Adjectives
Adjectives are words that attribute a quality to a person or thing. In Romániço, all adjectives end in -a:
| bona | good |
| mala | bad |
| feda | ugly |
Any word that isn’t already an adjective can be made into one simply by changing its ending to -a. One might also add -isc- (“concerning”), -os- (“abundantly having”), or other affix to the word’s root, depending on the meaning one wants to convey:
| auro | gold |
| Mi es on aura deo! | I am a golden god! (a god made of gold) |
| Mi es on aurea deo! | I am a golden god! (a gold-colored god) |
| Mi es on aurisca deo! | I am a god of gold! (a god concerning gold) |
| Mi es on aurosa deo! | I am a god rich in gold! |
Conversely, any adjective can be turned into a noun simply by changing its ending to -o:
| on bono | a good person or thing |
| on malo | a bad person or thing |
| on fedo | an ugly person or thing |
| on auroso | someone or something rich in gold |
| on aureo | a gold-colored person or thing |
Not that this is always necessary, as adjectives can often do duty for nouns as-is:
| la bona, la mala, et la feda | the good, the bad, and the ugly |
In these cases, to indicate that an adjective is describing something in the plural, one can either make the adjectives into plural nouns or use las:
|
la bona, la mala, et la feda = la bonos, la malos, et la fedos |
the good, the bad, and the ugly |
| Evites las vírida. Los incore no es matura. | Avoid the green ones. They’re not ripe yet. |
In other cases, when describing the plural of a noun that has no plural form in Romániço (family names, for example), one can add -s to the adjectives:
| parvas Focker | little Fockers |
The Placement of Adjectives
In Latin and the Romance languages, adjectives and participles usually directly follow nouns, except for adjectives of beauty, size, quantity, goodness, or truth, which precede the noun being modified. Putting adjectives that normally follow a noun before it can change the meaning in ways that are not always immediately evident:
| domus nova | nova domus | a new house | a house that looks new |
| un homme grand | un grand homme | a tall man | a great man |
| un uomo povero | un pover’uomo | a poor man | a worthless man |
| un amigo viejo | un viejo amigo | an elderly friend | a longtime friend |
Because of this, all adjectives in Romániço generally come before the people or things they describe, except for emphasis or stylistic flourish:
| on egoista, imbécila, desneta nerfisto | a stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf-herder |
| Cuala macraċa, rachítaca, cedema, marcinta, obtusa, manu-damnita, claudicanta líneo di cosos vi génitun? | What kind of spindly, ricket-ridden, milky, wizened, dim-eyed, gammy-handed, limpy line of things will you beget? |
| on ideo absurda | an absurd idea |
While this differs from Romance practice, it’s typical of international technical compounds:
| micrófono | μικρός “small” + φωνή “sound” |
| televisío | τῆλε “far” + visio “sight” |
| turbo-encabulatro | turbo- “turbine” + made-up technobabble |
Non-adjectives, however, cannot be used as adjectives like they can in English, but must be modified or rearranged:
| pornisca stelo, porn-stelo | porn star |
| concerto da Dead Kennedys | Dead Kennedys concert |
Adjectives and participles that have a complement must come after the person or thing being described in order to make sense:
| Mi vidin on celo nigra pro fumo. | I saw a sky black from smoke. |
| Mi es on ángelo exterminanta pudelos. | I am an angel exterminating poodles. |
Degrees of Comparison
“All animals are equal,” declares the ever-amended constitution in Animal Farm, “but some animals are more equal than others”. Such comparisons (equal and unequal) are expressed in Romániço in much the same way as they are in English:
| Vi es men ecuala cam mi. | You are less equal than I. |
| Vi es (tote) tam ecuala cam mi. | You are (just) as equal as I. |
| Vi es (etiam) plu ecuala cam mi. | You are (even) more equal than I. |
| Vi es la plu ecuala de/ec la dua. | You are the more equal of/out of the two. |
| Vi eseçan sempre plu ecuala ye omna dio. | You’re becoming more and more equal every day. |
| Vi es la maxim ecuala de/ec omnu. | You are the most equal of/out of all. |
| Vi es la minim ecuala de/ec omnu. | You are the least equal of all. |
| Cuancam amba vos es ecuala, mi préferan vi (plu multe) cam vua amico. | Though you are both equal, I prefer you to (more than) your friend. |
As might be expected from a planned language, all comparatives are formed regularly:
| bona, plu bona, maxim bona | good, better, best |
| stúpida, plu stúpida, maxim stúpida | dumb, dumber, dumbest |
Alternatively, for those so inclined, a few non-standard comparatives are available alongside the regular ones:
| bona, meliora, óptima | good, better, best |
| mala, pejora, pésima | bad, worse, worst |
