Palauan Language Online: Palauan Adjectives

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:

Someone hides something which results in it being hidden.
- In Palauaun, omart is the verb 'to hide,' and blart is the resulting state verb corresponding to the English adjective hidden.
Someone heats something which results in it being hot.
- In Palauaun, mengeald is the verb 'to heat,' and mekeald is the resulting state verb corresponding to the English adjective hot.

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

blals

, v.r.s.

in debt; punished.

blals a ngar ngii a belsel; blals er a bangk.

See also:

blekesangch

, v.r.s.

forced open; pulled apart by force.
blekesangch a mla obekesangch, obok, mekesengchii a chesimer.

See also:

blodk

, v.r.s.

cut; slit; operated on.
blodk a mla obodk; medkii, omodk, smecher a blodk a delel, bedkel.

See also:

klisem

, v.r.s.

chopped with clam-shell axe.
klisem a ungil el chelduib; mla mekisem; delasech el mo meaiu; sumes a klisem er a ebakl el kim.

See also:

llecholech

, v.r.s.

sawed.
llecholech a mla melecholech; teluk, delebes, luchelechii, lucholech a kerrekar.

See also:

teliakl

, v.r.s.

(cord, etc.) knotted to record date.

See also:

ultitechakl

, v.r.s.

put or pushed aside.

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:

bidall

, v.a.s.

are to be travelled between.
bidall a kirel el oboid; omoid, merael a beluu, midii, bidel

See also:

bsechall

, v.a.s.

(feathers, hair, etc.) is to be plucked.
bsechall a bsuchel, kirel el obusech, ngeuul a bsechel, msechii a malk; musech

See also:

kesekesengall

, v.a.s.

(chant, lullaby, etc.) is to be sung.
kesekesengall a kirel el mekesekes; kosekesengii a ngalek, kesekesengel.

See also:

redall

, v.a.s.

(child) is to be adopted; (pot) is to be lifted from fire.

See also:

sechesechall

, v.a.s.

is to be stuffed; (gun) is to be cocked or set.
sechesechall a kirel mesechesech; locha kelel a boes; melechesech, sochesech a bosir, sechesechel.

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uchelcheball

, v.a.s.

(cooking food) is to be covered with leaf; bag; etc.

See also:

uksecherall

, v.a.s.

is to be made sick.
uksecherall a kirel el muksecher; meksecherii; diak el uksecherall a chad me a charem le ng mekull.

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_Noun	Engish_Noun	Palauan_Adj	English_Adj
baiking	disease; germs.	baiking	(person) unsanitary/unhygienic (in one's habits).
chemaiong	dragonfly.	chemaiong	prone to moving from one boyfriend or girlfriend to another.
dechudech	dirt; mud; patching material; filling (for cavity).	dechudech	dirt; mud; patching material; filling (for cavity).
baiking	disease; germs.	baiking	disease; germs.
ngul	asthma.	ngul	asthma.
chemars	leak (in something like a boat or a bucket).	chemars	(boat, bucket, etc.) leaky; leaking.
but	genitals; anus; vagina; bottom (surface).	bekebut	(woman) having large buttocks or vagina; (man) having large buttocks.

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:

Palauan	English
ngodech er a rengul	find something strange, different or suspicious.
cheremremangel a rengul	greedy; stingy.
ouuchel er a rengul	regret.
telecherakl a rengul	stubborn; obsessed; determined.
mengedidai er a rengul	act stubbornly, scornfully or condescendingly.
mechas a rengul	be surprised at.
chetellaok a rengul	chetellaok