<a NAME="p055"></a>Bäledan äfidomed ädlinom nes sagön pleki.
Proceeding in the usual manner to look for the verb, we find äfidom; but we also find the verb ädlinom and the conjunction e or ed connecting them. E (or ed) like and in English, connects two similar words or phrases as two subjects (bäled e töbs for example), two predicates, as in this instance, two objects (for example flukis e vati flifik), two adverbs, two subordinate sentences. Looking for the roots, fid and dlin, we find that äfidom ed ädlinom means, by itself, he ate and drank. The subject bäledan is a word with which we are familiar. On its former occurrence we translated it "an old man," but now, as he has been previously mentioned, we use the article "the" -- "the old man ate and drank."
The following clause ,,nes sagön pleki," we may presume to modify the verbs as it follows them. We confirm this by finding that nes is a preposition, meaning , "without." Nen also means without, but nes is used before infinitivs. Nen, however, would be perfectly understood, and may be used without confusion. After a preposition we use in English the form in -ing; nes sagön -- without saying. The ending -i shows that pleki is the object of the verb sagön. Nes sagön pleki == without saying a prayer.
| Ab logöl das bäledan äfidom ed ädlinom nes sagön pleki -- | == | But seeing that the old man ate and drank without saying a prayer -- |
This participial clause is placed at the beginning of the sentence because it qualifies the subject, which is the -om in äsäkom, he asked. Ome is another form of om; the kimefal or indirect object. In English the person of whom anything is asked is put in the objectiv, but in Volapük the thing asked is considered as the direct object; "he asked [to] him." This is indicated in the vocabulary, by [bosi eke]; säkön [bosi eke], to ask any one anything ; that is, the thing asked is in the kimifal, and the person asked in the kimefal.
The words following this constitute the question which was asked, in the exact words Abraham would use, except that Abraham would have changed one letter.
