# Mirad Grammar/Adjectives
## Adjective Types

    Adjectives, which are words that modify nouns, can be of the following types and subcategories:
      * descriptive
         * qualitative, like iva (happy), fia (good), oga (small)
         * denominal ( ~ noun-derived), like doma (urban) < dom (city) or teaba (ocular) < teab (eye)
         * deverbal ( ~ verb-derived), (participles) like tejea (living) < tejer (to live) or twa (known) < ter (to know)
         * preposition-derived, like aba (upper) < ab....on top of or zoa (posterior) < zo (behind)
      * determinative
         * deictic ( ~ demonstrative, indefinite), like hia (this), huyena (such), haewa (both)
         * numeric, like awa (one), ea (second), iona (triple)
         * quantitative, like ga (more), glo (few), gra (too much)
         * 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 STEMMEANINGADJECTIVE fi-qualitative root base wordfia....good purnoun meaning vehiclepura....vehicular dalw-passive stem of the verb speakdalwa....spoken abpreposition meaning onaba....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 vafil.....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 DETERMINERMODIFICATION BY DEGREE ga....morega fia (vyel)....better (than) ge....as, equallyge fia (vyel)....as good (as) go....lessgo fia (vyel)....less good (than) gao....more or lessgao fia....good more or less gla....verygla fia....very good glay....soglay fia....so good gle....rather/quitegle fia....rather/quite good glo....not veryglo fia....not very/slightly/barely good gra....toogra fia....too good gre....enoughgre fia....good enough gro....not enoughgro fia....not good enough gwa....mostgwa fia (bi, be)....best (of, in) gwe....just, merelygwe fia....merely good gwo....leastgwo 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.
    Unlike in English, where comparative forms can be irregular (smaller, more intense, better), there are no exceptions in the comparison of Mirad adjectives and adverbs.

## 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 ADJECTIVEQUALITYPERSONTHING fia....goodfian....goodnessfiat....a good personfias....a good thing yeva....justyevan....justiceyevat....a fair personyevas....a fair thing joga....youngjogan....youthjogat....a youthjogas....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 NORMALNEGATED twa....knownotwa....unknown ega....normaloega....abnormal eflawa....essentialoeflawa....nonessential geyla....similarogeyla....dissimilar iva....happyoiva....unhappy data....friendlyodata....unfriendly lyodata....inimical ovdata....hostile dota....socialodota....unsocial lyodota....barbarian ovdota....antisocial ifwa....lovedoifwa....unloved fwa....wantedlofwa....unwanted ofwa....prohibitedolofwa....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 PositiveNegative fia....goodfua....bad iva....happyuva....sad via....beautifulvua....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 PositiveIntermediateNegative yava....innocentyeva....fairyova....guilty aja....pasteja....presentoja....future aga....bigega....normaloga....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 NORMALDEINTENSIFIED oma....coldoyma....cool ama....hotayma....warm yufa....afraidyuyfa....shy yiva....freeyiyva....loose via....beautifulviya....pretty ifwa....lovediyfwa....liked yefwa....obligatoryyeyfwa....due ufwa....hateduyfwa....disliked

## 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 ENDINGTRANSITION TYPEMEANINGBASE WORDDERIVED ADJECTIVE -aN->ADJrelating to, oftot....god tob....man dom....citytota....divine toba....human doma....urban -ayaN->ADJfull of, -ful, -ousmil....water yazmel....mountain tes....meaningmilaya....watery, aquaous yazmelaya....mountainous tesaya....meaningful --ikaN->ADJfull of, -ful, -ousmil....water yazmel....mountain tes....meaningmilika....watery, aquaous yazmelika....mountainous tesika....meaningful -oyaN->ADJempty of, -less, -freeteb....head level....sugar tes....meaningteboya....headless leveloya....sugar-free tesoya....meaningless -ukaN->ADJempty of, -less, -freeteb....head level....sugar tes....meaningtebuka....headless leveluka....sugar-free tesuka....meaningless -yenaN->ADJlike, -ish, -ytot....god tob....man dom....citytotyena....godly, godlike tobyena....manly, virile domyena....urbane -eaV->ADJ-ing, -ent, -antags-....grow tej-....live kyas-....changeagsea....growing, crescent tejea....living, alive kyasea....changing, variant -yeaV->ADJ-ive, tending todal-....talk tox-....forget vad-....affirmdalyea....talkative toxyea....forgetful vadyea....affirmative -waV->ADJ-eddal-....talk tox-....forget vad-....affirmdalwa....spoken toxwa....forgotten vadwa....affirmed -oaV->ADJ-about to, apt totoj-....die kyes-....happen tajb-....give birthtojoa....moribund kyesoa....imminent tajboa....about to deliver -uaV->ADJ-able, potentially Vtojb-....kill bukx-....harm akuj-....succeedtojbua....lethal bukxua....dangerous akujua....potentially successful -yafaV->ADJ-abletest-....understandtestyafa....able to understand -yafwaV-ADJ-able, possible to Xtest-....understandtestyafwa....understandable -yofaV->ADJunable toteat-....seeteatyofa....blind -yofwaV->ADJimpossible to, un-X-ableteat-....seeteatyofwa....invisible -yukaV->ADJcomfortable Xingpes-....waitpesyuka....patient -yukwaV->ADJeasy to Xtest-....understandtestyukwa....clear -yikaV->ADJhard of Xingteet-....hearteetyika....hard of hearing -yikwaV->ADJhard to Xteet-....hearteetyikwa....hard to hear -ifaV->ADJfond of Xing, -phile/-ict-....know dyes....booktifa....curious dyesifa....bibliophilic -ifwaV->ADJloved bytyod-....peopletyodifwa....popular -ufaV->ADJX-hating, -phobic, aversetob-....man yex....worktoybufa....anthrophobic yexufa....lazy, work-averse -ufwaV->ADJhated byhyat....everyonehyatufwa....universally hated -yifaV->ADJbravetoj....deathtojyifa....brave in the face of death -yufaV-ADJafraid of Xtot....godtotyufa....god-fearing -yufwaV->ADJfeared by Xgla....muchglayufwa....much-feared -yefaV->ADJdue to Xdud-....answerdudyefa....answerable, responsible -yeyfaV->ADJliable to Xfyuzi-....get punishedfyuziyeyfa....liable to be punished -yefwaV->ADJX-worthyfid-....praisefidyefa....praiseworthy -yakwaV->ADJexpected to Xmamil-....rainmamilyakwa....likely to rain -valkaN->ADJ-safe, -proofmil....watermilvalka....waterproof -avaN->ADJpro-Xtej....lifetejava....pro-life -evaN->ADJ-neutraltoob....gendertoobeva....gender-neutral -ovaN->ADJanti-Xdropek....wardropekova....anti-war -yivaN->ADJ-freeyef....debtyefyiva....debt-free -yuvaN->ADJ-boundyef....duty vya-....truth dofin....moralyefyuva....duty-bound vyayuva....loyal dofinyuva....scrupulous -azaN->ADJstrong-Xedfon....will tip....temperamentfonaza....strong-willed tipaza....stern -ozaN->ADJweak-Xedtip....temperamenttipoza....weak-hearted -izaN->ADJstraight-Xedtep....mind dal....speechtepiza....logical daliza....frank -uzaN->ADJcrooked-Xedtep....mind dal....speechtepuza....illogical daluza....devious -okyaN->ADJabsent-Xedtad....spouse ted....parenttadokya....widowed tedokya....orphaned -igaN->ADJfast-Xedtuyub....fingertuyubiga....nimble -ugaN->ADJslow-Xedtep....mindtepuga....slow-witted, dull -agaN->ADJbig-Xedtiib....hearttiibaga....big-hearted, generous -ogaN->ADJsmall-Xedtep....mindtepoga....small-minded -yigaN->ADJhard-Xedtip....temperamenttipyiga....stern, strict -yugaN->ADJsoft-Xedtip....temperamenttipyuga....lax, lenient
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