6 Adjectives
Adjectives are quality words that describe what something is like. Some examples are ‘good,’ ‘bad,’ ‘new,’ ‘happy.’
In English, adjectives are used in two ways: (1) to modify a noun, as in ‘good dog,’ and (2) in a sentence with ‘is’ describing the subject, as in ‘the dog is good.’
In SENĆOŦEN also, an adjective can be used in two ways: (1) to modify a noun, as in TŦE ÍY¸ SḴAXE¸ ‘the good dog,’ and (2) as an intransitive verb describing the subject, as in ÍY¸ TŦE SḴAXE¸ ‘the dog is good.’
Here is a list of useful quality words. The stressed vowels are in red in this list:
In English, adjectives are used in two ways: (1) to modify a noun, as in ‘good dog,’ and (2) in a sentence with ‘is’ describing the subject, as in ‘the dog is good.’
In SENĆOŦEN also, an adjective can be used in two ways: (1) to modify a noun, as in TŦE ÍY¸ SḴAXE¸ ‘the good dog,’ and (2) as an intransitive verb describing the subject, as in ÍY¸ TŦE SḴAXE¸ ‘the dog is good.’
Here is a list of useful quality words. The stressed vowels are in red in this list:
| ÍY¸ | ‘good’ | XEU¸ES | ‘new’ | |
| SXÁ¸ES | ‘bad’ | S¸ÁLEW̱ | ‘old’ | |
| ĆEḴ | ‘big’ | O¸ĆEṈ | ‘slow’ | |
| MEMIM¸EN¸ | ‘small’ | X̱EṈ | ‘fast’ | |
| ṈEN¸ | ‘many’ or much’ | PEK | ‘white’ | |
| QOMQEM | ‘strong’ | NEKIX | ‘black’ |
‣ 1 SENĆOŦEN adjectives usually come before the noun they modify, as in English. Occasionally you will find an adjective following the noun as in TŦE SḴAXE¸ ÍY¸. This is best thought of as a relative clause construction, ‘the dog that is good’. This advanced topic will be covered in §47.
‣ 2 In the SENĆOŦEN of the most fluent speakers recorded, the possessive never precedes the adjective in a noun phrase. To say ‘my good dog,’ the original way was TŦE IY¸ NE SḴAXE¸, with NE preceding the noun. But younger speakers and new speakers, influenced by the English pattern, might say TŦE NE IY¸ SḴAXE¸ with the NE preceding the adjective as in English. What this shows is that, under the influence of English, NE is becoming a separate word like English ‘my’ rather than a prefix. There is one very common phrase often used at the beginning of a speech that shows the original pattern: SI¸ÁM¸ NE SĆÁLE¸ĆE¸! ‘my respected friends!’ You never hear NE SI¸ÁM¸ SĆÁLE¸ĆE¸! In this book, we will consistently follow the original pattern of the most fluent native speakers.
‣ 3 This section introduces twelve adjectives that you should memorize. There are many more adjectives in SENĆOŦEN. You can find them in the SENĆOŦEN Dictionary.
‣ 4 New vocabulary (with the stressed vowel in red):
SI¸ÁM¸ ‘respected’
SĆÁLE¸ĆE¸ ‘friends’
 | QOMQEM TŦE NE TÁN. | ‘My mother is strong.’ |
 | ṮÁ¸ U¸ QOMQEM TŦE NE SȻÁ¸. | ‘Mine is strong, too.’ |
| S¸ÁLEW̱ ȻŦE NE SILE¸. | ‘My grandmother is old.’ |
| ṮÁ¸ U¸ S¸ÁLEW̱ ȻŦE NE SȻÁ¸. | ‘Mine is old, too.’ |
| 6A. Translate each of the following into English. 1. SXÁ¸ES TŦE SḴAXE¸. 2. ĆEḴ E LE¸ TŦE SNEW̱EȽ? 3. QOMQEM TŦE NE SĆÁ¸ĆE¸. 4. S¸ÁLEW̱ TŦE NE SḴAXE¸. 5. X̱EṈ E LE¸ TŦE ḰO¸? 6. YÁ¸ E LE¸ TŦE MEMIM¸EN¸EN¸ SĆÁ¸ĆE¸? 7. ȽÁU¸ TŦE ÍY¸ SWIU¸LES. 8. SÁ¸ET ĆE TŦE ĆEḴ SNEW̱EȽ. 9. ȻÁ¸ET LE¸ SEN TŦE NEKIX Á¸LEṈ. 10. ŚJET E SW̱ TŦE ÍY¸ SḴAXE¸? | 6B. Translate each of the following into SENĆOŦEN. 1. The dog is bad. 2. My house is new. 3. His mother is strong. 4. Your father is good. 5. Was the deer fast? 6. Is your house white? 7. Do you know my good friend? 8. You folks’ uncle went. 9. We lifted my old canoe. 10. He took the small dog. |
| 6C. Find three more SENĆOŦEN adjectives and make sentences using them. | |