Senatola

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10 October 2026 · from English · 3 sentences

Alice in Wonderland (first paragraph)

Source: Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), chapter 1, first paragraph (public domain), text from Project Gutenberg (eBook 11). Proper names stay unchanged (Alice).

Literal: PL = ma, NOT = ne, QUOTE = re, NEAR = hi, Q = ka. Compounds with hyphens.

Whole text in one piece

Alice tose di goba vetanira lo luti he pivanima, su lo bure nomu tava. lo bame pulu goda ko vera hi. lo vese pavo jo doso tamagefa je vetanira vesagefe. ho tamagefa bure ne bava jo senaserema. Alice kile re „ma mela bode tamagefa ko vera ka, fi lo bure ne bava jo senaserema?“

Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: … once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, … … "and what is the use of a book," thought Alice "without pictures or conversations?"

Sentence by sentence (3 sentences)

Alice tose di goba vetanira lo luti he pivanima, su lo bure nomu tava. lo bame pulu goda ko vera hi.

Alice sit in side sibling-female she self on edge-water, and she have zero work. she become much tiredness from reason NEAR

Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do:

Notes (4)
  • Thoughts as direct speech, a question with a condition, relative clauses: the most difficult text in the series.
  • The sentence is turned around: first what Alice is doing, then “that is why she grows very tired”. “Tired of …” with an action after it would only work as a long chain of nouns.
  • lo luti points to the subject, Alice. “Bank” = pivanima (shore).
  • “Was beginning to” is left out.

lo vese pavo jo doso tamagefa je vetanira vesagefe. ho tamagefa bure ne bava jo senaserema.

she see once or twice thing-write which sibling-female read. but thing-write have NOT picture or speak-exchange

… once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, …

Notes (4)
  • “Once or twice” = pavo jo doso: two adverbs with jo.
  • The relative clause comes at the end; “but …” is a new sentence, because otherwise it would still belong to the relative clause.
  • bure ne … jo … = has neither … nor … (ne negates the verb).
  • “Conversation” = senaserema (speak + exchange), a new term.

Alice kile re „ma mela bode tamagefa ko vera ka, fi lo bure ne bava jo senaserema?“

Alice think QUOTE PL person need thing-write from reason Q, if it have NOT picture or speak-exchange?

… "and what is the use of a book," thought Alice "without pictures or conversations?"

Notes (3)
  • “What is the use” = “why does one need …?” (ko vera ka).
  • “Without pictures” as sa bava would belong to the whole sentence (“why does one need a book without pictures?” in the sense of “why, without pictures, does one need a book?”). So a fi clause: if it has no pictures.
  • Carroll interrupts the quotation with “thought Alice”. In Senatola everything that belongs to the sentence comes before re.