Mondezo is a conlang, created by Viktor Medrano in 2001. A copy of his work has been published here since the original documents were unpublished in 2005.
Esperanto is an easy enough language to learn, but it could be made even simpler. Attempts like Ido, a reformed Esperanto, have been made in the past, but they were radical and perhaps less aesthetically pleasing than Esperanto. Perhaps, there is room in this world for a dialect of Esperanto that is even easier than traditional Esperanto. Perhaps, some are looking for a minimalist change. Mondezo is that change. Mondezo means “world language”. Everything about Mondezo is the same as Esperanto, except the changes herein.
Mondezo does not use accents. The letters ⟨ch⟩, ⟨j⟩, ⟨kh⟩, ⟨zh⟩, ⟨sh⟩, ⟨w⟩, and ⟨y⟩ correspond respectively to Esperanto’s ⟨ĉ⟩, ⟨ĝ⟩, ⟨ĥ⟩, ⟨ĵ⟩, ⟨ŝ⟩, ⟨ŭ⟩, and ⟨j⟩. The hyphen ⟨-⟩ should be used for separating letters that do not belong to a digraph: bus‑halto (bus stop).
Mondezo | IPA | Esperanto |
---|---|---|
a | a | a |
b | b | b |
c | ʦ | c |
ch | ʧ | ĉ |
d | d | d |
e | e | e |
f | f | f |
g | g | g |
j | d͡ʒ | ĝ |
h | h | h |
kh | x | ĥ |
i | i | i |
y | j | j |
zh | ʒ | ĵ |
k | k | k |
l | l | l |
m | m | m |
n | n | n |
o | o | o |
p | p | p |
r | ɾ | r |
s | s | s |
sh | ʃ | ŝ |
t | t | t |
u | u | u |
w | u̯ | ŭ |
v | v | v |
z | z | z |
Mondezo has no articles, definite or indefinite. There is no la (the) as in Esperanto. The use of articles is variable among popular languages like French and English. Russian and Chinese do not have articles at all. To distinguish a definite instance, one uses Mondezo’s zio (this) or tio (that).
Mondezo | Esperanto | English |
---|---|---|
domo | domo | house |
a house | ||
la domo | the house |
The verb suffixes are ‑i (infinitive), ‑an (present), ‑in (past), ‑on (future), ‑un (conditional), and ‑u (imperative) corresponding to Esperanto’s i, as, is, os, us, and u, respectively. Unlike in Esperanto, an infinitive may be a main verb in the phrase when time is not important or is known from context. In Mondezo, verb tense is optional.
Mondezo | Esperanto | English |
---|---|---|
Mi ekzisti. | Mi ekzistis. | I existed. |
Mi ekzistas. | I exist. | |
Mi ekzistos. | I will exist. | |
Morgaw mi iri alheyme. | Morgaŭ mi iros hejmen. | Tomorrow, I shall go home. |
Mondezo does not use Esperanto’s accusative suffix n. In this regard, it is like English or Chinese, relying on word order. Subject–Verb–Object, or SVO, is the standard word order for Mondezo. However, a relative pronoun as the direct object should precede the subject (OSV). Direction can be shown by al (to) where Esperanto uses the accusative. Prepositional phrases with no specific relation shown by one of Mondezo’s defined prepositions are introduced by ye.
Mondezo | Esperanto | English |
---|---|---|
Kato kaptan rato. | La kato kaptas la raton. | The cat catches the rat. |
Chu kato kaptan rato? | Ĉu la kato kaptas la raton? | Does/Did the cat catch the rat? |
Kato kaptan kio? | Kion la kato kaptas? | What did the cat catch? |
Kato vidan kiu? | Kiun la kato vidas? | Whom did the cat see? |
Kiu vidan kato? | Kiu vidas la katon? | Who sees the cat? |
Hundo vidan rato, kiu kato kaptin. | La hundo vidas la raton, kiun la kato kaptis. | The dog sees the cat that caught the rat. |
Hundo vidan kato, kiu kaptin rato. | La hundo vidas la katon, kiu kaptis la raton. | The dog sees the cat that caught the rat. |
Kato saltin al sur tablo. | La kato saltis sur la tablon. | The cat jumped onto the table. |
Birdos flugan alsude. | Birdoj flugas suden. | Birds fly south. |
Ye 4a de yanuaro mia naskijtago okazon. | La 4an de januaro mia naskiĝtago okazos. | My birthday will be on January 4th. |
In Mondezo, adjectives are invariable, having neither case nor number.
Mondezo | Esperanto | English |
---|---|---|
Granda nigra katos kaptin malgranda blanka ratos. | La grandaj nigraj katoj kaptis la malgrandajn blankajn ratojn. | The big black cats captured the small white rats. |
Ci shatan kiu floros? Mi shatan flava (unuos). | Kiujn florojn vi ŝatas? La flavajn mi ŝatas. | Which flowers do you like? I like the yellow ones. |
Nigra kato | La nigra kato | The black cat |
Nigra katos | La nigraj katoj | Black cats |
Nigra kay blanka kato | La nigra kaj blanka kato | The black and white cat |
Nigra kato kay blanka kato | La nigra kaj blanka katoj | The black cat and the white cat |
Nigra kato kay blanka katos | La nigra kaj blankaj katoj | The black cat and white cats |
Nigra kay blanka katos | La nigraj kaj blankaj katoj | The black and white cats |
In Mondezo, only nouns may receive the plural suffix s.
Mondezo | Esperanto | English |
---|---|---|
Granda katos, kiu kurin, kaptin ratos. | La grandaj katoj, kiuj kuris, kaptis la ratojn. | The big cats who ran, caught the rats. |
Tiu (ulos), kiu scian, ne parolan. | Tiuj, kiuj scias, ne parolas. | Those who know, do not speak. |
Mondezo treats genders inexplicitly. From neutral roots, masculine nouns can be created with suffix ich and feminine nouns with the suffix in. For example, amiko (friend) can be modified: amikicho refers to a male friend, and amikino to a female friend. Kinship and common personal terms like patro (parent) and frato (sibling) are not gender-specific in Mondezo. For pronouns, when the gender is unknown or unimportant, one uses gi (she/he/it).
Mondezo | Esperanto | English |
---|---|---|
usonano | usonano | American person |
usonanino | usonanino | American female |
usonanicho | virusonano | American male |
doktoro | doktoro | doctor |
doktorino | doktorino | female doctor |
doktoricho | virdoktoro | male doctor |
Homo havan granda domo; gi estan felicha. | La homo havas grandan domon; li aŭ ŝi estas feliĉa. | The person has a big house and is happy. |
Mondezo distinguishes between singular and plural second-person pronouns: ci is used for the singular and vi for the plural. Gi is the third-person neuter singular pronoun.
In Esperanto, country and nationality names follow no special order. Esperanto speakers use wildly different terms for geographical locations and the people who live there. Some Esperantists derive a country name from its inhabitants: Rusoj loĝas en Rusujo (Russians live in Russia). Other speakers derive demonyms from the root followed by a pseudosuffix i : En Rusio loĝas rusianoj (In Russia, there live Russians).
In Mondezo, the root is always the geographic name: Franco (France). The demonym is derived by adding the suffix an : francano (person from France). Additionally, the language name is derived with the suffix ez : francezo (French language).
Mondezo | Esperanto | English |
---|---|---|
Anglo | Anglujo | England |
anglano | anglo | English person |
anglezo | la angla | English language |
Chino | Ĉinujo | China |
chinano | ĉino | Chinese person |
chinezo | la ĉina | Chinese language |
Franco | Francujo | France |
francano | franco | French person |
francezo | la franca | French language |
Meksiko | Meksiko | Mexico |
meksikano | meksikano | Mexican |
Usono | Usono | the United States |
usonano | usonano | American |
Mondezo uses the particle ya which can be placed in front of any element in a sentence to show emphasis or focus. Esperanto’s change of word order is not required.
Mondezo | Esperanto | English |
---|---|---|
Ya ni parolan svedezo. | Ni parolas la svedan. | We speak Swedish. |
Ni ya parolan svedezo. | Parolas ni la svedan. | We speak Swedish. |
Ni parolan ya svedezo. | La svedan ni parolas. | We speak Swedish. |
Mondezo uses zi- where Esperanto uses ĉi ti-.
Mondezo | Esperanto | English |
---|---|---|
chia | ĉia | every kind of |
chial | ĉial | for every reason |
chiam | ĉiam | always |
chie | ĉie | everywhere |
chiel | ĉiel | in every way |
chies | ĉies | everyone’s |
chio | ĉio | everything |
chiom | ĉiom | all |
chiu | ĉiu | everyone |
ia | ia | some kind of |
ial | ial | for some reason |
iam | iam | sometime |
ie | ie | somewhere |
iel | iel | somehow |
ies | ies | somebody’s |
io | io | something |
iom | iom | some (amount) |
iu | iu | someone |
kia | kia | what kind of |
kial | kial | why |
kiam | kiam | when |
kie | kie | where |
kiel | kiel | how, as |
kies | kies | whose |
kio | kio | what |
kiom | kiom | how much |
kiu | kiu | who |
nenia | nenia | no kind of |
nenial | nenial | for no reason |
neniam | neniam | never |
nenie | nenie | nowhere |
neniel | neniel | in no way |
nenies | nenies | no one’s |
nenio | nenio | nothing |
neniom | neniom | none |
neniu | neniu | no one |
tia | tia | such a |
tial | tial | that’s why |
tiam | tiam | then |
tie | tie | there |
tiel | tiel | thus, so |
ties | ties | that one’s |
tio | tio | that |
tiom | tiom | that much |
tiu | tiu | that person |
zia | ĉi tia | this kind of |
zial | ĉi tial | for this reason |
ziam | ĉi tiam | now |
zie | ĉi tie | here |
zies | ĉi ties | this one’s |
ziel | ĉi tiel | in this way |
zio | ĉi tio | this |
ziom | ĉi tiom | this much |
ziu | ĉi tiu | this person |