] = daddy |
-ebl- | possiblity | porti = to carry | portebla = portable |
-ec- (see -aĵ- [-ajx-]) | quality | libera = free | libereco = freedom |
-eg- (see -et-) | increase (augment) | domo = house | domego = mansion |
-ej- | place | lerni = to learn | lernejo = school |
-em- | tendency | paroli = to speak | parolema = talkative |
-end- | requirement | pagi = to pay | pagenda = a "payable" |
-er- | piece/part of | ĉeno [cxeno] = chain | ĉenero [cxenero] = link |
-estr- | leader | urbo = city | urbestro = mayor |
-et- (see -eg-) | reduce (diminish) | domo = house | dometo = cottage/cabin |
-iĉ- [-icx-] (see -in- *) | male / masculine | bovo = a head of cattle | boviĉo [bovicxo] = bull (= virbovo) |
-id- | offspring | hundo = dog | hundido = puppy |
-ig- (see -iĝ- [-igx-]) | make / causation | blanka = white | blankigi = to bleach / to make white |
-iĝ- [-igx-] (see -ig-) | become | pura = clean | puriĝi [purigxi] = to become clean |
-il- | tool | tranĉi [trancxi] = to cut | tranĉilo [trancxilo] = cutting tool / knife |
-in- (see -iĉ- [-icx-] and vir- *) | female / feminine | ĉevalo [cxevalo] = horse | ĉevalino [cxevalino] = mare |
-ind- | worthiness | fido = trust | fidinda = trustworthy |
-ing- | socket / specific holder | kandelo = candle | kandelingo = candlestick |
-ism- | ideology / characteristic | alkoholo = alcohol | alkoholismo = alcoholism |
-ist- | professional / habitual | biciklo = bicycle | biciklisto = bicyclist |
-nj- (see -ĉj- [-cxj-]) | female / feminine nickname | patrino = mother | panjo = mom |
-obl- | multiple | du = 2 | duobla = double |
-on- | fraction | tri = 3 | triono = a third |
-op- | grouped | kvar = 4 | kvaropo = quartet |
-uj- | container | mono = money | monujo = wallet / purse |
-ul- | person / being | nova = new | novulo = novice / newbie |
-um- | special meaning (more in class) | akvo = water | akvumi = to water (plants) |
* Note that -iĉ- [-icx-] is a totally new postfix using the "ĉ [cx]" in -ĉj- [-cxj-] to back-form -iĉ- [-icx-] in the same way that the letter "n" matches in -nj- and -in-. This form is very controversial with many Esperanto speakers and should only be used by those who feel they must. (I personally feel that the "-in-" and "vir-" pair might be all that is needed. I put it in here for full disclosure.)
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