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Esperanto ASAP- Chapter 5(1)
^CAPITRO 5 (KVIN) Parto 1

ADJECTIVES : ADJEKTIVOJ


1). Introduction

Adjectives enable us to express much more in Esperanto by qualifying the nouns i.e. telling us something about them. Adjectives take the grammatical ending -a. e.g.





They must always agree with the noun ending :


bon/-a
good
F : bon
grand/-a 
large
verd/-a
green
F : vert
angl/-a
English
E : Anglican 
Noun   
Adjective
-o  
-a
-on
-an 
-oj
-aj 
-ojn  
-ajn
(2). Qualifying and Predicative Adjectives

Adjectives can be used in two ways : qualifying (attached to the noun) or predicative (linked through the verb 'to be'). In either case they must agree with the noun ending e.g.







The fact that the verb 'to be' does not take the accusative gives rise to an interesting difference in meaning in certain sentences. Consider the following :

Petro trovis la bananojn dol^cajn                        (E: treasure trove) 
Petro trovis la bananojn dol^caj                           (I: Dolce Vita) 

In the first the adjective takes the accusative -n and must qualify directly the noun so 'Peter found the sweet bananas'. In the second it is in the nominative as it is being used as a predicative after the (understood but not stated) verb 'to be' i.e.

Petro trovis la bananojn (esti) dol^caj
(Peter found the bananas (to be) sweet)

In the first Peter looked for and found sweet bananas whereas in the second he investigated the bananas and found for himself that they were sweet! The -n ending in Esperanto is very powerful and often makes the meaning crystal clear with no ambiguity whatsoever.

Georgo farbas la domon ru^gan                              (George painted the red house) 
Georgo farbas la domon ru^ga                                (George painted the house (to be) red) 

La verda libro   
The green book

La libro estas verda
The book is green  

La ru^gaj skatoloj
The red boxes
F: rouge
La skatoloj estas ru^gaj
The boxes are red
 
In the first the house starts red - we don't know its final colour. In the second we know it ends up red. The nominative ru^ga is because of the understood (to be).

3). Position of the adjective

In English adjectives usually come before the noun, in French usually after. In Esperanto either position is correct but it is more usual for the adjective to precede its noun. If the adjective is long, however, or two adjectives are used together then a position after the noun is common e.g.

Esperanto estas la lingvo internacia                         Esperanto is the international language                 (E: linguistics)
Ni a^cetis pomojn bonajn kaj ru^gajn                       We bought apples, good and red                             (F: acheter) 

4). Comparison of Adjectives

In English we make the comparative either with the ending -er (e.g. bigger) or using the word 'more' (e.g. more intelligent). Often we can use either (e.g. kinder or more kind) and sometimes the comparative is irregular (e.g. better rather than 'gooder' or 'more good').

In Esperanto comparatives are always (without exception) made using the word pli (more). e.g.



bona
good
pli bona
better
rapida 
fast
pli rapida
faster
utila
useful
pli utila
more useful
The comparative is followed by the word ol for than e.g.

Aeroplano estas pli rapida ol aûto
(A plane is faster than a car)
Li estas pli a^ga ol ^si je 3 jaroj
(He is older than she by 3 years)

The superlative is again in English difficult with either the ending -est (e.g. fastest) or using most (e.g. most difficult). In Esperanto we always use plej often followed by el for 'out of' e.g.

Esperanto estas la plej facila el la lingvoj de la mondo
(Esperanto is the easiest of the languages of the world)    (E: facilitate; F:monde)

5). Endings as an Aid to Clarity

The endings certainly give Esperanto an advantage over English in clarity. Consider the English sentence :
I love my son more than my daughter.

Does this mean :
'I love my son more than I love my daughter' or 'I love my son more than my daughter loves him'

In Esperanto there is no ambiguity as the first is
Mi amas mian filon pli ol (mi amas) mian filinon     (L : amo)
and the second
Mi amas mian filon pli ol mia filino (amas lin)


New Words :
to chase     
^cas/-i 

wall
mur/-o
E : mural
to gain
gajn/-i 

beautiful
bel/-a
F : belle
to hang
pend/-i
E: pendant
black
nigr/-a
E : negro
to jump 
salt/-i
E: somersault
brown
brun/-a
E : brunette
to say, tell
dir/-i
F: dire
first
unu/-a
E : unit, F : un
to work
labor/-i
E: labour
happy
feli^c/-a
E : felicitation
bottle
botel/-o

lazy
pigr-a

cow
bovin/-o
E : bovine
long
long/-a
fox
vulp/-o
E : vulpine
my
mi/-a 
game     
lud/-o
new
nov/-a
E: novel, supernova
picture
bild/-o
G : Bild
Olympic
olimpi/-a
 
page
pa^g/-o

ripe
matur/-a
E : mature
prize 
premi/-o
E : premium
second
du/-a
E : duplicate, I due
room
^cambr/-o
E : chamber, F : chambre
third
tri/-a
E : triangle
dining room
man^go^cambr/-o
'eat-room'
white
blank/-a
F : blanc
medallion
medalion/-o

yellow
flav/-a

story
rakont/-o
E : raconteur
young
jun/-a 
E : juvenile 
telephone
telefon/-o
nine
naû
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