Adjectives.
Adjectives are regularly formed by prefixing ke-, ki-, or kā- to the root, and do not change for gender, number, or case. Thus, from the root mē, “to be good,” we have kemē, “good”; hēlō, “distance,” kāhēlō, “far off”; dòk, “to have savour,” kedòk, “savoury”; hō, “to be bitter,” kehō, “bitter”; lòk, “to be white,” kelòk, “white”; rī, “to be rich,” kirī, “rich.” Ke- and ki- are generally used with monosyllables, kā- with longer words; kā- with ing- forms kàng.
The form of the adjective is precisely the, same as that of the present participle of the verbal root, used to form the present tense, and also as that of the infinitive or abstract of that root, and the collocation of the sentence alone determines the meaning of the word used. When particles of comparison or other modifying elements are added to the adjective, the prefix kē- etc. is often dropped as unnecessary; thus—
- kelòk, “white”; lòk-hik, “whitish.”
- kemē, “good”; mē-mū, “better”; mē-nē, “best.”
- keding, “tall”; ding-mū, “taller.”
But kàngtui, “high”; kàngtui-mū, “higher”; kàngtui-nē, “highest.”
Comparison is effected by means of the postpositions āpār and āphàn; “his brother is taller than his sister,” ā-tē āpār (or āphàn) ā-kòr ding-mū.
Adjectives commonly follow the noun qualified; when they precede, the construction corresponds to what in Aryan languages would be indicated by the relative pronoun (see below, p. [80]).