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:

chelsols

, v.r.s.

(chant) sung.
chelsols a mla mechesols; mla mechitakl; choselsii a cheselsel a Oreor, mengesols, cheselsel.

See also:

delibechakl

, v.r.s.

(road, etc.) crossed.
delibechakl a mla medibechakl; rael el diak le melemalt; touchakl er a teballungel; melibechakl el osiiker a kmeed; delibechakl el rael.

See also:

klengoes

, v.r.s.

(odoim or rice) cooked/boiled in water.
klengoes a ulekmark el odoim; mla mesengoes a klengoes, smongoes, melengoes, sengosel.

See also:

selab

, v.r.s.

snapped or pecked at.
selab a klebungl er ngii; mesab er a kall; sobngii, suab, bilis a selab er a kelel, sebngel; seleches.

See also:

selechesokl

, v.r.s.

(distance) jumped.
selechesokl a mla mesechesokl; mla sucheseklii; mla ridekeklii; silchesokl er ngii; melechesokl.

See also:

uldum

, v.r.s.

made to appear.

uldum a mla modum; ulecholt, ngalek a uldum a bdelul er a daob; mla tmoech; odmii, odum, sils a uldum; odmil.

See also:

uliisech

, v.r.s.

shown; instructed.
uliisech a mla moisech; ulecholt a ildisel; oliisech er a blai; urrereel a rael a uliisech.

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:

chideball

, v.a.s.

is to be hung onto with hands.
chideball a kirel el mechidobel, chimal a chedam a chideball er a rengelekel, choidebelii er a demal, mengidobel, chidebelel.

See also:

dedungall

, v.a.s.

is to be tattoed.

See also:

kesadel

, v.a.s.

is to be decreased or reduced.

See also:

ochisall

, v.a.s.

is to be chased away.

See also:

semikel

, v.a.s.

is to be husked by hand.
semikel a kirel el mesamk; mengai a semkel; kukau a semikel; semikel a klalo el betok a semkel; semsemikel.

See also:

tematel

, v.a.s.

is to be straightened up.
tematel a smechekill; kirel el metamet; tometii a rengul; tuamet a chebirukel; temetel a cheldecheduch.

See also:

udidall

, v.a.s.

is to be bridged.
udidall a kirel el mudid; loia did er ngii; omdid er a toachelmid; mdidar, omoachel a udidal a delebechel er a didall.

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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
chermall	hibiscus (bark used as a rope; leaves used as mulch for taro).	chermall	hibiscus (bark used as a rope; leaves used as mulch for taro).
bisech	wild taro (makes mouth itchy).	bisech	fish with black and yellow stripes (makes mouth itchy).
bisech	wild taro (makes mouth itchy).	bisech	(person) easily aroused sexually.
cherou	white mushroom; white scar.	cherou	white mushroom; white scar.
chasebo	rash.	chasebo	having rash or prickly heat.
dechudech	dirt; mud; patching material; filling (for cavity).	dechudech	dirty; muddy.
uid	fruit that has fallen off the tree on its own.	udall	is to be glued or pasted.

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
mengedecheduch er a rengul	think; say to oneself.
beltik a rengul	betik a rengul
mimokl a rengul	broad-minded.
belengel a rengul	astonishment/amazement.
kedidai a rengul	stubborn; scornful; condescending.
ralmetaoch a rengul	insensitive; not easily affected; easygoing; casual; prone to avoiding responsibility.
mellomes a rengul	smart; diligent.