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:
| blidokl | , v.r.s. | cast or tossed (e.g. fishnet); thrown underhand (as in softball); thrown out(side); located far from others (as if tossed away).
|
| chelat | , v.r.s. | smoked (fish).
|
| deleomel | , v.r.s. | (child) spoiled.
|
| kludem | , v.r.s. | placed close together (in space or time).
|
| telekuau | , v.r.s. | carried in cupped hands.
|
| uliit | , v.r.s. | deflected; turned away.
|
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:
| bungall | , v.a.s. | (round object) is to be broken, smashed or shattered; (bomb) is to be exploded. |
| debsechall | , v.a.s. | (conch shell or horn) is to be blown. |
| kedidiull | , v.a.s. | is to be made higher/piled up. |
| odersall | , v.a.s. | is to be lifted up.
|
| techull | , v.a.s. | is to be carried on the head.
|
| tematel | , v.a.s. | is to be straightened up.
|
| ukdektall | , v.a.s. | is to be frightened or scared. |
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 |
| iluodel | stones, coconut shells, or similar objects used as support for cooking pot during serving. | iluodel | (people) sitting, standing or arranged in a circle; (stone platform) built circular. |
| kesai | insufficient quantity. | kesai | insufficient; not enough; few. |
| ongit | act of asking for something. | bekongit | always asking for things. |
| kosui | perfume. | bekekosui | smell strongly of perfume. |
| tangtikebikel | see-saw; teeter-totter. | tangtikebikel | (object) wobbly or in danger of falling over. |
| chuis | worm; maggot. | bederechuis | (starchy food) spoiled (by water); decomposing or moldy. |
| rasech | blood. | rasech | bloody. |
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 |
| melemlim
: Palauan of melemlim a rengul'>
| Curious, prying, snoopy, inquisitive, nosy. |
| dmeu
: Palauan of dmeu a rengul'>
| happy; glad; joyful; appreciative. |
| rengul
: Palauan of rengul a kerrekar'>
| center/core of tree. |
| medecherecher
: Palauan of medecherecher a rengul '>
| stubborn; adamant; not easily swayed. |
| ngemokel
: Palauan of ngemokel a rengul'>
| desirous off; lusting after. |
| omud
: Palauan of omud a rengul'>
| fed up with; exasperated; can't stand. |
| mekikngit
: Palauan of mekikngit a rengul'>
| feel rather sad or sorry about; rather mean or inconsiderate. |
