Compound words are very frequent in Neo. They are formed by simple joining, but a hyphen can always be used to help the reader who is new to Neo, and when the resulting compound word seems too long:
bona good, kor heart: bonkor good-heartedness, bonkora good-hearted;
bona good, vol will: bonvol goodwill, bonvola, -e goodwilling, -ly;
mala bad: malkore ill-naturedly; malvol ill-will;
skol school, maestro teacher: skolmaestro schoolmaster;
dorfo village, klezo church: dorfoklezo village church;
art art, istor history: artistor art-history;
Artistor-Skol Art-History School;
enta whole, kor heart: entakore whole-heartedly;
amor love, pen sorrow: amorpen love-sorrow;
menso dining, car car: mensocar dining-car
When writing compound words, it is suggested, as soon as the word seems too long, or as soon as there is a danger of confusion, we separate the composing words with a hyphen: skol-maestro, art-istor, dorfo-klezo, menso-car.
Compound words have two or more stresses, each composing word keeping its own stress: dórfoklézo, árt-istór-skól, skólmaéstro.
English compound words as “cigarette-holder”, “cross-bearer”, “pen-holder”, “pen-wiper”, “windscreen-wiper” are translate in Neo either directly (with -er for a person, -il for a tool): sigaret-portil (sigaretil), kruz-porter, plum-tenil, plum-shugil, vitrel-shugil, or by using the infinitive: porti-sigaret, portikruz, teniplum (plumil), shugiplum, shugivitrel.
The English idiom “from day to day”, “from year to year”, and so on, is shrunk in Neo to single words comprising the initial syllable and the whole word: idide from day to day, ananye from year to year, vekveke from week to week, benbene better and better, malpize from bad to worse.
This useful device can be extended to adjectival (ending -a) and to verbal (ending -i, etc.) usage: letleta smaller and smaller; letleti to become smaller and smaller; ladlada uglier and uglier; oldoldi to grow older and older.
| So konstatar un idida melazo. | A day to day improvement is ascertained. |
| Et land far ananya progres. | This country is making a year to year progress. |
| Viv ye shirshira. | Life is there more and more expensive. |
| Nun il melmelar. | He is now doing better and better. |
| Il melar idide. | He is getting better from day to day. |
| El nusnusar indide. | She is growing prettier and prettier from day to day. |
| Nos adsir al orora pizazo del situo. | We witnessed the hour to hour deterioration of the situation. |
The idioms “black-haired girl”, “the with the gray glove”, “the woman with the green gown” are also translated by a compound word: lo nerkapla fel, lo grizganta vir, lo verdroba dam.