Unu Lesono / Lesson One

Lesson | Exercises

Mondlango uses the same 26 letter alphabet as English.
Each letter has only one sound.

Consonants
As in English except:                                      
c: Always like "ch" in "church" 
g: Always like "g"  in "get"    
j: Always like "j"  in "journal"
x: Always like "sh" in "ship"   

Vowels
a: like "a"  in "father"     
e: like "e"  in "bed"        
i: like "ee" in "street"     
o: like "o"  in "for"        
u: like "oo" in "boot"

        

The letter "q" is only ever used in proper names.

Semivowels w & y can be combined with vowels to form new vowel sounds (diphthongs).

ay: like "ie"  in "pie"
ey: like "ay"  in "day"
oy  like "oy"  in "boy"
aw: like "ow"  in "cow"
ow: like "ow"  in "low"

 

Nouns
Words that name things end in "o".

floro:    flower
tablo:    table
lakto:    milk 
elefanto: elephant

Adjectives
Words that describe things end in "a".

biga:  big
bela:  beautiful
bona:  fine/nice
guda:  good

Article
There is only one definite article "la", equivalent to "the". There is no indefinite article (a/an). To say "a flower", "a table" we simply omit the article "a".

floro:    a flower
la floro: the flower
tablo:    a table
la tablo: the table

Be careful not to pronounce the final "o" like the "ow" in window.  This doesn't sound good.  It's more like a short "or".

Verbs
Verbs indicate the state of animals and objects or what a person does. When the state or action is in the present, the verb ends in "-an".

esan: is

La floro esan bela:
The flower is beautiful

La tablo esan biga:
The table is big.

The ending "-an" of the present time is invariable for all persons (I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they).  So esan means is, are and am.

The stress always falls on the penultimate syllable of a word.

flo-ro
ta-blo
e-le-fan-to
mond-lan-go

yes: yes (pronounced like "yes")
ne:  no

In order to transform the statement "You are my friend" into a question "Are you my friend?", we simply put the particle "Cu" (pronounced "choo" like in "choose") at the beginning of the statement. We do not change the word order. The particle "cu" is not translated since it is equivalent to a question mark. In this way we know, in writing as well as in speaking, that it's a question.

Cu la pano esan bona?
Yes, la pano (bread) esan bona.

Cu la floro esan bela?
Yes, la floro esan bela.

Cu la tablo esan biga?
Yes, la tablo esan biga.

Peter esan bona.           Peter is fine.
Maria esan bela.           Maria is beautiful.
La lakto esan bona.        The milk is nice.
La elefanto esan biga.     The elephant is big.

Cu Peter esan bona?        Yes, Peter esan bona.
Cu Maria esan bela?        Yes, Maria esan bela.
Cu la lakto esan bona?     Yes, la lakto esan bona.
Cu la elefanto esan biga?  Yes, la elefanto esan biga.

Remember, in Mondlango, the letter "c" is pronounced ch as in church.