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:

blus, v.r.s.tied into bundle; pulled vigorously; grabbed.
a
mla
a
a
See also:
cheleld, v.r.s.knocked out of breath.
a
mla
el
el
me
ng
a
mo
a
See also:
chelert, v.r.s.defecated on.
a
mla
er
a
er
See also:
selers, v.r.s.fenced in; enclosed.
a
mla
a
See also:
telkool, v.r.s.(person) holding something in open palms.
a
See also:
ulebangel, v.r.s.interrupted; half; (something which) did not survive.
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:

berekedall, v.a.s.is to be pasted or glued onto; is to be leaned against.
a
el
a
er
See also:
bsusall, v.a.s.is to be expanded or made to swell.
a
el
a
See also:
chederedall, v.a.s.are to be put together or into order; are to be arranged.
See also:
debekill, v.a.s.is to be cursed.
a
el
er
el
el
a
See also:
iuekill, v.a.s.is to be surrounded by.
a
el
a
er
a
See also:
ngesekill, v.a.s.is to be divided, separated or moved out of the way; (wood) is to be removed from fire.
a
a
mo
See also:
otekuul, v.a.s.is to be held in lap; (house) is to be supported (by foundation; etc.).
a
el
a
a
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
kodalldeath.diak a kodelleleternal; everlasting.
mechasold woman; titled woman; foreign woman; male's father's sisters; girlfriend; wife.mechasget blackened with soot or ink; (pot) get burned or discolored.
bukcorner; angle; joint; node.bkebkuulhaving many nodes; rough-edged; (shin of leg) have bumpy surface.
tebullswelling; earth mound.tebullswelling; earth mound.
kudlouse.kdaolinfested with lice.
tangtikebikelsee-saw; teeter-totter.tangtikebikelsee-saw; teeter-totter.
martilionghammer.martiliongclumsy; ungraceful; untalented; (person) blunt or hard-hitting (in his words).

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
olsiich
er
a
: Palauan of olsiich er a rengul'>
er
a
take pleasure in someone else's pain, difficulties, problems, etc.
merael
a
: Palauan of merael a rengul'>
a
indecisive.
turk
a
: Palauan of turk a rengul'>
a
turk
melekoi
a
: Palauan of melekoi a rengul'>
a
determined; well-motivated; make rasping or humming sound in the lungs; make humming moise while sleeping; (cat) purr.
tngeklel
a
: Palauan of tngeklel a rengul'>
a
peace offering for someone.
rengul
a
: Palauan of rengul a diokang'>
a
starch.
bliochel
a
: Palauan of bliochel a rengul'>
a
sincere; open-minded.


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