Pig Latin/Lessons/4: Basic Adjectives

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

1. kōikāy: quick(ly)
2. loōusāy: slow(ly)
3. iklāy: likely
4. ivlāy: lively
5. uvlāy: lovely
6. uglīāy: ugly
7. ōuelāy: well
8. dedāy: deathly/is dead
9. mārtsāy: smart(ly)
10. umbdāy: dumb(ly)
11. āmunkāy: common(ly)
12. rēkōentfāy: frequent(ly)
13. ēungāy: young(ly)
14. oldāy: old(ly)
15. uťrāy: other
16. hī: high(ly)
17. lo: low(ly)
18. ratgāy: great(ly)
19. igbāy: big
20. malsāy: small
21. importāntāy: important(ly)
22. ēlrāy: real(ly)
23. estbāy: best
24. ītrāy: right
25. 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:

1. uvlay
2. ilkayu
3. unrō
4. ītfāyā
5. dīiāyui

Don't scroll down any further 'til you answer the above questions!

Answers I

1. uvlāy
2. iklāy
3. unrāy
4. ītfāy
5. dīāy

Descriptions

Use what you know to describe the below, in as much detail as possible, and full sentences where you can:

1. A good student.
2. That student's mother and/or father.
3. What this student does in their spare time.
4. What the nerd student wants to be.
5. 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:

1. ēungey, kōikey, uvley, mārtsey
2. oldāy, igbāy, dedāy
3. rēkōentfāy, ilkayi, ētō
4. oldāy, ratgāy, mārtsāy, estbāy
5. ēungāy, umbdāy, ivlāy