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Palauan Adjectives

The following is a brief discussion about Palauan adjectives. For a longer exploration, please refer to discussions of state verbs in the Joseph Handbooks. According to the official Lewis Joseph grammar book of Palauan, there are no Palauan parts of speech called adjectives. However, Palauan does, of course, have words used to describe other words. In English, we call these words adjectives. Examples of English adjectives are dangerous, beautiful, and hot.

Palauan Resulting State Verbs

In Palauan, words corresponding to English adjectives are called state verbs. There are several types of Palauan state verbs. The most common are resulting state verbs which occur as a result of a verb. Some examples:

Here is a list of seven random Palauan verbs and their resulting state verbs:

bliich, v.r.s.sifted; filtered.
a
See also:
chelebangel, v.r.s.facing towards (at close range); (person) faced with (problems, etc.); (person) looking forward to expecting (future event) (and having to deal with it).
a
a
See also:
nglubet, v.r.s.(clothes etc.) taken off; pulled out; freed; absolved.
a
mla
a
er
a
See also:
telau, v.r.s.heated/cooked lightly; heated so as to become bendable; rubbed; massaged.
a
mla
a
a
er
a
See also:
teleketokel, v.r.s.constructed; assembled.
a
See also:
telngot, v.r.s.(food) obtained, sought or foraged on.
a
mla
a
See also:
ulteremed, v.r.s.pressed down; crushed.
a
mla
el
a
See also:

 

Palauan Anticipating State Verbs

Anticipating state verbs in Palauan are like resulting state verbs. However, instead of describing the state of something after a verb has modified it, these describe the state of something before a verb is anticipated to modify it. Here's seven random Anticipating State Verbs:

chediball, v.a.s.is to be carved, whittled or seduced by flattery.
a
el
a
a
a
a
See also:
chiutekill, v.a.s.is to be wrung out or twisted.
a
el
a
See also:
ngesekill, v.a.s.is to be divided, separated or moved out of the way; (wood) is to be removed from fire.
a
a
mo
See also:
ngodechel, v.a.s.is to be changed.
See also:
ochebiil, v.a.s.is to be deflected or avoided; (teeth of saw) are to be restored.
a
el
er
er
er
a
See also:
odeleball, v.a.s.is to be dipped into water.
a
er
a
er
a
See also:
rekemall, v.a.s.is to be broken into pieces or smaller denomination; (money) is to be exchanged.
See also:

 

State Verbs with Related Nouns

In English, a common thing to do is to ask 'how XXXX is something,' where XXXX is an adjective. For example, 'how hot is that,' or 'how dangerous is that,' are common English expressions.

This is true in Palauan as well in a form like, 'ng uangarang a kleldelel,' which translates literally perhaps to something like, 'it is like what, its heat,' or figuratively as, 'how hot is it.' The word kleldelel is a possessed noun meaning 'its heat.' See the nouns page for a longer explanation of possessed nouns.

Many of these Palauan nouns have related state verbs which translate to, and are used as, English adjectives. Here is a list of seven random Palauan nouns along with their corresponding state verbs.

Palauan_NounEngish_NounPalauan_AdjEnglish_Adj
uloechspear(?).uloech(person) in a hurry to go somewhere.
bausmell; odor; scent.bekebausmell of vagina.
kobesossea horse.kobesossea horse.
mechasold woman; titled woman; foreign woman; male's father's sisters; girlfriend; wife.mechascoconut at later stage (between medecheduch and metau) when shell blackens and husk turns yellowish brown.
bausmell; odor; scent.bekebau(cooked meat or fish, cooking pot, etc.) foul-smelling.
mbesaoldrool; spittle.mbesaol(person) drooling (a lot).
chaseborash.chasebohaving rash or prickly heat.

Reng Idioms as Adjectives

There are many Palauan expressions which use a state verb to describe the Palauan word reng which means spirit or heart. These are idioms which mean their literal and figurative meanings are not the same. Typically, but not always, the figurative meaning describes an emotion. An example is kesib a reng, which literally means a sweaty heart but figuratively it means to be angry. Here is a list of seven random examples of these reng idioms:

PalauanEnglish
chebosech
a
: Palauan of chebosech a rengul'>
a
boring; dull; poor at speaking.
beltik
a
: Palauan of beltik a rengul'>
a
betik a rengul
ongemengemek
a
: Palauan of ongemengemek a rengul'>
a
ongemengemek
mengelengalek
a
: Palauan of mengelengalek a rengul'>
a
(person) mean-spirited; unfriendly; unpleasant; nasty; vengeful.
bebeot
a
: Palauan of bebeot a rengul'>
a
rather undecided about something; not taking something too seriously.
kekere
a
: Palauan of kekere a rengul'>
a
uncomfortable; impatient.
ouuchel
er
a
: Palauan of ouuchel er a rengul'>
er
a
regret.


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