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Gilo Grammar 6

Adjectives

6 Adjectives

6.1 Quality (suffix 'a', follows noun)

· My old red book	buk ajoma reda meva
· baby oil, olive oil	babøl, øl oliva

Note that 'øl baba' would imply oil made from babies! Hence the production of a new compound word 'babøl'.

6.2 Active/Participles (suffix 'a', follows noun)

For an 'active' adjective (using verbal infinitive form), add suffix 'a', as a normal adjective.

· You will see a running man	yu suz peil rãniza
· I saw a fallen tree,	me soz tre føloza
· I saw a falling tree	me soz tre føliza
· flower, floral, flowering	flur, flura, fluriza

6.3 Possessive (conjunction 'ov', precedes noun or, suffix 'va' follows noun - both forms have identical meaning)

my	ov me or meva	our (not you)	ov mi or miva
		our (Including you)	ov wi or wiva
your (singular)	ov u or uva	your (plural)	ov yi or yiva
his	ov il or ilva	their	ov ili or iliva
her	ov el or elva	their	ov eli or eliva
his/hers	ov ul or ulva	their	ov uli or uliva
its	ov ol or olva	their	ov oli or oliva
itself	ov su or suva	themselves	ov sui or suiva

6.4 There are alternative suffix forms to convey the exact meaning:

ya	used by
	Tom's book (the book used by Tom)	buk Tomya
va	owned by
	Tom’s book (owned by Tom)	buk Tomva
da	done by
	Tom’s book (written by Tom) Note: same meaning as Book by Tom	buk Tomda buk ad Tom (= buk Tomda)
ra	concerning, regarding, about
	Tom's book (book about Tom)	buk Tomra

Examples

· My book, their cars	buk meva, kãri uliva
· The car is his	kãr bez ovil. kãr bez ilva.
· Give the dog its food. Note: the exact meaning is Give to the dog its food, not Give the dog	ogez fud ola u kanis or ogez u kanis fud ola
· The red car seat	sito reda ovkãr or sito reda kãra
(the red seat of the car)
· The red car seat	sito ovkãr reda
(the seat of the red car)
· The old man's, young dog's, new bone (the new bone of the young dog of the old man)	bon nova, ovkanis ajota, ovpeil ajoma

6.5 Comparative (suffix or preposition)

The expressions follow the normal degrees of positive, comparative and superlative using either suffixes or prepositions. These can be used for both adjectives and adverbs (using 'a' suffix).

Positive		Positive Comparative mu			Positive Superlative um
good	besa		better	besmua		best	besuma
bad	bada		worse	badmua		worst	baduma

In addition there are 'Negative' comparatives.

		Negative Comparative tu		Negative Superlative ut
good	besa	less good	bestua	least good	besuta
bad	bada	less bad	badtua	least bad	baduta

However some Gilo words use a 'neutral' root word which first needs to be modified in order to form the positive or Negative base word. This modification is done with 'om' for positive and 'ot' for Negative e.g.

Neutral Root

Base Word

Comparative

Superlative

Positive

speed

spid

fast

spidoma

faster

(more speed)

spidmua

fastest

(most speed)

spiduma

Negative

speed

spid

slow

spidota

slower

(less speed)

spidtua

slowest

(least speed)

spiduta

Note also

As in English, comparatives and superlatives can be used as both suffixes and prepositions:

(1)Mary is more beautiful than Ann	Meri bez mu bela kom An
(2)Mary is beautifuler than Ann	Meri bez belmua kom An
(1)Pam is the most beautiful	Pam bez um bela
(2)Pam is the beautifulest	Pam bez beluma

The meaning of (1) is identical to (2) but in Gilo both forms are also grammatically correct!

This arrangement allows for a variety of meanings to be expressed e.g.

fast, faster, fastest	spidoma, spidmua, spiduma
least fast, less faster, more faster	spidomuta, spidmutua, mu spidmua
slow, slower, slowest	spidota, spidtua, spiduta
least slow, less slower, more slower	spidotuta, tu spidtua, spidtumua

Positive	om	multiple/positive
Base		fast, good, expensive,	spidoma, gua, prisoma
		There are many children here	pejuiom bez he
Positive	mu	more
Comparative		faster, better, more expensive	spidmua, gumua, prismua
		a larger house, more land	hus sismua, mu lan
Positive	um	most
Superlative		fastest, best, most expensive	spiduma, guuma, prisuma
		the biggest car	kãr sisuma
Negative	ot	small amount/negative
Base		slow, small, cheap	spidota, sisota, prisota
		There were few people there	peiot boz de
Negative	tu	less
Comparative		slower, smaller, cheaper	spidtua, sistua, pristua
		one book less than before	antu buk kom oza
Negative	ut	least
Superlative		slowest, smallest, cheapest	spiduta, sisuta, prisuta
		She is the youngest	el bez ajuta

Note also

ve	very
	very hot, very cold	ve hitom, ve kod
em	large size
	book, ledger	buk, bukem
	house, mansion	hus, husem
et	small size
	book, note book	buk, buket
	house, cottage	hus, huset

6.6 The Indefinite Article 'A' - Not Used

'an' (the number one) is used only when it is necessary to quantify the following word.

· Give me a pen..	ogez pen u me
· Give me one apple	ogez an pomis u me
· She is an actress	el bez aktãr(el)

6.7 The Definite Article 'The' - Not Used

xe (this) or ce (that) is used when it is necessary to quantify the following word.

· Give it to the dog.

ogez ol u ce kanis

6.8 Demonstrative (preposition)

· This, that, these, those

xe, ce, xe(i), ce(i)

· What did that man say?

k ti coz ce peil

· These cars are mine.

xe kãri bez ov me

xei kãr bez meva

6.9 Distributive (preposition/prefix)

· All, each, every, either, neither, none	al, ic, al, saan, nean, za
· everyone, no-one, each one, either one	alpe, nepe, icpe, saanpe
· Give a loaf to all of them, to each of them	ogez an bred u alpe, u icpe
· Give it to either of them, to neither of them	ogez ol usaanpe, uneanpe

6.10 Quantitative (prefix)

· some, any, none, not any

sa, en, za, ne

6.11 Multiple Adjectives & Participles

Multiple adjectives, or combinations of adjectives and adverbs, may need to be placed in a particular order or dealt with slightly differently e.g. by forming a new compound word.

· The horrible red car	kãr oppexa reda
(the car which is both horrible and red)
· The horribly red car	kãr, reda oppexa
(the car painted a horrible red)	or kãr oppexreda

The basic principle remains that the 'headword' always precedes the qualifying word. Hence in the second example above, 'kãr' precedes 'reda' which in turn, precedes 'oppexa'. When a new compound word is formed then the head 'root word' comes last, hence 'oppexreda'.

Where there are multiple adjectives, then they need to separated by commas in writing and pauses when speaking e.g.

· The very old, horribly fat, red haired woman

peel herreda, fatoppexa, ve ajoma

'Active' adjectives (participles) can themselves be qualified by a following adjective, hence they should be placed last if they are not qualified e.g. :-

· The old fast sinking ship	xip ajoma spidoma divociza
(the old, fast ship which is sinking)
· The old fast sinking ship	xip ajoma, divociza spidoma
(the old ship which is sinking fast)	or, xip ajoma fi divocez spidoma
· to speak, talkative, to fear, timid	piz, pizixa, firiz, firixa

Top	Last revised: 14 October 2006

Gilo - International Auxiliary Language

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