So far, we can only say pretty boring stuff. Yes, Ian went to the store. Yippee. Let’s mix it up by adding in some color with adjective and adverbs.
An adjective modifies a noun or pronoun. For example, “blue” is an adjective, and we could use it on a noun to say “blue horse.”
An adverb modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb. “Slowly” is an example of an adverb, and we can use it on a verb to say something like “runs slowly.” (Or even add in another adverb, “really,” to modify “slowly.” Then we can say “runs really slowly!”)
Let’s try it!
The blue horse runs slowly in the yard.
Okay, so let’s break this down. What are these different types of words?
| The | blue | horse | runs | slowly | in | the | yard. |
| Article (definite article) | Adjective | Noun (being used as the subject) | Verb (present tense) | Adverb (modifying a verb) | Preposition | Article (definite article) | Noun (being used as the object of the preposition) |
Let’s start with the adjective, blue. First of all, it’s important to know that most adjectives in Talossan go after the word they’re modifying. So in Talossan, it’d be more like horse blue. Only a few adjectives go in front: the ones that indicate possession (like the word for your) or the ones that indicate how many (like the word for four).
Second of all, we are going to start needing to pay attention to the gender of nouns. If you ever took a language like French or Spanish, you might remember that their nouns all have a gender. Every noun is either masculine or feminine. Even words like “table” have a grammatical gender — la maisă is the word for “table,” and it is feminine.
This is important because adjectives have masculine and feminine forms, and you need to use the right form! If you’re talking about an old table, you need to use the right form of the word for “old.” You can say la maisă vell… you must say la maisă veă!
Okay, let’s get back to that blue horse! Let’s hit up L’Översteir and look up the noun. Click that little book icon and check out all of the different forms.
So the word for horse, aic, is a masculine noun. We need to remember that. In Talossan, you don’t really know a word unless you know its gender.
Now, the word for blue.
Okay, so we need to pick the right number and gender. It’s one blue horse, so we want the singular form. And aic is masculine, so we need the masculine singular: bléu.
When we put those together, remember our first adjective rule: it goes after the noun or pronoun! It’s aic bléu. If we include the definite article for “the” in front, then it’s l’aic bléu.
Take a moment and figure out what you’d say for more than one blue horse; translate “the blue horses.” Make sure you include the article for “the.”
Answer
| It’s els aici bléux! |
Did you get it?
Let’s take a look at our sentence so far.
| The | blue horse | runs | slowly | in | the | yard. |
| Article (definite article) | Adjective and a noun (being used as the subject) | Verb (present tense) | Adverb (modifying a verb) | Preposition | Article (definite article) | Noun (being used as the object of the preposition) |
| (It’s l’, but it’s attached to the noun) | L’aic bléu |
Let’s take a quick moment and fill in the word for “runs.” What’s the present singular form of “run?” Look it up!
| The | blue horse | runs | slowly | in | the | yard. |
| Article (definite article) | Adjective and a noun (being used as the subject) | Verb (present tense) | Adverb (modifying a verb) | Preposition | Article (definite article) | Noun (being used as the object of the preposition) |
| (It’s l’, but it’s attached to the noun) | L’aic bléu | coria |
Okay, now it’s time for our adverb, “slowly.”
Adverbs are pretty simple, fortunately. They mostly work the same as in English. When we look up “slowly,” we find that it’s translated as bielplanc.
One side note: just like in English, it’s common to make adjectives into adverbs. It’s pretty easy: you just add “-mint” onto the feminine form of an adjective. You can even use this to make synonyms, depending on the kind of meaning you want. We have translated “slowly” into bielplanc, for example, but maybe we want to imply that this is a pretty lazy horse. We could take the adjective “lint” instead, which means sluggish, and make it into an adverb lintmint.
Okay, so all that’s left is our prepositional phrase!
| The | blue horse | runs | slowly | in | the | yard. |
| Article (definite article) | Adjective and a noun (being used as the subject) | Verb (present tense) | Adverb (modifying a verb) | Preposition | Article (definite article) | Noun (being used as the object of the preposition) |
| (It’s l’, but it’s attached to the noun) | L’aic bléu | coria | bielplanc |
If you check out the Resources page of this site, you’ll find a short list of some of the most common prepositions. Take a look there now, and find “in.”
Answer
| It’s in! Wow, that one’s easy to remember! |
Our last bit is the object of our preposition. Go ahead and go back to L’Översteir and look up the word for “yard.” Be careful… there’s more than one! You need to choose the right meaning.
Did you get it?
Answer
| The | blue horse | runs | slowly | in | the | yard. |
| Article (definite article) | Adjective and a noun (being used as the subject) | Verb (present tense) | Adverb (modifying a verb) | Preposition | Article (definite article) | Noun (being used as the object of the preposition) |
| (It’s l’, but it’s attached to the noun) | L’aic bléu | coria | bielplanc | in | la | cură. |
Great work! How did you do? Are you ready for the next lesson?
FURTHER PRACTICE
The foolish horse walked slowly in the massive stadium.
Answers
| Words to translate | The | foolish horse | walked | slowly | in | the | massive stadium |
| Hint | Article (definite article) | Noun and adjective (check genders!) | Verb (past tense) | Adverb | Preposition | Article (definite article) | Noun and adjective (check genders!) |
| Bigger hint | Same as before! | The word for horse is masculine, so you need the masculine singular form of the word for “foolish.” | You need the third-person singular form in the past tense. | Same as before! | Same as before! | It’s included in the dictionary definition for “stadium.” | The word for stadium is masculine, so you need the masculine singular form of the word for “massive.” |
| Answer | (l’ is attached to its noun). | L’aic calucjeu | marscheva | lintmint | in | el | stadiüm maßiveu. |