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Hylian Adjectives


taktEn hilanan

Taktën Hilanan

    Adjectives are words that describe nouns or pronous. They give some kind of information about the modified word. Adjectives also follow a regular pattern. All adjectives have the same ending. However, some words have the same ending as adjectives, but are not adjectives. Some common exceptions will be shown later. Adjectives can come before or after the word they modify, but it is more common to see an adjective come after the noun. Adjectives are the only other part of speech other than nouns that change ending when plural. Adjectives must agree in number with the noun or pronoun they modify; singular words take a singular adjective, and plural words take plural adjectives. The two adjective endings are shown below.
 
Singular Adjectives
Plural Adjectives
=a
-a
All regular singular adjectives have an -a ending. There are some exceptions, but those will be listed later. A singular adjective is used only with a singular noun or singular pronoun.
=an
-an
All regular plural adjectives have an -an ending. There are no exceptions for plural adjectives. A plural adjective is used only with a plural noun or plural pronoun

 


 
Adjective
Noun
Noun-Adjective Phrase
alba
alba
holy
d)gine
dégine
goddess
d)gine alba
dégine alba
holy goddess
alban
alban
holy
d)ginEn
déginën
goddesses
d)ginEn alban
déginën alban
holy goddesses
SPECIAL NOTE: The order of nouns and adjectives in Hylian is fairly loose. They can come either before or after the nouns they modify, but afterward is more common.


Exceptions to the Adjective Rule


Words with an -a ending that are not adjectives
d@a
da.ia
of preposition
dOa
do.ia
from preposition
kwa
kwa
that, which, who relative pronoun
Words that are adjectives, but do not have an -a ending
taz
taz the defininte article, technically an adjective
raz
raz a, an indefininte article, technically an adjective


Demonstrative Adjectives

    A demonstrative adjective is a word that specifies what a noun is. In Enlgish, they are equivalent to "this", "that", etc. These words are always followed by a noun, and always describe a noun, e.g. "this book." Here are the most commonly-used demonstrative adjectives in Hylian:
 
Adjective
Definition
Example
za za this za itsakupande - this encyclopedia
zan zan these zan itsakupandën - these encyclopedias
zata zata that zata itsakupande - that encyclopedia
zatan zatan those zatan itsakupandën - those encyclopedias


Possessive Adjectives

    These adjectives show possession of something. In English, words like "my" and "your" can be pronouns or adjective, depending on context. The same is true in Hylian, this section deals with the adjective form of possessives. Any word can be made into a possessive adjective by adding a simple suffix "-'sa" or "-'san", depending on whether or not the word being modified is plural or singular; these are equivalent to English's use of the apostrophe+s. Please note that when adding this suffix, the stress of the original word is preserved, but there is no written accent mark. Here are some examples:
 
Word
Possessive
Definition
kasuto Kasuto kasuto'sa
kasuto'san
Kasuto'sa
Kasuto'san
Kasuto's
bagu bagu bagu'sa
bagu'san
bagu'sa
bagu'san
my
t@u ta.iu t@u'sa
t@u'san
ta.iu'sa
ta.iu'san
your
nosu nosu nosu'sa
nosu'san
nosu'sa
nosu'san
our
Examples
Singular
Plural
zu t@ras kasuto'sa lErde.
Zu ta.iras Kasuto'sa lërde.
This is Kasuto's book.
ziu t@ras kasuto'san lerdEn.
Ziu ta.iras Kasuto'san lërdën.
These are Kasuto's books.
sEru t@ras bagu'sa pi&ntine.
Sëru ta.iras bagu'sa piántine.
She is my mother.
iru t@ras bagu'san pi&ntinEn.
Iru ta.iras bagu'san piántën.
They are my parents.
Eru t@ras sEru'sa akime.
Ëru ta.iras sëru'sa akime.
He is her friend.
iEru t@ras sEru'san akimEn.
Iëru ta.iras sëru'san akimën.
They are her friends.
IMPORTANT NOTE:When nouns or pronouns are made into possessives, grammatically they become adjectives and behave like adjectives. Kasuto is a noun, but Kasuto'sa is an adjective.


Using Numbers as Adjectives

    Numbers are frequently used as adjectives. They are used when telling the quantity of something, or telling how many things there are. Using a number strictly as and adjective, i.e. as in There are three people here, is stricly a matter of changing the ending of the number.
 
 

Cardinal Numbers

    Cardinal numbers are simple counting numbers, as in one, two, three. In Hylian, the nound forms would be hire, dise, troe. To turn a cardinal number into an adjective, simply change the -e ending to an -a or -an ending, depending on whether or not it's plural. Most of the time, only hire(one) will be used in the singular, and the rest are plural. Please note that in large compound numbers, as in sidëme kose (seventy-four), only the last word in the number changes to an adjective ending, e.g. sidëme kose becomes sidëme kosa.
 

Cardinal Number
Adjective Form
Example
hire
hire
hira
hira
bagu tEnshas hira r;pie.
Bagu tënshas hira rúpie.
I have one rupee.
hEnte
hënte
hEntan
hëntan
sEru koemes ab hentan pakstEn.
Sëru koemes ab hëntan pakstën.
She ate six pastries.
DEme onte
dëme onte
dEme ontan
dëme ontan
siEru tEnSas ab dEme ontan r;piEn.
Siëru tënshas ab dëme ontan rúpiën.
They have eighteen rupees.

Ordinal Numbers

    An ordinal number is used to tell the rank or position of something in a list or group. It is equivalent to English's use of words like first, second, third, fourth, fifth and so on. In Hylian, ordinal numbers are formed by taking the word base (e.g., the word base of hire is hir) and adding -ashe for the noun form or -asha for the adjective form. Here are some examples:
 

Normal
Base
Noun Form
Adjective Form
hire
hire
hir=
hir-
hiraSe
hirashe
hiraSa
hirasha
dEme
dëme
dEm=
dëm-
dEmaSe
dëmashe
dEmaSa
dëmasha

 
Examples
Singular
Plural
zatu t@ras taz kosaSa lErde kwa bagu katabes.
Zatu ta.iras taz koshasa lërde kwa bagu katabes.
That is the fourth book (that) I wrote.
iEru t@res taz hiraSan hitEn kwa vies ak hirule.
Iëru ta.iras taz hirashan hitën kwa vies ak hirule.
They are the first people that went to Hyrule.


Predicate Adjectives

    A predicate adjective describes the subject of a sentence, linked to the subject with a linking verb (such as "to be" in English). Like simple noun-adjective phrases, the predicate adjective must agree with the subject in number. The subject could be a simple noun, a group of nouns, or a pronoun. Here are examples of simple sentences with predicate adjectives.
 
Examples
Singular
Plural
zatu t@ras taz kosaSa lErde kwa bagu katabes.
Zatu ta.iras taz koshasa lërde kwa bagu katabes.
That is the fourth book (that) I wrote.
iEru t@res taz hiraSan hitEn kwa vies ak hirule.
Iëru ta.iras taz hirashan hitën kwa vies ak hirule.
They are the first people that went to Hyrule.

 

Sections Hylian to English