Adjectives in Brithenig

Adjectives agree with their nouns in gender and number. Plural adjectives take the spirant mutation to agree with plural nouns. Feminine adjectives take the soft mutation when following feminine nouns.

Adjectives tend to follow the noun. Only the adjectives bon, good, and mal, bad, can be used without any uncertainty before a noun.

When an adjective precedes a noun it has a figurative rather than a literal meaning. This effects only a couple of adjectives: pobr, poor, has the meaning of `destitute' after the noun, but `unfortunate' when it comes before the noun. Likewise with gran, big, large, when it precedes the noun it means importance, not size:

Yn gran of a great man Yn of gran a big man Yn gran ddiwrn a great day

Note that the initial consonant undergoes softening after a preceding adjective.

Sul can come before or after the noun with a difference in meanings. After the noun it means 'lonely', yn blenhin sul, a lonely child. Before a noun, it means 'only', yn sul blenhin, `an only child'.

Brithenig can use an adjective as a noun by putting an article in front of it. It then refers to an object that has that quality: ill rhys, the red one; llo phog, the little ones.

For a comparative of an adjective, Brithenig puts the words ply, more and min, less before an adjective, with the spirant mutation of the initial consonant of the following adjective. 'Than' is translated as ca: ply h-allt ca yn gas, taller than a house.

The superlative is formed by putting the definate article suitable for the gender of the noun before the comparative adjective: ill ply h-allt, the tallest. When a noun is qualified, the definate article goes in front of the noun, replacing yn: lla gas bly h-allt, the tallest house. It is omitted if the noun is proceeded by a possessive pronoun:

ill llifr ci es sew ober feilwr di llo this book is his best work

mew ffradr maer my older/oldest brother

Following a superlative the preposition di is used:

ill tyr ci es ill ply hallt di lla giwdad this tower is the tallest in the city

If this is getting too complicated then the suffix -isaf, very can replace the superlative sometimes: lla giwdad ci es felisaf this city is very beautiful

Certain adjectives are irregular:

bon good myliwr better mal bad puir worse gran big maer bigger pog little min less mal badly pui worse (adverb) ben well myl better (adverb)

The superlative form of these adjectives is the comparative form with the definate article, as per usual.

Most adverbs are derived from adjectives by adding the ending -fent. In spoken Brithenig this is usually pronounced `fen' but the t is still written:

bel, beautiful -> belfent, beautifully.

Adverbs cause soft mutation on following words.