Parts of speech are a well-coordinated mechanism in which there is not a single superfluous element. Surprisingly, in each language this mechanism is arranged in its own way. What in one language can be expressed in two or three words, in another will require the construction of a rather complex sentence. That is why it is extremely important when learning foreign languages not to approach grammar carelessly, but to think about each rule - after all, there are no empty and meaningless ones among them.
The adjective is one of the key parts of speech, giving people the opportunity to vividly describe the world. However, it also has its own nuances in different languages of the world. This is the structure, and the place in the sentence, and agreement with other parts of speech, and, of course, the functions that are assigned to the adjective. In the article we will consider and compare the functions of this part of speech in some European languages.
Generalproperties
So, what features do adjectives have? The list is quite long.
First of all, an adjective denotes a non-procedural attribute of an object. This means that a constant property of a living or inanimate object is described (a true friend, a cozy home). Non-procedural signs are also indicated by adverbs, only these signs no longer refer to the subject, but to the action (run fast, draw beautifully).
If an adjective is directly related to a noun, it must be able to adapt to its "boss". In different languages, nouns have different categories: number, gender, case, declension. All these categories take their adjectives from them - the list of categories for them looks exactly the same.
Relationships
Also, adjectives are closely interconnected with other parts of speech, penetrating each other and making them richer. This connection with pronouns and numerals is clearly manifested. At the junction of these parts of speech, at one time ordinal numbers arose, answering the question “which number?”, As well as relative and interrogative pronouns “which” and “which”. It is worth separately highlighting the participle that describes the object through the action, which gave birth to verbs and adjectives. The list of these forms is very long (a floating ship, a crouching tiger). The participle also agrees with the subject and provides its procedural sign.
Adjective transformations
The secondary nature of the adjective is emphasized by the way iteducation. Most often, it is formed precisely from nouns, focusing on some key property or feature. So, the raspberry gave us a crimson color, and the corner gave us an angular gait. Adjectives indicating the belonging of an object to someone are the most striking example of the close connection of this part of speech with nouns. The Russian language is so flexible, where possessive adjectives are often formed: grandfather's book - grandfather's book.
There are no such forms in English and German. In the English grandad's book, the possessive case of the noun grandad indicates that the book belongs to the grandfather. German has an almost identical simplified form that is used with proper names: Annas Auto. However, most often this role is played by a special form of the genitive case: das Buch des Grossvaters, with the object in the first place, and not its owner.
The English language is famous for conversion - the complete transition of one part of speech to another without visible changes. Adjectives are also subject to conversion - wet (wet) can easily become a noun with the meaning "moisture". And slim in the meaning of "slender" in a certain context will become the verb "slim".
In German, a similar mechanism turns an adjective into an abstract noun. Schwarz in the meaning of "dark" when adding the article will acquire the meaning of "darkness". Also, conversion is possible here when naming living beings that have a feature called a productive adjective, der Irre - "crazy", der Taube - "deaf". Adding an article toThe adjective also works in French: Le ciel est bleu (adjective); Le bleu (noun) du ciel. The syntactic function in bleu, its place in the sentence, as well as the presence of the article, gives reason to consider le bleu as a noun. At the same time, the noun le bleu, in addition to the main meaning (color designations - blue, blue), has others, for example: work clothes, blue shirt, beginner, bruise, blue.
Borrowings of adjectives
There are several types of borrowing of foreign adjectives, depending on the degree of their adaptation to the realities of the host language. In this regard, several types can be distinguished:
- Full tracing paper - the word does not undergo any changes, does not accept the declension system of the language. As a rule, this includes specific terms denoting style (retro, rococo), as well as complex color shades (marsala, indigo).
- Suffixation is the most voluminous group of borrowed adjectives. An interesting fact is that foreign adjective suffixes also acquire analogues in the host language. Their list is quite large. The French suffixes -aire, -ique and -if are modified into -ar- and supplemented by the natural suffix -ny. The suffix -ic is also popular: legendaire - legendary; diplomatique - diplomatic. The Greek suffix -ik in Russian becomes -ichny, -ichny: hygienic, photogenic, heroic.
Great and powerful adjectives
The list of adjectives in the Russian language is very large due to the word-building potential of this partspeech.
The function of adjectives in a sentence is either a definition (He is reading a good book) or part of a compound nominal predicate (I am very energetic today). In the first case, the adjective is placed before the noun, in the second - after it.
All adjectives can be divided according to functions and word-building potential. The list consists of three items:
- Qualitative - denoting an immediate sign that can be felt by the senses (red, loud, s alty). Such adjectives vary in degrees of comparison (louder - the loudest), and can also have a short form (important, harsh). If there is a need to strengthen the meaning, the adjective can be repeated: blue-blue sky. Adverbs and abstract nouns are formed from qualitative adjectives: beautiful - beautiful - beauty.
- Relative - connecting the described object with another object or concept (aluminum - made of aluminum, sewing - intended for sewing). They have no degrees of comparison, no short form, and also cannot form adverbs.
- Possessive - indicate belonging to someone (human or animal) - grandfather's tobacco, rabbit cabbage.
Sometimes it is possible for an adjective to move from a relative category to a qualitative one. In this case, the meaning also changes: fox tail - fox smile (meaning: cunning, deceitful).
An important characteristic of Russian adjectives is the ability to decline - changegender, number and case according to the governing noun (brick house - brick wall - brick pillars).
Shakespeare's language
There are some features that, unlike Russian, English adjectives do not have. Their list is small, but sufficient.
Unlike Russian, English adjectives are completely invariable. Red fox, red flowers, red wall - in all these phrases, the word "red" remains as it is, regardless of the number and type of the noun.
Highlights qualitative and relative adjectives in English. The list of their features is almost the same as in Russian, except for one fact - English adjectives do not have a short form.
Also, an adjective can turn into an abstract noun (the mysterious). Sick (sick) when adding the article will turn into the sick (sick, patients). As in Russian, an English adjective as a definition will precede the noun (an empty house), and as a predicate it will conclude it (The house is empty).
The reasons for the absence of possessive adjectives have already been discussed.
Goethe language
English and German adjectives have a lot in common - the list of their features is almost identical. However, there is one major difference that unites German adjectives with Russian ones - this is the ability to decline. Ein billiger Haus - "cheap house" in the plural becomes billige Häuser. Endings change gender, numberand adjectival case (guten Kindes – good child, gutem Kind – good child, guten Kind – good child).
Depending on whether we are talking about a specific or random subject, adjectives tend to be weak (der gute Vater - this good father), strong (guter Vater - a good father) or mixed (ein guter Vater - some good father) type.
Love language
French adjectives have a lot in common with German ones - the list of similarities is enough. They change by gender (Il est joli - he is handsome, elle est jolie - she is beautiful) and by numbers (Le livre intéressant - an interesting book, les livres intéressants - interesting books), they have no case declension. They also change depending on the degree of comparison (Grand - Plus grand - Le plus grand).
An interesting feature of French adjectives is the ability to change meaning depending on whether they are before or after the noun. Un homme brave is a brave person, while un brave homme is a glorious person.
The language of tranquility
The list of adjectives in Finnish is very long and complex. As in Russian, adjectives agree with the noun in number and case (there are 14 to 16 in total in Finnish).
Some adjectives don't change by case:
eri - different;
viime - past;
ensi - next;
koko - whole.
The adjective can also be placed before the word being defined: kaunis talo - a beautiful house; and after it - Talo on kaunis. - The house is beautiful. There are also degrees of comparison (iloinen - cheerful; iloisempi - more cheerful, more cheerful; iloisin - the most cheerful, most cheerful).
Common and different
So, in all the languages considered, adjectives perform the function of defining the qualities of an object. Coordination with the subject in different languages has its own characteristics. The list of adjectives in Finnish and Russian will have both common and distinctive features. The same applies to other languages, despite the closeness of their vocabulary and grammar.
