User:Aegon/High Valyrian Tutorial/1-2

Lesson 2| Adjectives

Note: copy/paste from Latin wikibook to see what it looks like.

Overview of Adjectives

An adjective is simply any word that describes a noun, such as an object or subject in a sentence. Of course, whole phrases may be used to describe nouns, but adjectives are individual words. In English, for example:

The red dog attacked the crazy fox.

An adjective can also be used in a sentence opposite a form of "to be." (called a predicate adjective)

The boy is good.

In High Valyrian, the same is true.

Adjectives in High Valyrian

Like nouns, adjectives in High Valyrian are declined. The vast majority are of class I (kostōba -ys -on -or) and the rest are split rather evenly between class II (litse -ior) and class III (sylvie -ior). All such adjectives must agree with the nouns they describe in gender, number, and case.

Class II and class III adjectives merge the lunar and solar, and the terrestrial and aquatic. Thusly, class II and class III adjectives have two genders as opposed to the four of a class I adjective.

Class I adjectives will look like the adjective rōva (big, large):

rōva (lunar), rōvys (solar), rōvon (terrestrial), rōvor (aquatic).

Class II and class III adjectives typically look more like sylvie (wise).

sylvie (lunar and solar), sylvior (terrestrial and aquatic).

Adjectives often come before the word they describe; this is called prepositive. However, they may come after the word in the more formal postpositive style. The main differences revolve around the prepositive form shortening case markings, which are clearer in the postpositive. The adjective must appear either before or after the noun it modifies.

For example:

Explanation- The good boy loves the wild dog.
Latin:	Puer	bonus	amat(1)	canem(2) (acc)	ferocem(3) (acc).
English:	[The] boy	good	[he] loves	[the] dog	wild.

• ⁽¹⁾ amāre, [to] love. amat, [he] loves.
• ⁽²⁾ canis, dog (masc.)
• ⁽³⁾ ferox, ferocis, wild. ferocem (acc.)

Bonus, a first and second declension adjective, is masculine, nominative, and singular to agree with puer, the word it is describing.

Ferocem, a third declension adjective, is masculine, accusative, and singular to agree with canem. Canem is accusative because it is the object of amat.

Here is an example of plural adjectives:

Explanation- The good boys love the wild dogs.
Latin:	Puerī (plur)	bonī (plur)	amant (plur)	canes (plur, acc)	feroces (plur, acc).
English:	[The] boys	good	[they] love	[the] dogs	wild.

The words bonus and ferocem become boni and feroces to agree with the plurals pueri and canes.

However, if a girl (puella) happened to love that boy:

Explanation- The good girl loves the good boy.
Latin:	Puella	bona	amat	puerum (acc)	bonum (acc).
English:	[The] girl	good	[she] loves	[the] boy	good.

Bonus must become bona in order to modify puella, which is feminine.

Finally, if the girl isn't good, but rather wild:

Explanation- The wild girl loves the good boy.
Latin:	Puella	ferox	amat	puerum (acc)	bonum (acc).
English:	[The] girl	wild	[she] loves	[the] boy	good.

Even though puella is first declension, ferox remains third declension. In the same way, a good lion would be bonus leo.

Adjectives must agree in gender, number, and case, but not necessarily in declension.

The Positive, Comparative, and Superlative Adjectives

The positive form of the adjective is the plain form of the adjective (e.g. good), the comparative form is used to compare two things (e.g. better), and the superlative form is used to compare more than two things (e.g. best).

To make most Latin adjectives comparative you add -ior to the adjective. To translate back into English you would say either the adjective -er (e.g. taller) or more the adjective (e.g. more tall). To form the superlative you add -issmus. This translates to either the adjective -est (e.g. strongest) or most the adjective (e.g. most strong).

However not all adjectives follow this rule; the following are irregular adjectives and their English translations:

Irregular Adjectives

English	Positive	Comparative	Superlative
good	bonus	melior	optimus
bad	malus	peior	pessimus
small	parvus	minor	minimus
large	magnus	māior	maximus
much	multus	plūs	plūrimus
thrifty	frūgī	frūgālior	frūgālissimus
worthless	nēquam	nēquior	nēquissimus

Exercise

Latin/Exercise|Translate|

1. est bonus. • sum ferox. • estis boni. • sunt bonae.

|

1. He is good. • I am wild. • You (pl.) are good. • They are good.