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:
| chelemekl | , v.r.s. | stuck. chelemekl a diak le mededaes; chomeklii a chimal, mengemekl a tekoi; mengetituokel, chemeklel. |
| See also: |
| delebes | , v.r.s. | cut; snipped. delebes a mla medebes; teluk; delebokl, teluk a ochil, dobesii, duebes, debesel. |
| See also: |
| rringet | , v.r.s. | chewed; crushed. rringet a mla meringet; kelel a rringet, ringetii, reminget. |
| See also: |
| telechelbakl | , v.r.s. | dived into. telechelbakl a mla metechelbakl; te mla melechelbakl er ngii; Ngeremechiuch a techelbeklel. |
| 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:
| oderukill | , v.a.s. | is to be sent. oderukill a kirel el modurokl; odureklii a kall, odurokl a udoud; odureklel. |
| See also: |
| oketmekill | , v.a.s. | is to be arranged or put in a proper place. |
| See also: |
| orsersall | , v.a.s. | is to be drowned or made to sink. orsersall a kirel el morsors, locha er a bertakl; orsersii a mechut el diall, orechorech, orsersel. |
| See also: |
| remachel | , v.a.s. | is to be squeezed (out), grasped or clutched. |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| chedechuul | knack/magical power for doing things; blueprint; plan (for house, bai, etc). | chedechuul | ingenious; clever; inventive. |
| cherou | white mushroom; white scar. | cherou | white mushroom; white scar. |
| cheisech | permanent stain. | cheisech | stained (permanently from betel nut juice; banana juice; etc.). |
| ues | vision; sight; view. | sekoes | perceptive; sharp-minded; acute; sensitive; aware of one's responsibilities or surroundings; capable of looking at something thoroughly or seeing all the angles and possibilities. |
| but | genitals; anus; vagina; bottom (surface). | bekebut | (woman) having large buttocks or vagina; (man) having large buttocks. |
| kesai | insufficient quantity. | kesai | insufficient; not enough; few. |
| ngellokl | nodding; dozing (off). | olengellokl | slow-moving; sluggish. |
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 |
|---|---|
| chelam a rengul | heartbroken. |
| bltkil a rengul | one's affection/concern for. |
| cheberdil a rengul | object of one's feelings/affections. |
| mengeokl er a rengul | burden; bother; cause concern; weigh on. |
| keremerem a rengul | stupid; ignorant. |
| berngel a rengul | anything discouraging to one's spirit. |
| kikiongel a rengul | (person is) obstinate/uncooperative; sullen. |