lipu sona

Adjectives

An adjective is a word used to describe a noun. Content words can act as adjectives. You’ve already seen them used this way:

jan li lili.
The person is small.

Modifier phrases

You can put an adjective after another word to modify it. (This is called head-initial order. This is the opposite order from some other languages, like English.) You can modify nouns, verbs, or other adjectives.

ijo suli
big thing

lipu sin
new book

pana wawa
to give with force

When used this way, the word is called a modifier.

Here are some sentences that use modifiers:

jan suli li pana e kili ike.
The big person gives away a bad fruit.

lipu majuna li wawa mute.
The old book is very powerful.

To say that something is yours, or belongs to someone, use a pronoun as a modifier:

ni li moku mi.
This is my food.

The word ala can be used to mean a lack of something.

jan ala
no one

lili ala
not small

When the words mi and sina are used with a modifier, use the word li to mark the predicate.

mi pali.
I work.

mi mute li pali.
We work.

You can use multiple modifiers for the same word. In that case, modifiers affect the whole phrase before them.

lipu majuna
the old book

lipu majuna ala
no old books