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:

chelimetemet, v.r.s.(hand) closed to make fist; crushed into ball.
a
mla
le
a
a
See also:
chelmekl, v.r.s.(person) stubborn, persistent, determined, etc.
a
mla
a
el
a
See also:
cheltinget, v.r.s.(pipe, etc.) blocked up.
a
a
mla
el
See also:
ulchero, v.r.s.(turtle) turned face up; (clothes) turned inside out.
See also:
ulsiaol, v.r.s.(drawer, suitcase, etc.) closed; (clothes) have seam sewn; (fire) fed; (people) incited to fight.
a
sei
el
mo
er
a
el
mo
a
tet
a
er
a
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:

besechall, v.a.s.is to be broken open, postponed, contradicted or opposed.
a
a
el
mo
er
a
er
a
mo
er
a
See also:
odngelall, v.a.s.is to be visited.
a
el
a
a
See also:
sedomel, v.a.s.is to be propositioned or proposed.
a
See also:
songesongel, v.a.s.(coconut tree) is to be tapped for sap.
See also:
tbochel, v.a.s.is to be masturbated.
See also:
temetamel, v.a.s.(land etc.) is to be cleared.
a
a
el
a
See also:
utichioll, v.a.s.is to be changed, replaced or succeeded.
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
chemadechcoconut sap.chemadech (plant) unripe or green; (food) raw or uncooked; be in full standing position when dancing; brand new.
burachedskin disease in which white spots spread over body.burachedskin disease in which white spots spread over body.
tutaumorning; this morning.tutauPalau morning bird.
teberoishin; (large, triangle-shaped) coconut candy.teberoibow-legged.
chadman; person; human being; living being; someone; somebody; anyone; anybody.chadliver.
idokeldirtiness; filthiness.idokeldirtiness; filthiness.
uidglue; resin; fuel for lamp.muduidsticky; adhesive.

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
chelemekl
a
: Palauan of chelemekl a rengul'>
a
(person) holding a grudge; (person) strong, stubborn, persistent, determined.
ngmasech
a
: Palauan of ngmasech a rengul'>
a
get angry.
merusech
a
: Palauan of merusech a rengul'>
a
repentant.
belalk
a
: Palauan of belalk a rengul'>
a
feel shame/fright.
blekebek
a
: Palauan of blekebek a rengul'>
a
pleasant/nice (in personality); congenial.
cheberdil
a
: Palauan of cheberdil a rengul'>
a
object of one's feelings/affections.
merirem
er
a
: Palauan of merirem er a rengul'>
er
a
hurt someone's feelings.


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