Adverbs

Derived Adverbs

Adverbs can be derived from descriptive adjectives by adding y to the a ending.

Derived Adverbs

ADJECTIVE	ADVERB
fia....good	fiay....well
yeva....fair	yevay....fairly
uja....final	ujay....finally
joga....new	jogay....newly
teyda....maternal	teyday....maternally

At the end of sentences or clauses, common one-syllable-stem adverbs can be shortened by removing the ay ending:

• Iyt deuze fi.....She sings well.
• At upo ig.....I'll come quickly.

Otherwise, the full adverb form is used, eg.:

• Weti yefe ugay fiaser.....You guys must slowly improve.
• At tojo ivay, tea van at beaye fia tej.....I will die happily knowing that I've had a good life.

Inherent Adverbs

There are some words in the language that are inherently adverbs and do not take the ay ending, because they are not formed from adjectives, or because they already end in ay. Here are the most common examples:

Inherent Adverbs

yab....up	yeb....in oyeb....out	yob....down	yub....near	yib....far
ab....on	eb....between eyb....among	ob....off	ub....toward	ib....away
bay....with/along	bey....by/via	boy....without	byu....as far (as)	byi....since
vay....indeed	vey....perhaps	voy....not
zay....ahead	zey....across ze....in the middle zye....through	zoy....back	zu....on the left	zi....on the right
			uz....on a curve	iz....straight, directly
			yuz....around	yiz....beyond
gay....also	gey....even	goy....no more
gaj....still		goj....no longer
yan....together		yon....apart
jay....beforehand, already	jey....currently	joy....afterwards, next

The words in the above chart that are underlined can also serve as prepositions (See Prepositions).

The words underlined below are considered adverbial because they can modify verbs. For example:

• At teaxa yab.....I looked up.   (= At yabteaxa.)
• Duven et hyej upo zoy?.....Will you ever come back.   (= ...zoyupo?)
• Et po yib be tej......You will go far in life.   (= Et yipo...)
• At voy se eta ted.....I am not your father.
• Pu zu, jogat!....Go left, young man!   (= Zuypu...)
• Yat vay sa hum.....We were indeed there.
• It pa oyeb.....He went outside.   (= It oyepa.)
• Iyt gay deuze.....She also sings.
• Yit yexe gey be moji.....They work even nights.
• Ha tobot gaj tujeye.....The baby is still sleeping.
• Yat yefe yexer yan.....We must work together.   (= ...yanyexer.)
• His vey upo yon.....This may come apart.   (= ...yonupo.)
• Hit se jay toja.....This one is already dead.

Many of the above adverbs can be prefixed to verbs, nouns, and even adjectives to indicate motion in various directions. (Keep in mind that the b or p can be assimilated to the first letter of per (go) or ber (put). For example:

• yeb (in) + per (go) = yeper (to enter)  [NOT: yebper]
• oyeb (out) + bier (take) = oyebier (to take out)  [NOT: oyebbier]
• yab (up) + per (go) = yaper (to rise)  [NOT: yabper]
• yob (up) + kima (sloped) = yobkima (downward-sloping)
• yub (near) + per (go) = yuper (to approach)  [NOT: yubper]
• yib (far) + daler (talk) = yibdaler (to telephone)
• yiz (beyond) + per (go) = yizper (to surpass)
• yuz (around) + pipen (sailing) = yuzpipen (circumnavigation)
• zay (ahead) + paser (move) = zaypaser (to advance)
• ze (to the middle) + jaga (aged) = zejaga (middle-aged)
• zye (through) + teatyafwa (visible) = zyeteatyafa (transparent)
• zey (across) + mep (road) = zeymep (bridge)
• zoy (back) + nogea (gradual) = zoynogea (retrogressive)
• iz (straight) + nad (line) = iznad (vector)
• zi (to the right) + kum (side) = izkum (right side)
• zu (far) + tuyab (hand) = zutuyaba (left-handed)
• uz (on a curve) + nad (line) = uznad (curve)
• yan (together) + up (come) = yanup (a meeting)
• yon (apart) + ber (put) = yonber (to separate)

Word Order of Adverbs

The word order of adverbs is fairly free, as in English. But, to avoid ambiguity, the adverb should be placed immediately before or after the sentence element it modifies, eg.:

• It deuze vi.....He sings beautifully.
• Et yefe xer gwa ig.....You must do it as quickly as possible.
• Et hyoj ako gwaika ivan.....You will never gain perfect happiness.
• At voy te. (OR) At te voy. ....I don't know.

Comparison of Adverbs by Degree

Adverbs can be compared just as adjectives with the use of Quantitative Determiners. The words than and as are translated by the relative conjunction vyel.

Comparison of Adverbs by Degree

POSITIVE	+/=/- COMPARATIVE	+/- SUPERLATIVE
fiay....well	ga fiay vyel....better than (Lit: more good-ly than) ge igay vyel....as well as go fiay vyel....less well than	gwa fiay....(the) best (Lit: most good-ly, as well as possible gwo fiay....(the) least well