Reading Words by Their Parts
Know the parts and a new word is often clear.
How It Works
| Part | Adds | Word so far |
|---|---|---|
| san- | healthy | sana (healthy) |
| mal- | the opposite | malsana (ill) |
| -ul- | a person | malsanulo (an ill person) |
| -ej- | a place | malsanulejo (a place for ill people: a hospital) |
Work from the root outward, one part at a time. Each affix changes the word you have so far. The parts give you the idea of a word. The exact meaning is set by how people use it, so a hospital is a particular kind of place for ill people.
Some words only look as if they have parts. Okulo means eye, and it is not a person marked by the number eight. Kolego means colleague, and a reader who splits it into kol- plus -eg- (a big neck) would usually misread it. If the parts do not fit the sentence, look the word up.
Examples (5)
- Ewa laboras en malsanulejo en Varsovio.
Ewa works in a hospital in Warsaw.
Mal-, san-, -ul- and -ej- give a place for ill people.
- La lernejestro bonvenigas la novajn studentojn.
The head teacher welcomes the new students.
Lern-, -ej- and -estr- give the head of a school, and bonven- plus -ig- makes someone welcome.
- Hans legas la longan novaĵon en la gazeto.
Hans reads the long piece of news in the newspaper.
Nov- and -aĵ- give a thing that is new: a piece of news.
- Wei aĉetas dolĉaĵojn por la infanoj.
Wei buys sweets for the children.
Dolĉ- and -aĵ- give things that are sweet.
- Kofi revenis hejmen post la longa vojaĝo.
Kofi came back home after the long trip.
Re- and ven- give come again, or come back.
How It Connects
Learn This First
A new word becomes clear when you know its parts.
Related Patterns
Learn Next
Patterns that build on this one.
Practice Reading Words by Their Parts in Bubblegum
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