Mirad Grammar/Adjectives

Adjective Types

Adjectives, which are words that modify nouns, can be of the following types and subcategories:
  • descriptive
  1. qualitative, like iva (happy), fia (good), oga (small)
  2. denominal ( ~ noun-derived), like doma (urban) < dom (city) or teaba (ocular) < teab (eye)
  3. deverbal ( ~ verb-derived), (participles) like tejea (living) < tejer (to live) or twa (known) < ter (to know)
  4. preposition-derived, like aba (upper) < ab....on top of or zoa (posterior) < zo (behind)
  • determinative
  1. deictic ( ~ demonstrative, indefinite), like hia (this), huyena (such), haewa (both)
  2. numeric, like awa (one), ea (second), iona (triple)
  3. quantitative, like ga (more), glo (few), gra (too much)
  4. pronominal ( ~ possessive), like ata (my), duhota? (whose?), hyeta (anyone's)
Descriptive adjectives are the main focus of this section. Determinative adjectives (determiners) behave differently and are discussed under Determiners. Deverbal adjectives, usually referred to as participles, are treated in the section on Verbs, since they are formed from verbs. Pronominal determiners (i.e. possessive adjectives) are treated under both the section on Determiners and the section on Pronouns.

Descriptive Adjectives

All descriptive adjectives end in the adjectival marker vowel a.
Adjective-marking suffix
Stem Meaning Adjective
fi- qualitative root base word fia....good
pur noun meaning vehicle pura....vehicular
dalw- passive stem of the verb speak dalwa....spoken
ab preposition meaning on aba....superior
Such adjectives precede the noun or noun phrase they modify:
  • aga tam....a big house
  • ha fia toyb....the good woman
  • ata boka twed....my sick father
  • fia ilzyebi bi vifil.....good bottles of wine
  • yata dooba doof....our national flag
Adjectives do not agree in number or gender with the noun they modify.
doba xeut....state agent can also be expressed as the noun compound dobxeut. Dob means a state.
pata bok....avian illness can be compounded as patbok, literally bird illness.
Note: Compounded nouns often have an idiomatic meaning not exactly equal to their separate parts. More about this in the later section on vocabulary-building.

Comparing Adjectives by Degree

As in English, descriptive adjectives can be compared by degree. To do this, a quantitative determiner of degree (ga, ge, etc.) is placed before the adjective, producing positive / negative comparative, equalitative, superlative, and other degree expressions as in the following table. The quantitative determiners themselves that are used in these comparative expressions are discussed in detail in a later section on Quantitative Determiners.
Modification of Adjectives by Degree
Quantitative Determiner Modification By Degree
ga....more ga fia (vyel)....better (than)
ge....as, equally ge fia (vyel)....as good (as)
go....less go fia (vyel)....less good (than)
gao....more or less gao fia....good more or less
gla....very gla fia....very good
glay....so glay fia....so good
gle....rather/quite gle fia....rather/quite good
glo....not very glo fia....not very/slightly/barely good
gra....too gra fia....too good
gre....enough gre fia....good enough
gro....not enough gro fia....not good enough
gwa....most gwa fia (bi, be)....best (of, in)
gwe....just, merely gwe fia....merely good
gwo....least gwo fia (bi, be)....least good (of, in)
The relative conjunction vyel is used to translate English as in an equalitative comparison or than in a non-equalitative comparison. Examples:
  • Ata tam se ga aga vyel etas.....My house is bigger than yours.
  • Hia tam voy se ge aga vyel atas.....This house is not as big as mine.
  • His se ha gwa aga tam bi yata yubem.....This is the biggest house in our neighborhood.
The expression be kum bi (beside) can be substituted for vyel.
  • Ata keson sa ga fia be kum bi hos at yaka.....My experience was better than (what) I expected.
  • Yat sa nyoza be kum bi yata tudi.....We were poorer than our children.
Mirad has no irregular comparative/superlative adjectives such as English "better/best.

Deriving Substantives from Adjectives

Adjectives can be suffixed to derive various noun substantives:
  • Abstract quality noun: -n
  • Thing having a quality: -s
  • Person having a quality: -t
Deriving Substantives from Adjectives
Adjective Quality Noun Person Noun Thing Noun
fia....good fian....goodness fiat....a good person fias....a good thing
yeva....just yevan....justice yevat....a fair person yevas....a fair thing
joga....young jogan....youth jogat....a youth jogas....something new
The substantives ending in -s and -t can be referred to as deadjectival pronouns, because they act like pronouns but are derived from adjectives.

Reversing the Semantics of Adjectives

Descriptive adjectives can be negated by prefixing o. If the adjective being semantically reversed already begins with the prefix o, then the first semantic reversing prefix becomes ol. This has the effect of English un- or non- in words like unlike, unhappy, and nonessential or the Greek privative prefix a(n)- in words like asymmetric or anomalous.
Prefixing the syllable lyo or ov has an even stronger semantic effect. It denotes the polar opposite of the adjective and can mean "anti-".
In cases where the o- creates an ambiguous word, lo- or -ol is substituted, depending on whether the base adjective begins with a consonant or a vowel, respectively. Note this in the last two words of the following chart:
Reversing the Semantics of Adjectives
Normal Negated
twa....known otwa....unknown
ega....normal oega....abnormal
eflawa....essential oeflawa....nonessential
geyla....similar ogeyla....dissimilar
iva....happy oiva....unhappy
data....friendly odata....unfriendly
lyodata....inimical
ovdata....hostile
dota....social odota....unsocial
lyodota....barbarian
ovdota....antisocial
ifwa....loved oifwa....unloved
fwa....wanted lofwa....unwanted
ofwa....prohibited olofwa....unprohibited

Polarization of Base Word Adjectives

Base word adjectives are polarized adjectives that fall into the following pattern categories:
  • [iu]Ca (such as ifa, uja, ika, uka, etc.)
  • C[iu]a (such as fia, fua, via, vua, etc.)
  • [aeu]Ca (such as aja, eja, uja, yava, yeva, yova, etc.)
  • C[aeu]a (such as vaa, vea, vua, etc.)
In the case of the i/u vowel adjectives, those adjectives with i are positive and are contrasted with those with u, which are negative, eg.:
I/U Polarized Adjectives
Positive Negative
fia....good fua....bad
iva....happy uva....sad
via....beautiful vua....ugly
In the case of the a/e/u vowel adjectives, those adjectives with a are positive; those with e are intermediate, and those with o are negative, eg.:
A/E/U-Polarized Adjectives
Positive Intermediate Negative
yava....innocent yeva....fair yova....guilty
aja....past eja....present oja....future
aga....big ega....normal oga....small

Deintensifying the Sense of Adjectives

The semantic strength of qualitative adjectives can often be deintensified by following the ordinal vowel or stem vowel with the glide y. Examples follow:
Mitigated Adjectives
Normal Deintensified
oma....cold oyma....cool
ama....hot ayma....warm
yufa....afraid yuyfa....shy
yiva....free yiyva....loose
via....beautiful viya....pretty
ifwa....loved iyfwa....liked
yefwa....obligatory yeyfwa....due
ufwa....hated uyfwa....disliked

Intensifying the Sense of Adjectives

The letters l and r can be used to intensify the sense of adjectives, r being the more intense. One of these letters is inserted just before the final suffix -a. Here are some examples:
  • ama....hot vs. amra....burning hot, ardent
  • yika....difficult vs. yikra....arduous
  • yiga....hard vs. yigla....brusk vs. yigra....brutish, violent
  • yifa....brave vs. yifla....audacious vs. yifra....valorous, heroic
  • yafa....able vs. yafla....mighty
  • iga....fast vs. igla....hasty vs. igra....frenetic, harried
  • iva....happy vs. ivra....delighted, jubilant
  • yuka....easy vs. yukla....simple
  • yiva....free vs. yivla....loose
  • yuva....bound vs. yuvla....dependent vs. yuvra....captive
  • yuga....soft vs. yugla....tender vs. yugra....delicate
  • yufa....afraid vs. yufla....frightened vs. yufra....horrified

Adjectival Derivational Endings

All descriptive adjectives end in at least the suffix a. Many adjectives are derived from other parts of speech, using one of more of the following derivational endings.
Adjectival Derivative Endings
Ending Transition Type Meaning Base Word Derived Adjective
-a N->ADJ relating to, of tot....god
tob....man
dom....city		 tota....divine
toba....human
doma....urban
-aya N->ADJ full of, -ful, -ous mil....water
yazmel....mountain
tes....meaning		 milaya....watery, aquaous
yazmelaya....mountainous
tesaya....meaningful
-ika N->ADJ full of, -ful, -ous mil....water
yazmel....mountain
tes....meaning		 milika....watery, aquaous
yazmelika....mountainous
tesika....meaningful
-oya N->ADJ empty of, -less, -free teb....head
level....sugar
tes....meaning		 teboya....headless
leveloya....sugar-free
tesoya....meaningless
-uka N->ADJ empty of, -less, -free teb....head
level....sugar
tes....meaning		 tebuka....headless
leveluka....sugar-free
tesuka....meaningless
-yena N->ADJ like, -ish, -y tot....god
tob....man
dom....city		 totyena....godly, godlike
tobyena....manly, virile
domyena....urbane
-ea V->ADJ -ing, -ent, -ant ags-....grow
tej-....live
kyas-....change		 agsea....growing, crescent
tejea....living, alive
kyasea....changing, variant
-yea V->ADJ -ive, tending to dal-....talk
tox-....forget
vad-....affirm		 dalyea....talkative
toxyea....forgetful
vadyea....affirmative
-wa V->ADJ -ed dal-....talk
tox-....forget
vad-....affirm		 dalwa....spoken
toxwa....forgotten
vadwa....affirmed
-oa V->ADJ -about to, apt to toj-....die
kyes-....happen
tajb-....give birth		 tojoa....moribund
kyesoa....imminent
tajboa....about to deliver
-ua V->ADJ -able, potentially V tojb-....kill
bukx-....harm
akuj-....succeed		 tojbua....lethal
bukxua....dangerous
akujua....potentially successful
-efa N->ADJ -in need of N til....drink
tel....food		 tilefa....thirsty
telefa....hungry
-yafa V->ADJ -able test-....understand testyafa....able to understand
-yafwa V-ADJ -able, possible to X test-....understand testyafwa....understandable
-yofa V->ADJ unable to teat-....see teatyofa....blind
-yofwa V->ADJ impossible to, un-X-able teat-....see teatyofwa....invisible
-yuka V->ADJ comfortable Xing pes-....wait pesyuka....patient
-yukwa V->ADJ easy to X test-....understand testyukwa....clear
-yika V->ADJ hard of Xing teet-....hear teetyika....hard of hearing
-yikwa V->ADJ hard to X teet-....hear teetyikwa....hard to hear
-ifa V->ADJ fond of Xing, -phile/-ic t-....know
dyes....book		 tifa....curious
dyesifa....bibliophilic
-ifwa V->ADJ loved by tyod-....people tyodifwa....popular
-ufa V->ADJ X-hating, -phobic, averse tob-....man
yex....work		 toybufa....anthrophobic
yexufa....lazy, work-averse
-ufwa V->ADJ hated by hyat....everyone hyatufwa....universally hated
-yifa V->ADJ brave toj....death tojyifa....brave in the face of death
-yufa V-ADJ afraid of X tot....god totyufa....god-fearing
-yufwa V->ADJ feared by X gla....much glayufwa....much-feared
-yefa V->ADJ due to X dud-....answer dudyefa....answerable, responsible
-yeyfa V->ADJ liable to X fyuzi-....get punished fyuziyeyfa....liable to be punished
-yefwa V->ADJ X-worthy fid-....praise fidyefa....praiseworthy
-yakwa V->ADJ expected to X mamil-....rain mamilyakwa....likely to rain
-valka N->ADJ -safe, -proof mil....water milvalka....waterproof
-ava N->ADJ pro-X tej....life tejava....pro-life
-eva N->ADJ -neutral toob....gender toobeva....gender-neutral
-ova N->ADJ anti-X dropek....war dropekova....anti-war
-yiva N->ADJ -free yef....debt yefyiva....debt-free
-yuva N->ADJ -bound yef....duty
vya-....truth
dofin....moral		 yefyuva....duty-bound
vyayuva....loyal
dofinyuva....scrupulous
-aza N->ADJ strong-Xed fon....will
tip....temperament		 fonaza....strong-willed
tipaza....stern
-oza N->ADJ weak-Xed tip....temperament tipoza....weak-hearted
-iza N->ADJ straight-Xed tep....mind
dal....speech		 tepiza....logical
daliza....frank
-uza N->ADJ crooked-Xed tep....mind
dal....speech		 tepuza....illogical
daluza....devious
-okya N->ADJ absent-Xed tad....spouse
ted....parent		 tadokya....widowed
tedokya....orphaned
-iga N->ADJ fast-Xed tuyub....finger tuyubiga....nimble
-uga N->ADJ slow-Xed tep....mind tepuga....slow-witted, dull
-aga N->ADJ big-Xed tiib....heart tiibaga....big-hearted, generous
-oga N->ADJ small-Xed tep....mind tepoga....small-minded
-yiga N->ADJ hard-Xed tip....temperament tipyiga....stern, strict
-yuga N->ADJ soft-Xed tip....temperament tipyuga....lax, lenient

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