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Pig Latin/Lessons/4: Basic Adjectives
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Main Concept
In the first lesson, adjectives were briefly touched upon-- "they end in -āy" was about all I said.
There are a couple more things that should be mentioned, though. First off, adjectives (words ending in
-āy) also function as adverbs-- all adjectives are adverbs. Secondly, adjectives must be placed before
the noun they are describing (unless you say "x is y"), and adverbs must come after the
verbs they describe. Thirdly, all words ending in -āy also act as adjunct nouns-- I.E., "the human's zoo."
Lastly, you should keep in mind this: Any noun can be turned into an adjective/adjunct/adverb just by
switching the -ay out for an -āy-- and any verb can become a/a/a or noun by switching the infinitive's -ō
into an -āy or an -ay.
English has "friendly" and "friend," "easily" and "easy," so on and so forth. NAPL has none of that.
NAPL just takes the noun form and switches it around, as long as it makes sense. For instance, an earlier
vocab word (presented as a noun) was "omhay." With a little editing, you can say "homey," "homeish," or
even "to home!" I'm not sure what "to home" means, though. Oh well-- you win some, you lose some.
Of course, you'll get an "adjective" vocab list, just like you got a "verb" vocab list and will get a
"noun" vocab list-- but always keep in mind all of these can be any type of word at any time. I'm just
presenting them as they are commonly used in English.
Without further ado, here is your "adjective" vocabulary:
Vocabulary
kōikāy: quick(ly)
loōusāy: slow(ly)
iklāy: likely
ivlāy: lively
uvlāy: lovely
uglīāy: ugly
ōuelāy: well
dedāy: deathly/is dead
mārtsāy: smart(ly)
umbdāy: dumb(ly)
āmunkāy: common(ly)
rēkōentfāy: frequent(ly)
ēungāy: young(ly)
oldāy: old(ly)
uťrāy: other
hī: high(ly)
lo: low(ly)
ratgāy: great(ly)
igbāy: big
malsāy: small
importāntāy: important(ly)
ēlrāy: real(ly)
estbāy: best
ītrāy: right
onlīāy: only
And now, for a quick note on those super-short words-- "hī" and "lo." Since there is no ending, they can be used as adjectives,
adverbs, or nouns, interchangeably-- meaning depends wholly on context. When turning them into verbs, however, there is one rather
simple extra step you'll have to take: Just add the temporal character to the end of it. I mean, you've memorized the conjugations
already, right? Then surely, you've noticed which characters are common for which tense, regardless of actor. If not, I'll spell it out
for you: i is for future, a is for present, and ā is for past. If you need to use the more obscure conjugations (I.E., the
imperative, "ōyu"), just append it to the end, like normal.
Also, you probably noticed that a few of these are just words from the first vocab list with the "-ay" switched out for an "-āy."
Wait, what? You didn't? Ahhh, you're such a bad student! I told you earlier, spend a day or two to study the vocabulary lists!
Well, it's alright. I forgive you, this time. Actually study this time, alright?
Exercises
Adjective Transformation
Turn these words into adjectives:
uvlay
ilkayu
unrō
ītfāyā
dīiāyui
Don't scroll down any further 'til you answer the above questions!
Answers I
uvlāy
iklāy
unrāy
ītfāy
dīāy
Descriptions
Use what you know to describe the below, in as much detail as possible, and full sentences where you can:
A good student.
That student's mother and/or father.
What this student does in their spare time.
What the nerd student wants to be.
What the parents want them to be.
Don't scroll down any further until you make a good effort!
Answers II
There are no real "answers" here-- just ask yourself, is what you said the best you could've done? Was it using plenty of vocabulary
you've been studying? There are, however, some suggestions:
ēungey, kōikey, uvley, mārtsey
oldāy, igbāy, dedāy
rēkōentfāy, ilkayi, ētō
oldāy, ratgāy, mārtsāy, estbāy
ēungāy, umbdāy, ivlāy