Chapter 3: Adjectives, Numerals and Quantifiers
Position of adjectives
The normal position of adjectives is following the noun, i.e. like French, but unlike English and German:
tíg nauith [teeg now-ith] |
a new house |
ar skol vár [urr skoll vaar] |
the big school |
Sequences of adjectives usually appear in the reverse order to English:
bus rúth már [booss rooth maar] |
a big red bus |
Adjective modifiers
Some common adjective modifiers are:
ion |
very |
mer |
so |
ec |
quite |
rá |
too |
sá |
rather |
dochan |
enough |
Adjectives that come before the noun
Some adjectives regularly precede the noun. The most common examples are:
gog° |
every |
prív° [pree] |
main |
han° |
old |
ulla° |
all |
únig° |
only |
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gog °beth ar dhouan every part of the world
ar prív-rád the main road
The interrogative adjective piag which? precedes the noun:
Piag °díg bidhes ti'n penni?
[pyagg dee bi- thess teen penny]
Which house will you buy?
Adjectives that precede the noun cause mutation of the noun:
han °dhín [han theen] an old man
ulla °bobul [ooll-uh bobble] all people
Note that adjectives in Pictish do not change form regardless of gender and number, except, as noted before, adjectives following feminine singular nouns undergo mutation:
burth |
table (m) |
burth már |
a big table |
burthai |
tables |
burthai már |
big tables |
skol |
school (f) |
skol vár |
a big school |
skolai |
schools |
skolai már |
big schools |
Comparison of adjectives
The comparative of an adjective is formed by using mui more and muia most:
Es he mui han na mi
[ess hay mwee han nuh mee]
He is older than me
Ak es hi'r muia han
[ack dah heer mwee-uh han]
But she is the oldest
Equative adjectives (as ... as ...)
As ... as ... is expressed by go ... áa
go már á athíg as big as a house
go ugil á nev as high as heaven
Possessive adjectives
Possessive adjectives precede the noun, and the singulars cause mutation of one sort or another:
ma °díg my house
ta °vát your boat
The list of possessive adjectives is as follows:
maa |
my |
oin |
our |
ta° |
your |
oigh |
your |
é°
ía |
his
her |
oi |
their |
To say 'it is yours', 'the house is mine', etc, the adjective is preceded by the complement marker on:
es he/hi on da it is yours
es ar tíg on va the house is mine
es ar gath on é the cat is hers
roth ar tíg nán on oi that house was theirs
Demonstrative adjectives
In Pictish this ... is phrased as the ... here and that ... as the ... there. The definite article is placed before the noun and either nó here or nán there after it:
ar líver nó this book (lit. the book here)
ar líver nán that book (lit. the book there)
This same system works for the plurals these and those:
ar lívrai nó these books
ar lívrai nán those books
Numbers and Quantifiers
Numerals in Pictish are vigesimal, i.e. they tend to work in twenties. Up to 100, the numerals for 1-19 are used, either on their own or with numerals for 20, 40, 60 and 80 to make up the numbers to 99. First, the numbers from 1-19 are:
1 |
ún [oon] |
11 |
úndhig [oonthigg] |
2 |
dui [dwee] |
12 |
duidhig [dweethigg] |
3 |
tri [tree] |
13 |
tridig [treedigg] |
4 |
per [per] |
14 |
perdig [perdigg] |
5 |
peng [peng] |
15 |
pendig [pendigg] |
6 |
sua [swah] |
16 |
suadig [swahdigg] |
7 |
seth [seth] |
17 |
sethdig [sethdigg] |
8 |
uath [wath] |
18 |
uathdig [wathdigg] |
9 |
nau [now] |
19 |
naudig [nowdig] |
10 |
dig [digg] |
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The twenties from 20 to 80 are:
20 |
igath [iggath] |
60 |
trigath [triggath] |
40 |
duigath [dwiggath] |
80 |
perigath [perrygath] |
The intervening numbers are formed by using the appropriate number between 1 and 19 followed by the appropriate number 20, 40, 60 or 80, with as and in between. This is usually abbreviated to ’s:
21 |
ún's igath [oon siggath] |
31 |
úndhig's igath [oonthigg siggath] |
42 |
dui's duigath [dweess dwiggath] |
49 |
nau's duigath [nowss dwiggath] |
52 |
duidhig's duigath [dweethiggs dwiggath] |
79 |
naudig's trigath [nowdiggs triggath] |
88 |
uath's perigath [waths perrygath] |
95 |
pendig's perigath [pendiggs perrygath] |
One hundred is cian [k'yan].
Time
Days of the Week (Dithai ar Uathnoch)
Sunday |
dith Hol [holl] |
Monday |
dith Lún [loon] |
Tuesday |
dith Marth [marth] |
Wednesday |
dith Merkur [mer-koor] |
Thursday |
dith Iov [yov] |
Friday |
dith Guener [gwenn-er] |
Saturday |
dith Sadurn [sad-ern] |
Months of the Year (Míseth ar Blídhan)
January |
Ianar [yanner] |
February |
Fiaura [fyow-ruh] |
March |
Marth [marth] |
April |
Abril [abb-rill] |
May |
Mai [maa-ee] |
June |
Methev [methev] |
July |
Iúl [yool] |
August |
Aust [owst] |
September |
Sultan [sool-tun] |
October |
Daur [dower] |
November |
Sauin [sowin] |
December |
Dúvlad [doov-lad] |
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