Lesson 4: Adjectives and Adverbs

This is part of a series of posts on learning Solresol. To start at Lesson 1, click here.

Over the last two lessons, you have learned about verbs and nouns in Solresol - in this lesson you will learn how to modify verbs and nouns with adverbs and adjectives.

Adjectives are formed much like nouns - namely, by emphasizing a specific syllable in a base word. To form an adjective from another word, you emphasize the second-to-last (penultimate) syllable.

Examples:

Milasi	-	To love (a person)
Milâsi	-	Loving (adj.)
Dosido	-	To help
Dosîdo	-	Helpful
Resolsido	-	To need
Resolsîdo	-	Needy

Adjectives always come after the noun they describe:

Ladosol dosîdo	-	Helpful book
Sôlsisol milâsi	-	Loving smile
Misolredo resolsîdo	-	Needy person

Misolredo	-	Person, a being, individual, human
Laremisi	-	To turn red, redden, blush
Laremila	-	To turn blue
Solsire	-	To be happy
Resisol	-	To be sad, sadden
Dofasolmi	-	To become beautiful, make oneself beautiful

Note that laremisi and laremila share a common beginning 'root', as they are both colours.

Note that solsire and resisol have opposite meanings and are 'mirror images' of each other. Many words in Solresol follow this pattern - you will see many more examples of this in later lessons.

When you learn a new word in Solresol, it's a good idea to think through all of its various forms. For example: 

Laremisi means to turn red, lâremisi means the abstract noun 'red', and laremîsi means 'red', the adjective. Laremila - 'to turn blue', functions exactly the same way. 

Solsire means 'to be happy', sôlsire means 'happiness', solsîre means 'happy'. 

Resisol means 'to be sad', rêsisol means 'sadness', resîsol means 'sad'. 

Dofasolmi means 'to become beautiful', dôfasolmi means 'beauty', dofasôlmi means 'beautiful'.

Adjectives are always used to describe nouns, even if they aren't next to the noun in the sentence:

La fadofasol faremi laremîsi.	-	The tree is red.
Dore faremi solsîre.	-	I am happy.
Domi faremi dofasôlmi.	-	You are beautiful.

(Note that the second sentence, while grammatically correct, is not the most efficient way to express the idea. Because solsire is a verb, one can simply say, "Dore solsire," which means, "I am happy.")

Adjectives can be formed from nouns too:

Fadofasol - tree; fadofâsol - tree-like.
Misolrela - person, individual; misolrêla - personal, individual (adj.)
Solresol - Solresol, language; solrêsol - Solresol (used as an adjective, e.g. "A Solresol word"); linguistic

Because one may add an accent to any word in Solresol, many words can be difficult to concisely translate into English. As a general rule, though: The adjective form of a verb embodies the characteristics of something/someone who does the verb often or very well; on a noun, it typically means 'like the noun'. For example, solsisol means 'to smile'; in the phrase la misolredo solsîsol, it is understood that the person smiles often, or is currently smiling, or that his/her most notable characteristic is his/her smile.

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Adverbs are formed by stressing the final syllable. Adverbs modify verbs and adjectives - they are used to describe how something is done.

Milasi	-	Love (for a person)
Milasî	-	Lovingly
Dosido	-	Help
Dosidô	-	Helpfully
Solsire	-	To be happy
Solsirê	-	Happily

Adverbs, like adjectives, should generally come after the verb they modify:

Dofa solsisol solsirê.	-	He smiles happily.
Dore solmila resisôl.	-	I remember sadly.

Adverbs can also be made from nouns:

Domi dosolfami fadofasôl.

-

You stand like a tree.

Dosolfami

-

To stand, stand up, rise, get up

(dosolfâmi - standing, lifted, raised, on foot)

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More Vocabulary:

Solsido	-	Run
Fasido	-	Walk
Fasimire	-	Speed, haste, velocity; (fast, quickly)
Remisifa	-	Dally, dawdle, linger; (slow, slowly)

With this, I leave you some sentences to practice with. As always, I encourage you to actually write down your responses, to learn more quickly. I also encourage you to experiment with making other sentences with what you know! And if you don't understand anything, just ask!


Translate to English:

Dore solsido fasimirê.
Domi ladofa remisifâ.
La fadofasol laremîsi faremi dofasôlmi.
Dofa solmila mire dore faremi resîsol.

Translate to Solresol:

The happy person runs to the tree.
You speak beautifully.
He learns quickly.
I love to walk slowly.
I want to be a beautiful person.

That book is red, and this book is blue.
He has a beautiful sadness.

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Answers:

I run quickly.

You read slowly.

The red tree is beautiful.

He remembers that I am sad.

La misolredo solsîre solsido fa la fadofasol.
Domi domilado dofasolmî.
Dofa sidosi fasimirê.
Dore milasol fasido remisifâ.
Dore fasifa faremi misolredo dofasolmî.

Fare fadosol faremi laremîsi, re fami fadosol faremi laremîla.

Dofa famisol rêsisol dofasôlmi.