Ar Dienga Galedonag
3. Adjectives, Numerals and Quantifiers  

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 too
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    

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 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]    

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]

© Alex Middleton 2009