ADVERBS DEFINED AND CLASSIFIED.
66. An adverb is a word which modifies the meaning of a verb, adjective, another adverb, or phrase. It may express manner, time, degree, negation, etc. Adverbs are either primary, as "now," "almost," or derived, as "glad-ly," "sweet-ly," The Esperanto primary adverbs given in this and in preceding lessons may be classified as follows:
| (a) Temporal Adverbs (expressing time). | |
| baldaŭ, soon. hieraŭ, yesterday. hodiaŭ, today. | morgaŭ, tomorrow. nun, now. tuj, immediately. |
| (b) Adverbs of Degree. | |
| almenaŭ, at least. nur, merely. | preskaŭ, almost. tre, very, much. |
| (c) Adverbs Expressing Other Ideas. | |
| addition: ankaŭ, also. interrogation: ĉu, (30). proximity: ĉi, (60). | emphasis: eĉ, even. affirmation: jes, yes. negation: ne, not, no, (27). |
a. An adverb usually precedes, but may also follow, the word or words which it modifies. It must be so placed as to leave no doubt about which of two words or word-groups it is intended to modify. Thus, mi preskaŭ volis havi tiun clearly means I almost wished to have that; but mi volis preskaŭ havi tiun might mean either "I almost wished to have that," or more probably "I wished almost to have that." An example of permissible variation in the position of adverbs is shown in questions to which an affirmative answer is expected. Such questions may be put in the form of a statement, followed by ĉu ne (instead of having ĉu introduce the sentence, with ne in its normal position):
Li venos, ĉu ne? He will come, will he not?
La vetero estas bela, ĉu ne? The weather is beautiful, is it not?
Vi aŭdis tiun diron, ĉu ne? You heard that remark, did you not?
FORMATION OF OPPOSITES.
67. If the meaning of a word is such that it can have a direct opposite, such opposite may be formed from it by use of the prefix mal-:
malalta, low, short (from alta, high, tall).
malamiko, enemy (from amiko, friend).
maldekstra, left (from dekstra, right).
malhelpi, to hinder (from helpi, to help).
maljuna, aged, old (from juna, young).
malnova, old, not new (from nova, new).
Cf. English malcontent, "discontented," maladroit, "clumsy."
Vocabulary.