Copula

Lesson 6

"Copula" refers to a language's equivalent to the word "be" in English. It is perhaps the most important verb in any language that uses it, and this is true for Numo as well. In English, "to be" takes many different forms depending on its conjugation, such as "is", "am", "are", "was", "were", etc.

In Numo, the copula is the verb es. 

Es behaves like any other verb, but its usage is limited compared to European languages. In Numo, verbs can only take nouns as objects, thus, es is only used to connect a noun to a noun. To connect a noun to an adjective or prepositional phrase, no verb is used at all. This is consistent with the behavior of the equivalent word in Chinese, and it preserves the distinction between nouns and adjectives that would otherwise be lost in sentences using the copula.

Let's look at some examples:

• Anu es jen. "I am a person." It may help to recognize that singular nouns in English are often preceded by "a(n)" or "the", so if there's one after the copula in English you definitely have to use es in Numo.

• Anu oke. "I am alright." Conversely, if an article wouldn't make sense in the English sentence, you're probably dealing with an adjective, so you shouldn't use es. Notice also that this follows the use of adjectives you learned in Lesson 3.

• Felin anun cuwi. "My cat is cautious." An example of describing a word you already put in adjective on, in this case anun. In these cases, the last adjective in the series is the important one. If you wanted to say "The cautious cat is mine", you'd change the order and say Felin cuwi anun.

• Felin anun es cuwi. "My cat is caution." This is a nonsensical sentence caused by using es improperly. In the vast majority of cases, it wouldn't inhibit understanding much, but it's important to recognize the function using es serves in a sentence like this.

In clauses without a verb, adverbs are kicked to the end, as you'll see in the following lessons. As you deal with more and more complex sentences, it's important to remember these simple rules.

Practice 6

Determine whether or not to use es in the blanks.

Kanada __ gros. - "Canada is big."

Kanada __ stan gros. - "Canada is a big country."

Sol __ stela. - "The sun is a star."

Luna __ daleko. - "The moon is far."

Geo __ in iki. - "The Earth is here."

Vocabulary 6

Es - Be, Is, Am, Are (before nouns)

Jen - Person

Oke - Alright, Okay

Stan - Land, Country

Sol - Sun

Stela - Star

Luna - Moon

Daleko - Far, Far away

Geo - Earth, Ground

Iki - Here