Lesson 6:
Adjectives

Regular Adjectives

Agreement in Number

Regular adjectives have the vowels ly for singular or lr for plural. In most cases the number of the adjective must match the number of the noun it modifies. Exceptions are identified as such in the dictionary. Note that the adjective follows the noun.

Ggyg plypp n'lay pshay. Ggrg plrpp n'lay pshay.

I have a green crystal. I have green crystals.

Agreement in Gender

An adjective must also agree with the noun in gender. Gender is indicated the same way for adjectives as it is for nouns.

Gznymb psnly nloy zzoy. Gzmymb psmly mloy zzoy.

He is a good boy. She is a good girl.

Strength and Affrimation

Most adjectives in Qtwyqp Qly are weak. Making an adjective strong in Qtwyqp Qly is like placing the word "very" before it in English.

As for adverbs, adjectives may be either affirmative or negative. Making an adjective negative in Qtwyqp Qly is like placing the word "not" before it in English.

Both these properties are indicated by the nasal which follows the vowels: none for weak and affirmative, m for strong and affirmative, n for weak and negative, and n' for strong and negative.

Gznymb psnly nloy zzoy. Gznymb psnlym nloy zzoy. Gznymb psnlyn nloy zzoy. Gznymb psnlyn' nloy zzoy.

He is a good boy. He is a very good boy. He is not a good boy. He is a very bad boy.

Quantitive Adjectives

Formation

A quanititive adjective describes how much there is of something in subjective terms. It is identified by the fact that its only vowel is o. Quantitive adjectives do not have to agree with the noun in number or gender. However, like other adjectives, they do have strength and affirmation. For quanititive adjectives, strong is the norm. Making a quantitive adjective weak in Qtwyqp Qly is like placing "about" before it in English.

Ggrg thomdd n'lay pshay. Ggrg thodd n'lay pshay.

I have this many crystals. I have about this many crystals.

Genitive Nouns

Formation

Since genitive nouns function as adjectives, I will present them here. To make a noun genitive: change y to yr, r to ry, wy to yw, or wr to rw. Making a noun genitive in Qtwyqp Qly is like placing "of" before it in English. These nouns have their own number and gender and thus or not inflected to match the noun which they modify. However, the final nasal which indicated the nominal case, now indicate strength and affirmation. With genitive nouns, strong indicates permanence while weak indicates tentativeness.

Qqymgg qqybd zzoy. Qsym qqyrmgg qqybb zzoy.

Music is vibrations. Music is a system of vibrations.

Shpymg Tnywth loy zzoy. Shpymg Tnywmth loy zzoy.

It is Timothy's picture (it belongs to him). It's a picture of Timothy.

Comparisons with Adjectives

Comparitive Form

An adjective is made comparative from its positive (regular) form by placing a clause after it. A comparative form states that the quality is more or less so than the same quality in other object.

The clause "[adjective] ble _ ttlo dle" means "more [adjective] than _". The clause "[adjective] ble _ tlo dle" means "less [adjective] than _". The clause "[adjective] ble _ zzlo dle" means "as [adjective] as _". In the case of adjectives, "_" is always an objective noun (or something that may replace an objective noun) grammatically. Consider the following examples:

Qmymqq gmlyps bld qmymqq n'yem ttlo dle qmyqq n'yam zzoy.

My daughter is a child more beautiful than your daughter.

Superlative Form

The superlative is also formed by adding a clause. The clause "ble ttwad dle" means "most". The clause "ble twad dle" means "least". For example:

Qmymqq gmlyps bld ttwad dle qmyqq n'yam zzoy.

My daughter is the most beautiful.