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.

Learning Solresol, Lesson 1: An introduction

So, you're interested in learning Solresol? Start here.

Solresol has a fascinating history, and I would definitely recommend you research it individually at your leisure to get a fuller understanding (for advice on where to look, see the bottom of this post), but here's a brief introduction:

Solresol is a constructed language, created by François Sudre in 1827. His goal was to create an international language - everyone would learn Solresol as a second language, and the language barrier would effectively be broken, because everyone would share a common tongue. This idea, of an international auxiliary language, is no longer unheard of, but Solresol was the first such language to become fully developed and gain widespread attention. While other languages (Such as Esperanto in theory, or English in practice) seem to be more viable alternatives for this purpose now, Solresol remains a remarkably unique language, deserving of attention - and maybe even a revival. With a dictionary available in English, a  (sidosi.org), and the passion of individuals able to connect via the internet, a revival is indeed in the making - but for that to happen, learning the language must be feasible. I'm not an expert by any means - but nobody is. My hope is that I can share my journey of learning Solresol by teaching you, and we can discover the language together.

Solresol's alphabet is based on the solfège syllables of the Western musical scale: Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si. This sets it apart in two fundamental ways: first, it probably has the smallest alphabet in existence; and second, communication can (and should) occur in an incredibly diverse range of mediums. One can communicate in Solresol by singing, playing a musical instrument, speaking the syllables, writing musical notation, painting colors (namely, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet), naming the notes of a scale (e.g. C, D, E, F, G, A, B), writing numbers, tapping numbers morse code style, using the official shorthand (Figure 1), using hand signals (Figure 2), using alternate sign language (Figure 3), or virtually any system that makes use of seven elements.

(Don't be overwhelmed by that list! You don't need to be have perfect pitch, or even be familiar with music at all to learn Solresol. The seven spoken or written syllables are always the most basic form used for learning and almost all communication. Once you understand the language, the variety of possible expression can add versatility and creativity for those who are so inclined.)

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Solresol can embed meaning into almost anything, making it a fascinatingly versatile language. If you're intrigued and want to learn more, go on to lesson two.

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If you want to read more about Solresol's history, I would recommend this PDF:
http://faculty.las.illinois.edu/csandvig/classes/solresol.pdf

If you want to read even more, you should browse Dan Parson's compilation of pretty much every useful piece of information on Solresol on the internet - he's done a great job with it:
http://www.sidosi.org/resources