hyperglot

(noun) An untranslatable Hungarian word, aranyhíd is defined as the glistening reflection of the sun on the ocean.

literally: golden bridge

1. Es ist nicht gut Kirschen essen mit dir. - Cherry-eating is not good with you (You are evil)

2. Jetzt geht’s um die Wurst. - Now it’s about the sausage. (It’s now or never)

3. Das ist nicht mein Bier. - That is not my beer. (That is not my problem)

4. Holla, die Waldfee! - Holla, the woodfairy! (Well, I never!)

5. Ich glaub’ ich spinne. - I think I spider. (Blimey!)

6. Den Teufel werd’ ich tun. - The devil will I do. (I won’t do anything)

7. Mein lieber Herr Gesangsverein! - My lovely mister singing club! (Gorblimey!)

8. Wie geil ist das denn!? - How horny is that then !? (Damn, that is some cool shit!)

9. Das ist mir Wurst. - That is sausage to me. (I don’t give a fuck)

10. Ich lach’ mich kaputt! - I laugh myself broken! (LMFAO)

11. Ich glaub’, mein Schwein pfeift. - I think my pig whistles. (Blow me down)

12. Schwamm drüber! - Sponge over! (Let’s forget about that)

13. Ich hab jetzt wirklich die Nase voll!! - I have now really the nose full!! (I’m fed up now)

14. Ich muss mich übergeben.. - I must overgive me.. (I have to throw up)

15. Ist mir Latte! - (This) is boner to me! (I don’t care)

16. Da guckst Du dumm aus der Wäsche. - There you look stupid out of the laundry. (Now you look a proper charlie) 

17. Was ist das hier für ein Saftladen? - What’s this for a juiceshop here? (Some place that is retarded/a dinky joint)

This post by Fun with Languages describes a method for quickly learning languages by using around 200 basic words and learning to phrase your ideas using only those. I translated their word list to Esperanto and added some basic grammar notes in case anyone wanted to try this method with Esperanto!

VERBS (English: Esperanto)

Be: esti Can: povi Cause: igi Do: fari Eat: manĝi Feel: senti Get (Obtain): ricevi Give: doni Go: iri Have: havi Know: scii Learn: lerni Like: ŝati Make: fari Need: bezoni Say: diri See: vidi Should: devi Sleep: dormi Speak: paroli Start: komenci (transitive, e.g. I started the movie…), komenciĝi (intransitive, e.g. the movie started…) There is: ekzistas Think: pensi Try: provi Use: uzi Want: voli Work: labori Write: skribi

Conjugation: drop the –i from the infinitive form and add… -as for present tense -is for past tense -os for future tense Two verbs with the above endings must be separated at some point in the sentence by a conjunction (see below). To “link” two verbs (e.g. “I like to eat”), leave the second/object verb in the infinitive form (”Mi ŝatas manĝi”).

Negation: to negate a verb (e.g. “I don’t speak…”) preface it with “ne” (”Mi ne parolas…”).

Direct object: the noun (and any adjectives attached to it) that is the direct object of a verb receives the –n (accusative) ending.

PHRASES

Hello: Saluton Goodbye: Ĝis (temporary), adiaŭ (long time) Nice to meet you: Estas bone ekkoni vin Yes: Jes No: Ne Ok: Bone, ok (“oh-koh”) Please: …mi petas Thank you: Dankon You’re welcome: Ne dankinde Sorry: Mi bedaŭras…, mi petas pardonon, mi pardonpetas Excuse me: Pardonu Well…: Nu…

CONJUNCTIONS

That: ke And: kaj Or: aŭ But: sed Though: kvankam Because: ĉar Therefore: tial…, pro tio…, do… If: se Before: antaŭe, antaŭ ol After: poste, post ol

PREPOSITIONS

In front of: antaŭ Behind: post Of (belonging to): de Of (quantity): da From: de To: al In: en At (place): ĉe At (time): je (specific time, e.g. 9:00), dum (more general, e.g. morning) With (e.g. a person): kun With (i.e. using): per About: pri Like (i.e. similar to): kiel For: por

Movement: Certain prepositions (antaŭ, post, en, ĉe, je, kun) can indicate location relative to the following noun or motion relative to the following noun. To indicate motion, the following noun receives the –n (accusative) ending. For example… Mi iris en la domo. = While inside the house, I went (around). Mi iris en la domon. = I went into the house. The accusative never follows prepositions that always indicate movement (de, al) or describe neither location nor movement (da, dum, per, pri, por).

ADJECTIVES

A lot: multaj A few: malmultaj, kelkaj Good: bona Bad: malbona More: pli More… than…: pli… ol… Better: pli bona Most: plejparto de Enough: sufiĉe da Even: eĉ The: la This: ĉi tiu That: tiu All: ĉiom da, ĉiu Some: iom da, iu No, none: neniom da, neniu Other: alia Any: iom da, iu Easy: facila Hard: malfacila Early: frua Late: malfrua Important: grava Cool (e.g. “that’s cool”): mojosa Different: malsimila, malsama Beautiful: bela

Opposites: You may have noticed that you can create new adjectives with the opposite meaning by adding the prefix mal-. Grava = important Malgrava = unimportant

Plural/Accusative Endings: actual adjectives (single words above that end in –a or –u, not adverbs or correlatives followed by a preposition) take the same plural (-j) and accusative (-n) ending(s) as the noun they modify. Note that “la” is the definite article, and never takes the accusative or plural ending.

ADVERBS

A lot: multe A little: malmulte Well: bone Badly: malbone More: plu Better: pli bone Mostly: plejparte Enough: sufiĉe Even: eĉ Very: tre Too: tro Also: ankaŭ Only: nur Now: nun Here: ĉi tie Maybe: eble Always: ĉiam Sometimes: iam, fojfoje Today: hodiaŭ Yesterday: hieraŭ Tomorrow: morgaŭ Almost: preskaŭ Still: ankoraŭ Quickly: rapide

Opposites: similarly to adjectives, you can create new adverbs with the opposite meaning by adding the prefix mal-.

Word Order: Irregular adverbs (those that do not end in –e), always occur just before the word they modify. Ankaŭ mi manĝis matenmanĝon. = I also ate breakfast (e.g. as well as my friend). Mi ankaŭ manĝis matenmanĝon. = I also ate breakfast (e.g. as well as cooked it). Mi manĝis ankaŭ matenmanĝon. = I also ate breakfast (e.g. as well as lunch).

NOUNS

Thing: afero, aĵo (physical object) Person: homo Place: loko Everything: ĉio Something: io Nothing: nenio Time (period of time): tempo Time (occasion): fojo Friend: amiko Mother: patrino Father: patro Parent: gepatro Daughter: filino Son: filo Child: infano Wife: edzino Husband: edzo Girlfriend: koramikino Boyfriend: koramiko Breakfast: matenmanĝo Lunch: tagmanĝo Dinner: vespermanĝo Money: mono Day: tago Year: jaro Hour: horo Week: semajno House: domo Office: oficejo Language: lingvo Name: nomo Word: vorto Company: firmo Internet: interreto

Plural form: all singular nouns end in –o. To make them plural, add the –j ending (pronounced like “y” in English) to the end. If the noun takes the accusative ending, the –n comes after the –j e.g. “domojn”.

Subwords: To make learning vocabulary easier, many words are made up of subwords. Patrino = patr (father) + in (female) + o (noun) Gepatro = ge (all/any gender) + patr (father) + o (noun) Koramiko = kor (heart) + amik (friend) + o (noun) Matenmanĝo = maten (morning) + manĝ (meal/eat) + o (noun) Oficejo = ofic (job/position) + ej (place) + o (noun)

QUESTION WORDS

Who: Kiu Which: Kiu What: Kio When: Kiam Where: Kie Why: Kial How: Kiel How much: Kiom da Does…?, Is…?: Ĉu…?

Word order: Though in most cases word order doesn’t matter, questions almost always begin with one of these words.

PRONOUNS

I: mi You: vi She: ŝi He: li It: ĝi We: ni They: ili

Reflexive pronoun: When referring to the subject of the sentence a second time, the word “si” is used instead of ŝi/li/ĝi/ili. It is modified in the same way as other pronouns. Bob iris en sian domon. = Bob went into his (own) house. Li iris en lian domon. = He went into his (someone else’s) house.

Direct Object: To make a pronoun the direct object of a verb, add the -n (accusative) ending as with a noun.