CONTENTS
GENDER, NUMBER AND CASE
Tundrian adjectives are classified into two categories:
- Category A adjectives vary with gender: in both the singular and the plural they have different forms for the masculine and feminine.
- Category B adjectives do not vary with gender: in both the singular and the plural the forms are invariant with respect to gender.
CLASS A ADJECTIVES
Only the singular forms are given: to find the corresponding plural forms, for both the nom. and the acc. case, consult the Nouns and Adjectives - Declension page.
Most adjectives belong to Class A. For those that do not, see under the Class B heading.
Regular feminine formation
Generally speaking, Class A nouns whose masc.sing. ends in a consonant add -a in the feminine. Those whose masc.sing. ends in -o, change it to -a in the fem. Examples:
- clar, clara (light); piyr, piyra (lazy).
- pauvro, pauvra (poor); xenistro, xenistra (left)
Irregularities:
- Adjectives ending in
-q add -qua in
the fem.: antiq,
antiqua
(ancient); obliq,
obliqua
(oblique).
- Adjectives ending in
-û change it to -ua
in the fem.: ambigû,
ambigua
(ambiguous); continû,
continua
(continuous).
- Two adjectives ending in
-ix change it to
-ija in the fem.: grix,
grija
(gray): lix,
lija
(smooth, even).
- Others
ending in -ix are
regular, however: frêix,
frêixa
(fresh); rûix,
rûixa
(red), etc.
- Others
ending in -ix are
regular, however: frêix,
frêixa
(fresh); rûix,
rûixa
(red), etc.
- Adjectives ending in
-êil have their fem. in
-ella: bêil,
bella
(beautiful); gemêil,
gemella
(twin).
- Note
the additional
irregularity in: tranquêil,
tranquilla
(calm).
- Note
the additional
irregularity in: tranquêil,
tranquilla
(calm).
- Monosyllabic adjectives
ending in –an and
those ending in –án
generally have their
feminine in –aina: humán,
humaina
(human); plan,
plaina
(flat, plain); san,
saina
(healthy); ván,
vaina
(vain).
- However, adjectives ending in -án that denote a nationality or religous group change the -án to -ana in the fem., without the diphthong. E.g.: amêricán, amêricana (American); christián, christiana (Christian); tundrián, tundriana (Tundrian).
- Two
exceptions: román,
romaina
(Roman [ancient]); tzigán,
tzigaina
(Gypsy).
- The few adjectives
ending in an unstressed
vowel + n need an accent in
the fem. in additon to the
final -a:
orphan,
ôrphana
(orphaned).
- Adjectives ending in a
vowel bearing the circumflex
accent (exc. û) + cons. +
s lose the circumflex in
the fem.: fâls,
falsa
(false); pêrs,
persa
(dark [colour]); côrs,
corsa
(Corsican).
- Adjectives ending in a
vowel bearing the circumflex
accent (exc. û) + single
consonant (exc. r) lose the
circumflex in the fem. and
double the final consonant
before the -a of the
fem.: bêl
(also bêil), bella
(beautiful); xîc,
xicca
(dry).
- One exception: parallêl, parallêla (parallel)
-
Adjectives ending in -r
do not obey this rule:
ordinêr,
ordinêra
(ordinary);
satisfactôr,
satisfactôra
(satisfactory).
- Adjectives ending in a
vowel bearing the accute
accent + n or s
lose the accent in the fem.:
bón,
bona
(good); metús,
metussa
(same); slovén,
slovena
(Slovenian).
- Adjectives ending in
digraphs ending in -u have
special fem. forms with a -v-:
blêu,
bleva
(blue); breu,
brava
(brave); câu,
cava
(hollow); nôu
(also nov), nova
(new); vîu,
viyva
(alive).
- Most adjectives ending in -êu, however, form their fem. in -ea: aerêu, aerea (aerial); europêu, europea (European).
CLASS B ADJECTIVES
These adjectives do not change according to gender. For their plural forms, consult the Nouns and Adjectives - Declension page.
Here is a list of the most common members of this group:
alêr (cheerful), anteriour (previous), assat (enough) [not used in the plural], atroç (awful), capaç (able), cêleur (famous), común (common, ordinary), crudeil (cruel), deul (weak), diffícil (difficult), dûlç (sweet), ênorm (huge, enormous), exsang (bloodless), fácil (easy), fedeil (faithful), fêliyç (happy), fêrtil (fertile), fort (strong), funebre (related to a funeral), gentiyl (gentle, nice), grand (big, large), grâu (grave, serious), hábil (clever, skillful), hûmil (humble), inferiour (inferior, lower), jôun (young), lêu (light [in weight]), majour (major), melhour (better [comp. of bón (good)]), minour (minor), miyt (mild), móbil (mobile, moveable), moil (soft), nóbil (noble), par (even [number]), piour (worse [comp. of mal (bad)]), suav (mild), sûperiour (superior, upper), trist (sad), útil (useful), vêloç (fast), vird (green), xûmil (alike, similar).
Also, compounds of the above:
impar (odd [number]), inútil (useless), etc.
Adjectives ending with the derivative suffixes -ábil, -al, -ant, -ent, -íbil and -our also belong here:
capábil (capable), natural (natural), abûndant (abundant), circolar (circular), convênient (convenient), terríbil (terrible), conservatour (conservative), etc.
However, adjectives whose similar endings are not suffixal add -a in the fem.:
amar, -a (bitter); car, -a (expensive, dear); content, -a (content); jant, -a (a lot of); lent, -a (slow); mal, -a (bad); sant, -a (holy, sacred); sonour, -a (noisy), etc.
COMPARISON
THE COMPARATIVE
The comparative forms of adjectives are regularly formed by placing the word plus (more) or min (less) in front of the adjective, and the particle que (than) after. Examples:
- És plus grand que Joân "He is bigger than John".
- Soy min riyc que Paul "I am less wealthy than Paul".
Four adjectives have irregular comparative forms:
- bón, bona (good) - melhour (better)
- mal, -a (bad) - piour (worse)
- mûlt, -a (many, much) - mais (more, larger number of)
- pauc, -a (few) - min (less, fewer)
Note that mais and min are invariable for gender, number and case. E.g.: mî amiyc ha mais livros que jo "my friend has more books than myself"; cel ân vi ha min aqua en lo lac qu'el ân passat "this year there is less water in the lake than last year".
THE SUPERLATIVE
The superlative of adjectives is formed by adding the appropriate form of the definite article or the possessive pronoun in front of the comparative:
- És la plus bella javuta en lâ escola "She is the most beautiful girl in the school".
- Hoy tzentat los melhours restaurants en lâ çutat "I have tried the best restaurants in the city".
- Son mêi melhouri amiyci "They are my best friends".
- Ço és la min fêrtil tzerra del payeiz "This is the least fertile land in the country".
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