ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the distinctive properties of adjectives. As predicates, adjectives behave very much like verbs: the verb 'to be' is not used with adjectives, and some adjectives may take aspect markers like verbs. Nevertheless, it remains useful to distinguish adjectives from verbs. Predicative adjectives behave very much like verbs, following the subject without a copular verb. Predicative adjectives do not require the copular verb 'to be'. However, a predicative adjective is usually preceded by a modifier such as hou, which as an adjective means 'good.' Reduplication is one of the few morphological devices available to Cantonese, and is much used to modify the meaning of adjectives. Reduplication of an adjective takes several different forms, serving to modify its meaning in a number of ways. Reduplicated adjectives are also used adverbially.
