Adjective - IAC

We will discuss about adjectives according to Interlingua Classica grammar.

Points

1. Preface for Adjectives
2. Nominal Agreement for Adjectives
3. Placement of Adjectives
4. Comparative Adjectives
5. Comparative Prepositions
6. Absolute Superlative
7. Special Comparative Vocabulary (Irregular Words)
8. Article + Adjective
9. Adjective as Subject/Object
10. Adjective vs Noun Pairs by Final Syllable Difference
11. Adjective with Final Syllables other than O/A
12. Preface to Adjectival Formation

General View

Adjectives usually have the endings -o and -a. They are inflected according to the gender, number, and case of the noun they modify.

Examples

La flora parva esse bella.

"The little flower is beautiful."

Las floras parvas essen bellas.

"The little flowers are beautiful."

La femina brillianta esse bella.

"The smart woman is beautiful."

Los hominos brilliantos essen bellos.

The smart men are handsome.

Lo libro parvo esse bello.

"The little book is beautiful."

Placement of Adjectives

Adjectives are placed after the nouns like in Romance languages.

Examples

la lingua internationala et las linguas nationalas

"the international language and the national languages"

La vita integra suo esseva rica in alquas viagas longas et brevas.

"His whole life was rich in long and short trips."

Comparatives

The adjectives use plus (more) and li-plus (the most) for positive comparison. They use minus (less) and li-minus (the least) for negative comparison. These comparative modifiers are placed before the adjectives.

Examples

bono -> plus bono -> li-plus bono 'good: better: the best'

bono <- minus bono <- li-minus bono 'good less good: the least good'

interessanto -> plus interessanto -> li-plus interessanto (interesting)

interessanto <- minus interessanto <- li-minus interessanto

Irregular Comparative

Some adjectives have irregular secondary forms and thus you can choose from these options.

Similarly there are in the Interlingua vocabulary a few adjectives which one may wish to regard as synonyms of certain comparative and superlative forms.

Examples

bono -> plus bono -> li-plus bono (regular)

bono -> melioro -> li-melioro (mixed)

bono -> melioro -> optimo (irregular)

"good, better, best"

malo <- plus malo <- li-plus malo (regular)

malo <- pejoro <- li-pejoro (mixed)

malo <- pejoro <-  pessimo (irregular)

"bad, worse, worst"

Comparative Phrases

We use quye (than) + phrase or de (of) + noun to compare one thing to another.

Examples

La historia ista esse minus interessanta quye illa.

"This story is less interesting than that story."

La historia ista esse li-minus interessanta dos duos.

"This story is the less interesting of the two."

Equal Comparison

We use tante + adjective + come to describe that nouns are equal in a certain quality.

Examples

Un homino esse tante bono come un altero.

"One man is as good as another."

La flora ista esse tante bella come la flora illa.

"This flower is as beautiful as that flower."

Absolute Superlative

We use this superlative to express "super", "terribly" , etc. This is an emphatic version of the superlative. We use adjective + -issimo/-issima to form this phrase. We can also use forti + adjective as modifier. We can use noun + multo emphatic as modifier.

Examples

La replica suo esseva un nono multi emphatico.

"His reply was a very emphatic no."

La replica suo esseva un nono emphatichissimo.

"His reply was a most emphatic no."

Ille parla in una maniera forti interessanta.

"He talks in a very interesting fashion."