ABSTRACT

An adjective describes a noun, either attributively, as in 'good weather', or predicatively, as in 'the weather is good'. Many adjectives can be nouns also, and many nouns can be used as adjectives describing other nouns; moreover, almost all adjectives can be used as adverbs also without any change. The connecting ezafe can occasionally be omitted if the two words form a fixed compound, a lexical unit with an independent meaning. Demonstrative adjectives can be used for singular and plural nouns: adjectives do not change with number. Compound words used as adjectives are made by adding prefixes or suffixes to a noun; it can be a preposition + noun compound, or noun + adjective, adjective + noun, verb stem + prefixes / suffixes, and so on. Adjectival phrases are often shortened versions of relative clauses. In adjectival phrases, there are often prepositions, past or present participles or a combination of these.