Interlingua for English Speakers: A quickie survey.

by Stanley Mulaik, Ph.D.

You already know a lot of Interlingua without even studying it. English contains thousands of words of the international vocabulary, which Interlingua is based on. For the most part, the international vocabulary consists of similar appearing words that occur with the same meanings in at least three of the major European languages: English, French, Italian, Spanish/Portuguese treated as a single language, German, and Russian. The form of an Interlingua word is the prototype, the theoretical or historical form from which each of the variants of the word deviate in ways characteristic of their languages, with etymological roots and affixes standardized across all variants of these in derivational series. These prototypes can be determined in most cases in an objective and systematic manner, using etymological entries in dictionaries. But we will not go into that here. But it pays to note that this makes Interlingua’s vocabulary a scientifically developed vocabulary. Different linguists will arrive at the same international words and forms given the same linguistic evidence.

Now, before we go on we need to define an important term: cognate. Two words in different languages are cognate if they are spelled exactly the same and have the same meaning. For example, the Interlingua words international, comical, expressive, standardization, scientific, fertilization, and fiducial are cognate with the English words international, comical, expressive, standardization, scientific, fertilization, and fiducial.

There are thousands of words that are cognate between Interlingua and English. But there are even more words in Interlingua that are near cognates of English words. Near cognates have similar spellings and the same meanings. Examples are the following pairs: (Eng.) fertilize, (Int.) fertilizar, disobedient, disobediente, current, currente, displacement, displaciamento, energy, energia, expunge, expunger, American, americano, etc. So, if a word in Interlingua looks like a word in English, your guess to that effect is probably correct 99% of the time. So, a first rule in reading Interlingua texts is, “If a word looks like an English word, it probably has the same meaning as the English word”. This is not a foolproof rule, but it will get you rapidly on your way to reading Interlingua for 95% of Interlingua words. Some people will have more talent in recognizing similar words in English for the Interlingua words. But with practice and judging from the context in which the word is used, you can usually recognize the meaning.

But English is a Germanic language descended from the Germanic Anglo-Saxon language of the invaders and settlers of 5th century England who came from the area of southern Denmark and Northern Germany. Since that time, however, English has borrowed thousands of words from Latin, Norman French and other languages. So that it is almost a Romance language in its own right, its most frequently used words are particles of Germanic origin, like a, the, but, not, when, where, how, as, about, on, over, above, etc. So, the first important things for an English speaker to learn in learning Interlingua are its particles.

The particles are the grammatical words that help to sew together words from the vocabulary into meaningful sentences. Interlingua has Romance particles because the Romance languages are the only languages among the European languages at the base of the international vocabulary that have cognates and near cognates for the particles that would be international and coherent with the rest of the Latinate international vocabulary. I have prepared a table of Interlingua particles and their English equivalents as follows:

Interlingua	English	Interlingua	English	Interlingua	English
a	at, to	cata	each	in fin	finally
le	the	cima	top, top part	foras	out
al altere latere de	across	circa, circa de	around, about, near, nearly	foras de	out of
alcun	some	como; tanto…como	as, like; how; as….as	heri	yesterday
alcuno	someone	con	with	hodie	today
alcubi	somewhere	contra	against	il face ...(X annos, etc)	(x years, etc.) ago
alquanto	somewhat	cuje	whose	in	in
alque	something	cunque	ever as in whereever	infra	below
alora	then	de	of, from	insimul, conjuncto	together
alte	high	deman	tomorrow	inter	between, among
alto	top, top part	de maniera que	such that	interim	meanwhile
altere	other	depost	afterwards	intertanto	meanwhile
ante	before	depost de	after, since	circa in torno	around
a minus que	unless	depost que	since	de intro de	within
ancora	still	de retro	behind, at rear of	intro	inwardly
aquelle	that adj	desde	since; out from	ipse	self
aquello	that pron	durante	during	iste, aqueste	this adj
aqueste	this adj	durante que	while	isto, aquesto	this pron
aquesto	this pron	e	and	jam, ja	already; indeed
aqui	here	e ... e	both ... and	jammais; non jammais	ever never
assi	thus	equalmente	also	la	there
avante	before	a fin de	in order to	le qual	that which
basse	low	a fin que	in order that	loco	place
bastante	enough	fin a	until prep	longe	long, far
ben que	although	fin que	until conj	longitan	far-off, distant
lo que	that which	per	by, thru, per	re	re, in re
mais ma	but	plure	several	retro	back
malgrado	in spite of	plus	more	salvo	save
melio	best	plus tosto	rather, sooner	satis	enough
melior	better	pauc poc	little, few	secundo	after, along; by; according to
mesme	self, same	post -1 -2 (pois)	behind, post prep after adv	sempre semper	always
mesmo	even	postea, depost (depois)	afterwards	si	yes; if, so, thus
mintere	meanwhile	pot’esser	maybe	sia	be it
minus	less, minus	presso	near	sin	without
multe	many, much	pro	for, pro	sol	alone
multo	very	prope	near, close	sovente	usually
necun	not any	proque	why? because	sub	under
necuno	no one	proxime a	near to	subite, subito	sudden; suddenly
ni ... ni	neither... nor	qual	which, what	subtus	below, beneath
nihil, nil	nothing	qualcunque	whatever	super	on, over
non	not	quando	when	supra	above
nonne?	no?	quante	how much/ many?	suso	above
nonobstante	however, nevertheless		quasi	almost, quasi	tal
o o…o	or either… or	que -1 -2 -3 -4	what? that (rel pron) that (conj) than (conj)	tante (adj) tanto (adv)	so many; so much
ora	now	qui	who	tanto ben; tamben	as well, also
parve	small, little	quicunque	whoever	tosto	soon, promptly
tote adj totoadv totosubs	all, every totally all	ubi	where	unde	where, whence
totevia	yet, still,nevertheless	ubicunque	whereever	verso	towards
tunc	then	ubique	everywhere	via	via; way
a transverso	from side to side, across	ultra	beyond	vice un vice in vice de	times; turn once times, turn
troppo	too, too much	un	a, one	vicin	near, neighboring

So, memorize this table! Or, at least look at it now and then as you read an Interlingua text. You will soon have it memorized.

Now for some grammar: Interlingua has no inflected agreement between nouns, adjectives and articles in number or gender. le bon vacca, le bon vaccas the good cow, the good cows. Interlingua has no grammatical gender at all, although it has inflections to indicate biological sex (-o for male and -a for female) when needed. However, that a noun ends in -o or in -a normally does not mean sex, but is just part of the international form of the word.

Adjectives end in a vowel (usually -e) or a consonant (usually one from the list of c, l, n, or r) and can precede or follow the nouns they modify. Normally, however, the adjective follows the noun. Adjectives that precede the noun usually represent essential features of the noun concept, e.g.: le lingua international e le linguas national. Le parve femina es belle. The small woman is beautiful.

Comparatives use plus more and minus less.
Tu fructo es plus bon que mi fructo.
Your fruit is better than my fruit.
Iste historia es le minus interessante que io ha legite.
This story is the least interesting that I have read.
Un homine es tanto bon como un altere e frequentemente mesmo un grande portion plus bon.
A man is as good as an other and frequently even a great deal better.

bon, melior, le melio good, better, the best
mal, pejor, le pejor bad, worse, the worst
parve, plus parve, le plus parve small, smaller, the smallest
parve, minor, le minor or le minime small, smaller, smallest
minus, minor, le minor less, lesser, the least.

Adverbs are formed from adjectives by adding the suffix -mente to the adjective.
After a final -c, the vowel -a- is inserted.

natural : naturalmente		natural, naturally
clar : clarmente		clear : clearly
franc : francamente		frank, frankly
remarcabile, remarcabilemente		remarkable, remarkably

The adverb usually precedes the word it modifies as in English.

Ille es extrememente felice.
He is extremely happy.
Felicemente illes esseva al casa quando le tempesta ha arrivate.
Happily they were at the house when the storm arrived.

When an adverb especially non not and a pronoun which is not the subject try to get near to a verb, the pronoun wins out:

Io non lo crede. I don’t believe it.
Ille non me lo dice. He doesn’t say it to me.

Some adverbs end in -o, as in tanto as, multo very, mesmo even,subite sudden : subito suddenly. The relative pronoun is que.

Le casa que tu ama es in le proxime strata.
The house that you love is in the next street.


The relative adjective is qual.

Ille fuma marijuana, qual vitio ille ha acquirite in le universitate.
He smokes marijuana, which vice he has acquired in the university.
le qual is pronomial and can be pluralized:

Le libros le quales contine le solutiones al problemas es in mi bureau.
The books which contain the solutions to the problems are in my bureau.


The relative possessive adjective is cuje.

Le studentes cuje libros esseva oblidate al autobus ha retornate al autobus.
The students who books were forgotten at the bus have returned to the bus.


The relative pronoun for persons that serves as a subject or after prepositions is qui.

Le spia qui portava le libros ha celate un message secrete in illos.
The spy who carried the books has hidden a secrete message in them.
De qui ha tu recipite aquelle libros?
From whom have you received those books?

A relative pronoun is what is formed from the neutral definite article lo and the relative pronoun que.

Lo que io ama es crema gelato. Nos les dava lo que illes voleva.
Lo que me face irate es su manco de precaution.


Here are the pronouns:

PERSONAL PRONOUNS and POSSESSIVE

	Subject Form	Object of Preposition	Object Form	Reflexive Form	Possessive before nouns	Possessive without a Noun
1st pers sg.	io	me	me	me	mi	mie
2nd pers. sg.	tu	te	te	te	tu	tue
1st pers. plur.	nos	nos	nos	nos	nostre	nostre
2nd pers. plur	vos	vos	vos	vos	vostre	vostre
3rd sg. masc.	ille	ille	le	se	su	sue
3rd sg. fem.	illa	illa	la	se	su	sue
3rd sg. neut.	illo	illo	lo	se	su	sue
3rd pl. masc.	illes	illes	les	se	lor	lore
3rd pl. fem.	illas	illas	las	se	lor	lore
3rd pl. neut.	illos	illos	los	se	lor	lore

VERBS: Because there is no inflection of verbs for person or number, each verb has to have an explicit subject, either a noun or a pronoun as in English.

Verbs fall into one of three classes by the endings of their infinitives: -ar, –er, and -ir. There are several ways to use English words to decide which class an interlingua verb falls in.

1 There may be an English adjective related to the verb, ending in -nt, e.g. observant, current, obedient. The vowels preceding -nt indicate the verb class. Hence Interlingua has observar, currer, and obedir. English adjectives ending in -nt are derived from Latin present participle adjectives. Interlingua follows the Latin pattern for present participles. In Interlingua the present participle is obtained by stripping the -r from the infinitive of the verb and adding -nte. But if the verb ends in -ir, add -ente instead: crear : creante, create, creating vider : vidente, to see, seeing, audir : audiente to hear, hearing. In English the present participle adjective is formed from the verb by adding -ing to the verb. Thus Interlingua has observar : observante, currer : currente, obedir : obediente.

2 Look for a corresponding English word that ends in -tion. If the preceding vowel is -a-, then the Interlingua verb ends in -ar. If the preceding vowel is -i-, then 98% of the time the Interlingua verb ends in -er. Latin had very few verbs in -ire and the same is true of Interlingua verbs in -ir.

3 Look for an adjective related to the verb ending in -ble. If the vowel preceding -ble is -i-, then this verb in Interlingua ends in -er or, less likely, -ir. Otherwise it is an –a–, and it is 99% of the time indicative of a verb in the -ar class. English was not always faithful to the Latin pattern.

4 If an English verb ends in ate the Interlingua verb is formed by replacing -ate with -ar: Engl. generate corresponds to the infinitive generar in Interlingua. speculate = specular.

The verb forms in the three classes of verbs -ar, -er, -ir:

infinitivo	crear	vider	audir
participio presente	creante	vidente	audiente
participio perfecte	create	vidite	audite
presente	crea	vide	audi
imperfecte/perfecte	creava	videva	audiva
futur	creara, va crear	videra, va vider	audira, va audir
pres. perfecte	ha create	ha vidite	ha audite
pluperfecte	habeva create	habeva vidite	habeva audite
futur perfecte	habera create	habera vidite	habera audite
conditional	crearea	viderea	audirea
conditional perfecte	haberea create	haberea vidite	haberea audite
pres. passive	es create	es vidite	es audite
passive perfecte	esseva create	esseva vidite	esseva audite
futur passive	essera create va esser create	essera vidite, va esser vidite	essera audite va esser vidite
conditional passive	esserea create	esserea vidite	esserea audite
cond. perfecte	haberea create	haberea vidite	haberea audite
pres. perf. passive	ha essite create	ha essite vidite	ha essite audite
pluperfecte passive	habeva essite create	habeva essite vidite	habeva essite audite
futur perfecte passive	habera essite create	habera essite vidite	habera essite audite
cond. perfecte passive	haberea essite create	haberea essite vidite	haberea essite audite

English forms past participles usually by adding -ed or -d to the stem of the infinitive: to create : created, to apprehend : apprehended: “The clone created was apprehended for going nude in the park. He has not obeyed the law.” Interlingua forms past participles by adding -te after stripping the -r from the infinitive. If the verb is of the -er class, the -e- is changed to -i-. crear : create, apprehender : apprehendite, obedir : obedite. Le clon create esseva apprehendite pro vader nude in le parco. Ille non ha obedite le lege.

If you have looked at the preceding table for inflecting tenses and moods of verbs in Interlingua, you should have seen the verbs haber have, esser to be, is, and vader go. These are ‘auxiliary verbs’ helping verbs. In the present tense they have shortened forms ha, es, and va. They help form tenses in a way very similar to the way English does it.

Le homine, vidente su inimico arriva in le distantia, ha prendite un position celate de retro de un petra gigante pro imboscar le.
The man, seeing his enemy arrive in the distance has taken a hidden position behind a giant rock in order to ambush him.

The most common verbs in English are usually of Germanic origin and are not international in form. In Interlingua the corresponding verbs are almost all of Latin origin. Thus a key to rapidly learning Interlingua is to learn the common Interlingua verbs. Here is a table of some of them:

Interlingua	English	Interlingua	English	Interlingua	English
acceptar	to accept	apparer	to appear	custodiar	to care for
esser	to be, is	demandar	to ask, demand	portar	to carry
poter	can	peter	to claim; ask for	complir	to accomplish
poterea	could	sufferer	to suffer, bear	compler	to complete
explicar	to explain	ganiar	to win, gain	causar	to cause
ager	to act	comenciar	to begin	facer	cause, to make
timer	to fear	creder	to believe	selectionar	to select
permitter	to permit	nascer	to be born	serrar	to close
responder	to answer	appellar	to call	venir	to come
haber	to have	formar	to form	retener	to retain, keep
vader	to go	trovar	to find	cognoscer	to know someone

Interlingua	English	Interlingua	English	Interlingua	English
concluder	to conclude	convenir	to convene; to agree; to suit, fit	saper	to know how to do something
continer	to contain	partir	to leave, depart	advenir	to come to pass
contar	to count	reciper	get, receive	prender	to take

Interlingua	English	Interlingua	English	Interlingua	English
coperir	to cover	caper	to grasp, seize; hold	apprender	to learn
transversar	to cross	ascender	to go up	jacer	to lie, rest
cortesar	to court	descender	to go down	lassar	to leave alone
critar	to cry	accompaniar	to accompany	quitar	to quit
morir	to die	conceder	concede	abandonar	to abandon
differer	to differ	guardar	to guard	viver	to live
diriger	to direct	occurrer	to occur, happen	habitar	to live at
decider	to decide	audir	to hear	elevar	to raise, elevate
desirar	to desire	vider	to see	amar	to love, like
dubitar	to doubt	sentir	to feel	semblar	to seem
conducer	to drive	toccar	to touch	reguardar	to look at
finir	to end	gustar	to taste	marcar	to mark
sufficer	to suffice	celar	to hide	significar	to mean
entrar	to enter	currer	to run	mancar v int	to lack of
expectar	to expect	tener	to hold	deber	must; to owe
esperar	to hope	levar	to raise	necessitar	to need
cader	to fall	junger	to join	offerer	to offer
sentir	to feel	jocar	to play	nominar	to name
posseder	to possess	demonstrar	to demonstrate	volver	to turn around
mitter	to place, put	seder se	to sit oneself	comprender	to understand, comprehend
poner	to put	parlar	to speak	intender	to intend, understand
traher	to draw, drag	star	to stand	unir	to unite
pagar	to pay	declarar	to declare	usar	to use
probar	to test, prove, rehearse	asserer	to assert	attender	to wait
tractar de	to treat of	cessar	to cease, stop	laborar	to labor
attinger	to attain, reach	supponer	to suppose	obrar	to work
restar	to remain, be left, stay	remover	to remove	scriber	to write
remaner	to remain	inseniar	to teach	leger	to read
rememorar	remember	recontar, relatar	to tell	ascoltar	to listen
dicer	to say	regratiar	to thank	luctar	to fight, struggle
separar	to separate	pensar	to think	prestar a	to lend (to
monstrar	to show	pesar	to weigh	plenar	to fill
dar	to give	renunciar	to renounce	occider	to kill
basiar	to kiss	passar	to pass	ordinar	to order, put in order
preparar	to prepare	proponer	to propose	establir	to establish
rationar	to reason	surrider	to smile	rider	to laugh
rider se de	to laugh at	valutar	to value	estimar	to esteem, estimate
studiar	to study	recognoscer	to recognize	dormir	to sleep
resultar	to result	dubitar	to doubt	prevenir	to warn, prevent
mover	to move