Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof

“ Nothing actually prevents people from inducing their friends and acquaintances to sign a promise in any cause, yet how few, as a fact, ever do sign anything, be the object ever so important and advantageous to mankind. More especially, when, as in the present instance, the act of signing, while contributing to the realisation of a sublime ideal, at the same time requires no moral nor material sacrifice, can one see no very clear grounds for a refusal.
Doubtless, no one has anything to say, in general, against the introduction of an international language ”

“ For even should the language never come into general use, it gives to every one who has learned it, the possibility of being understood by foreigners, if only they be able to read and write. But my tongue has yet another object; not content with internationality, it aims at universality, and aspires to being spoken by the majority of educated people. To count on the aid of the public in a scheme of this nature would indeed be to build on a tottering,—nay rather, an imaginary,—foundation. ”

“ Since the explanation of the whole grammatical structure of the language is comprised in a few lines,—as a glance at the grammar will show,—the finding of the required terminations occupies no longer time than the turning up a word in the dictionary.
I would now direct the attention of my readers to another matter, at first sight a trifling one, but, in truth, of immense importance. Everyone knows the impossibility of communicating intelligibly with a foreigner, by the aid of even the best of dictionaries, if one have no previous acquaintance with the language. ”

“ For my own part, I am naturally wishful that the whole of mankind should take up my language, but I had rather be prepared for the worst, than form too sanguine anticipations. I suppose therefore, that, just at first, very few will consider my language worth the learning, so far as practical usefulness is concerned, and for abstract principles no one will loose even a single hour. ”

“ In order to find any given word in a dictionary, we must know its derivation, for when words are arranged in sentences, nearly every one of them undergoes some grammatical change. After this alteration, a word often bears not the least resemblance to its primary form, so that without knowing something of the language beforehand, we are able to find hardly any of the words occurring in a given phrase, and even those we do find will give no connected sense. ”

“ By the help of these rules, and others, which will be found in the grammar, the language is rendered so exceedingly simple that the whole labour in learning consists in committing to memory some 900 words,—which number includes all the grammatical inflexions, prefixes, etc.—With the assistance of the rules given in the grammar, any one of ordinary intellectual capacity, may form for himself all the words, expressions, and idioms in ordinary use. Even these 900 words, as will be shown directly, are so chosen, that the learning them offers no difficulty to a well-educated person. ”

“ In every language different prepositions, sanctioned by usage, are employed in these dubious cases, in the international language, one word, je, suffices for all. Instead of je, the objective without a preposition may be used, when no confusion is to be feared. ”

“ I will only direct the attention of all friends of the international languge, to that most important object, towards which all eyes must be turned, the success of the voting. Let each do what he can, and in a short time we shall have, that which men have been dreaming of so long, — “A Universal Tongue”. ”

“ On this account, I would pray those of my readers, who may be, for whatever reasons, dissatisfied with my language, to send in their protests only in the event of their having serious cause for it, such as the finding in the language objectionable features, unalterable in the future.
This little work, which has cost much labour and health, I now commend to the kindly attention of the public, hoping that all, to whom the public weal is dear, will aid me to the best of their ability. Circumstances will show each one in what way he can be of use ”

“ It has now been shown how, by means of the peculiar structure of the international tongue, any one may enter into an intelligible correspondence with another person of a different nationality. The sole drawback, until the language becomes more widely known, is the necessity under which the writer is placed of waiting until the person addressed shall have analysed his thoughts. ”

“ Anything whatever, written in the international tongue, can be translated, without difficulty, by means of the vocabulary alone, no previous study being requisite. The reader may easily convince himself of the truth of this assertion, by experimenting for himself with the specimens of the language appended to this pamphlet. A person of good education will seldom need to refer to the vocabulary ”

“ Then, of course, even the most indifferent would set to work, because to shirk the small amount of labour necessary for learning a language possessed of such valuable qualities, and above all, considered „the thing“ by all the educated, would be regarded as simple stupidity. ”

“ Every preposition in the international language has a definite fixed meaning. If it be necessary to employ some preposition, and it is not quite evident from the sense which it should be, the word je is used, which has no definite meaning ”

“ If a word has a different sound in different languages, that sound has been chosen which is common to at least two or three of the most important European tongues, or which, if found in one language only, has become familiar to other nations. When the required word has a different sound in every language, some word was sought for, having only a relative likeness in meaning to the other, or one which, though seldom used, is yet well-known to the leading nations, e. ”

“ In order to supply a language ready for immediate use, without any one having to initiate the study, and to see on every hand people either already proficients in the tongue, or having promised to take it up, we must proceed somewhat in the following manner. ”

“ The personal pronouns are: mi, I; vi, thou, you; li, he; ŝi, she; ĝi, it; si, "self"; ni, "we"; ili, "they"; oni, "one", "people", (French "on") .
Possessive pronouns are formed by suffixing to the required personal the adjectival termination. The declension of the pronouns is identical with that of substantives. E. g. mi, "I"; mi'n, "me" (obj.) ; mi'a, "my", "mine".
6. The verb does not change its form for numbers or persons, e. g. mi far'as, "I do"; la patr'o far'as, "the father does"; ili far'as, "they do".
Forms of the Verb :
a) The present tense ends in as, e. g. mi far'as, "I do". ”

“ La aŭtor'o kred'ig'as, ke per tiu lingv'o oni pov'as est'i kompren'at'a de la tut'a mond'o, se eĉ la adres'it'o ne sol'e ne sci'as la lingv'o'n, sed eĉ ankaŭ ne aŭd'is pri ĝi; oni dev'as sol'e al'don'i al la leter'o mal'grand'a'n foli'et'o'n nom'at'a'n „vort'ar'o“. Dezir'ant'e vid'i, ĉu tio est'as ver'a, mi skrib'as al vi en tiu lingv'o, kaj mi eĉ unu vort'o'n ne al'met'as en ali'a lingv'o, tiel kiel se ni tut'e ne kompren'us unu la lingv'o'n de la ali'a. Respond'u al mi, ĉu vi efektiv'e kompren'is, kio'n mi skrib'is. ”

“ In order to remove this obstacle, as far as practicable, at least for persons of education, recourse was had to the following expedient. Such words as are common to the languages of all civilised peoples, together with the so-called „foreign“ words, and technical terms, were left unaltered. ”

“ Kaj la ter'o est'is sen'form'a kaj dezert'a, kaj mal'lum'o est'is super la profund'aĵ'o, kaj la anim'o de Di'o si'n port'is super la akv'o. Kaj Di'o dir'is: est'u lum'o, kaj far'iĝ'is lum'o. Kaj Di'o vid'is la lum'o'n ke ĝi est'as bon'a, kaj nom'is Di'o la lum'o'n tag'o, kaj la mal'lum'o'n Li nom'is nokt'o. Kaj est'is vesper'o, kaj est'is maten'o,—unu tag'o. Kaj Di'o dir'is: est'u firm'aĵ'o inter la akv'o, kaj ĝi apart'ig'u akv'o'n de akv'o. Kaj Di'o kre'is la firm'aĵ'o'n kaj apart'ig'is la akv'o'n, kiu est'as sub la firm'aĵ'o, de la akv'o kiu est'as super la firm'aĵ'o ”

“ A
a - express an adjectivese; e.g. hom' - man , hom'a - human
acid' - sour, acid
aĉet' - to buy
ad - indicates the duration of an action; e.g. ir' - go , ir'ad' - to walk , danc' - a dance , danc'ad' - dancing
adiaŭ - good-bye
aer - the air
afer' - affair, business
agl' - the eagle
agrabl' - agreeable
aĝ' - the age
ajn - ever;e.g. kiu - who , kiu ajn - whoever
aĵ' - indicates a thing, having some quality or peculiarity, or made of some particular thing; e.g. ”

“ I
i - indicates the infinitive in verbs; laŭd'i - to praise
ia - some
ial - by whatever cause
iam (ian) - sometime
id' - child, descendant; e.g. bov' - ox , bov'id' - calf
ie - somewhere
iel - in some manner
ies - some one's
ig' - to cause anything to be in a cretain state; e. g. pur' - pure, clean , pur'ig' - to purify, to cleanse , brul' - to burn one’s self , brul'ig' - to burn some one (some thing) , sid' - to sit , sid'ig' - to seat
iĝ' - to become,to turn, to compel one's self; e. g. ”

“ Fajr'o'n sent'as mi intern'e,
Viv'i ankaŭ mi dezir'as,–
Io pel'as mi'n etern'e,
Se mi al gaj'ul'o'j ir'as...
Se ne plaĉ'as al la sort'o
Mi'a pen'o kaj labor'о–
Ven'u tuj al mi la mort'o,
En esper'o–sen dolor'o! ”

“ This I accomplished by the introduction of numerous prefixes and suffixes, by whose aid the student is enabled to create new words for himself, without the necessity of having previously to learn them, e. g. ”

“ Vi'a reĝ'a moŝt'o - your (Royal) Majesty; , Vi'a general'a moŝt'o , Vi'a episkop'a moŝt'o etc.
mov' - to move, to stir (up)
mult' - much
mur' - wall
murmur' - to murmur
muŝ' - a fly
N
n - indicates the objective (accusative) case; also direction; e.g. ”