Suffix "-ad" - Adventures in Esperanto

Adventures in Esperanto

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Suffix "-ad"

This suffix creates a lasting or repeated action out of the root word.

An eagle-owl and toad sit together on a rock in the middle of a lake in the light of the setting sun.

The toad and eagle-owl have been talking

I'm currently reading a parallel text I got hold of from the Esperanto Association of Britain, where each page appears in both Esperanto and English, so I can scratch the sci-fi itch and see some translation intentions at the same time: Kuprokranio / Silverskull A collection of thought-provoking sci-fi

A vast desertscape. Two tiny figures stand in awe of an approaching impossibly huge sand and lightning storm.

Esperanto of Dune

In light of the Dune hype, and since it's my favourite science fiction series, I've picked out a few quotes for translation amusement. "how often it is that the angry man rages denial of what his inner self is telling him" This one caught

A painting with unnaturally colourful hues depicts a lake a-buzz with ducks and other birds.

A whiffle of chatter

Apparently, you might consider “whiffle” and “chatter” to be frequentatives of “whiff” and “chat” respectively! A frequentative is a form of word used to express repeated or habitual action. So “chatter” is repeated/habitual/ongoing “chat”. In English, they are most usually formed with an “-le” or “-er” suffix, and

$A duck squawks on a multicolour lake and the sound makes synesthetic bright fractals of colour.$

Nuances of Repetition

I stumbled across a little nuance in how we talk about repeated actions. I stumbled across a little nuance… ok, too obvious. When we use a noun (Esperanto O-word) which names an action, we usually talk about a single instance of that action. And we can talk about several using

One Neat Trick: to -i or -ado

One Neat Trick: to -i or -ado

What’s the difference between tricking and tricking? Or trompi and trompado? For those unfamiliar with the suffixes, “i” is the base form of a verb, the dictionary form, the infinitive. So trompi means “to trick” – no sense of time/tense. Notice how when we want to put it in