Niw Englisch/Adjectives

Adjectives in Niw Englisch operate much like they did in Old English and do currently in German.

Inflection

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All adjectives have a strong and weak inflection. The strong inflection occurs when not preceded by a limiting article, while the weak inflection occurs after an article. Predicate Adjectives have no inflection.

Strong Declension
Case/Gender Masculine Neuter Feminine Plural
Nominative - - e e
Genitive es es er er
Dative em em er en
Accusative en - e e

These all can be derived from the Old English forms by weakening the ending vowel to schwa, written as 'e'.

Examples:

  • ic habe strange Wille - I have strong will.
  • wiȝ sind ferr - we are far.
Weak Declension
Case/Gender Masculine Neuter Feminine Plural
Nominative e e e en
Genitive en en en en
Dative en en en en
Accusative en e e en

Example:

  • þat Huus þes alden Werres - the house of the old man
  • þie Farbe þes niwen Autos - the color of the new car
  • þat blæe Auto


Comparison

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In Niw Englisch, comparison is done much like Old English and German. All adjectives take -er and -est in the comparative and superlative. Some one-syllable basic adjectives umlaut in those forms.

  • ald old - ælder, ældest
  • brad broad - bræder, brædest
  • ferr far - fierr, fierrst
  • great great - grietter, griettst
  • ȝong young - ȝœnger, ȝœngst
  • heah high - hierr-, hiehst-
  • lang long - længer, længst
  • schort short - schœrter, schœrtst
  • strang strong - strænger, strængst-

Examples:

  • ic em ælder þonn mein Weif - I am older than my wife
  • Ic em þe ȝœngere Broðer - I am the younger brother
  • þu ert þie ȝœngste Swester - you are the youngest sister.

Phrases

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To say that something is more/less some quality than something else, just use the comparative and the adverb þonn afterwards, followed by the nominative case.

  • Older/Younger Than - ælder/ȝœnger þonn

To say 'far from', use ferr and the noun in the inflected dative, especially for plural nouns:

  • ic wune Byrgen ferr - I live far from cities
  • Mein Broðer is ferr þem Huse - my brother is far from the house.

With pronouns, it is common to use 'fram', but without is perfectly correct:

  • here Herte is ferr fram miȝ - her heart is far from me.

Adjectives with Noun Cases

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Genitive

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  • gewiss - certain
    • gewiss þer Fakte - certain of the facts
  • gewær - aware
    • gewær þer Andsware
  • schyldiȝ - guilty
    • schyldiȝ þes Maanes - guilty of the crime
  • werþ - worthy
    • he is werþ herer Teid - he is worthy of her time