Quick links:

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:

blechoel, v.r.s.connected with a joint; always; do habitually; invariably do.
a
mla
di
er
er
a
bek
el
See also:
chelub, v.r.s.(person) given gift or bribed; (thing) given as a gift.
See also:
rrodech, v.r.s.tried or aimed at blindly; tricked into giving information.
a
mla
mla
See also:
rrot, v.r.s.pounded; smashed; crushed.
a
mla
a
er
a
See also:
seluk, v.r.s.put, packed or stuffed into.
a
er
a
mla
a
a
er
a
See also:
uldalem, v.r.s.(weapon) aimed; focused on or at.
a
mla
el
a
el
a
er
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:

ngemekill, v.a.s.is to be climbed on.
See also:
ochiuall, v.a.s.is to be put to sleep.
See also:
odeleball, v.a.s.is to be dipped into water.
a
er
a
er
a
See also:
osiaol, v.a.s.(drawer, suitcase, etc.) is to be closed; (clothes) are to have seam sewn; (fire) is to be fed.
See also:
otungall, v.a.s.is to be made to enter or to put into.
a
el
a
a
See also:
riokel, v.a.s.is to be swept.
a
el
a
a
a
a
See also:
techerekill, v.a.s.is to be hung on a hook or unloaded with a winch.
a
el
er
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
mongkcomplaint; criticism.bekemongkalways complaining.
H.O.(abbrev.) Babeldaob (used pejoratively).H.O.unexperienced in Western ways; ignorant of modern conveniences.
olechutellarge bamboo raftolechutellarge bamboo raft
chiukl(singing) voice.cheiukl(person) having a good singing voice.
chudelgrass.chudelgreen jobfish.
chimhand; arm; front paws (of animal); help; assistance; manual labor; person sent to help.chimhand; arm; front paws (of animal); help; assistance; manual labor; person sent to help.
chetbaelelephantiasis.chetbaelelephantiasis.

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
melemedem
er
a
: Palauan of melemedem er a rengul'>
er
a
cool down one's anger.
meduch
a
: Palauan of meduch a rengul'>
a
hard-working; conscientious; strong-willed; persevering.
mereng
er
a
: Palauan of mereng er a rengul'>
er
a
please; go along with (so as not to hurt feelings).
klou
er
a
: Palauan of klou er a rengul'>
er
a
determined.
kesib
a
: Palauan of kesib a rengul'>
a
angry.
sengok
a
: Palauan of sengok a rengul'>
a
curious.
omult
er
a
: Palauan of omult er a rengul'>
er
a
convince; persuade.


Fatal error: Uncaught mysqli_sql_exception: Table 'belau.log_bots' doesn't exist in /home/johnbent/tekinged.com/functions.php:520 Stack trace: #0 /home/johnbent/tekinged.com/functions.php(520): mysqli_query(Object(mysqli), 'INSERT INTO log...') #1 /home/johnbent/tekinged.com/functions.php(1838): visitlog(NULL) #2 /home/johnbent/tekinged.com/grammar/adjectives.php(109): belau_footer('/grammar/adject...') #3 {main} thrown in /home/johnbent/tekinged.com/functions.php on line 520