The adjectives are marked as such with an adjectival suffix: –vi/-wi/-vü/-wü (the w comes after velar consonants, back vowels and „a“, the ü if the previous vowel was rounded). In some cases, the ending is -wmi/ü or -wbi/wbü (due to the switching of bw and mw). For possessive adjectives, the endings are -ni/-nü.
Adjectival categories
Medzor adjectives are inflected to number and gradation.
Number
The number of adjectives is marked with the use of the plural stem:
SIN *simi → BS sími – new (sg) → PS simivi – new (pl)
SIN *kaneg → BS kaňvi – golden (sg) → PS kanegwi – golden (pl)
Adjectives agree in number with the noun they modify.
Gradation
Adjectives are gradated with the highlighted stem. There is no distinction between comparative and superlative, the meaning comes from the context and the syntactical construction used.
džedvi - small, ekšadvi - smaller, smallest
For comparison, put the other noun to the accusative (the suffix is governed by the gender of the compared noun) and place it between the compared noun and the adjective:
mür žerše ekšadviše - the rabbit is smaller than the dragon
For superlative, the other noun is put into the -ř locative:
žer äšeř aldžévika - the dragon is the biggest of animals
Possessive adjectives
Possessive adjectives are formed with the suffix -ni/-nü (which causes voicing of the previous consonant).
pücöc zurgnülü - king's palace (lü is the agreement suffix)
pücöc elnili - sister's palace
pücöc elnili zurgnülü - king's sister's palace
In cascading possessives, the adjectives are placed after each other accordingly.
Locatives as adjectives
A noun or a nominal phrase in the locative case can work as adjectives in a sentence: They can be placed in attributive or predicative position. (If they are placed in a adverbial position, i.e. between the object phrase and the verb, they work as adverbs.)
Agreements
An adjective in an attributive position takes on the same case suffix as the noun it modifies (placed after the adjectival suffix). If the noun is the subject, it takes the subject suffix even if it has been ommited from the noun. The adjective follows the noun.
Mür džedviže vöčö. The small rabbit sleeps.
Lena leska edzvika. Lena is a beautiful woman.
Elsi adžeriřli šäňše. The woman in the window sings.
In predicative function, an adjective takes the copula accusative suffix.
Lena edzvika. Lena is beautiful.
Lena adrekiřli. Lena is at the door.
Adjectival phrases
Adjectival phrases, apart from adjectives, may also include nouns in genitive or locative case or adverbs and use the agreement suffix on the last member only (ie. use the suffix as a clitic). The members in the phrase have to be ordered in such a way, that the semantics are preserved and modifiers follow the members they modify.
Uftösöc riznevi läňvi ifkakiřo. The castle is old, big and in the mountains.
Please note the word läň (big) cannot be interpreted as a modifier of the word ifkak (mountains), as in that case, the adjective would have to follow the noun and include the locative suffix:
Uftösöc riznevi ifkakiř läňviřo. The castle is old and in the big mountains.
If there is an embedded adjectival phrase in an adjectival phrase, then the suffixes in that phrase can be used as clitics as well:
Uftösöc riznevi ifkakiř möktövü läňviřo. The castle is old and in the big icy mountains.
The subphrase is delimited by the two -iř suffixes (one of the noun and the other on the last member of the subphrase. From that, the listener knows, that möktövü also modifies ifkakiř. The main adjectival phrase begins with the first adjective after the noun and ends with the -ka suffix expressing the predicative function.
In copula sentences, there may be distinct adjective phrases for the predicate and for the attribute. In that case, each of the phrases has its own clitical suffix:
Uftösöc riznevili ifkakiř möktövü läňviřo. The old castle is in the big icy mountains.