Adjectives are words added to nouns to qualify them or to limit their denotation by
reference to quality, number or position.
-
Adjectives are usually formed from
nouns and verbs by adding <ie> or where
words are shared with or similar to English <y>
may be used. <fu>, <some>,
<n> and <en> or <ern
> are also used to form adjectives.
The internal inconsistency caused by unpredicatably
using <ie> or<y> will be
found on this site. Some writers simply use one or
the other.
A creashie cloot.
A greasy cloth. |
A stany gate.
A
stoney road. |
The duddie claes.
The
ragged clothes. |
The reekie lum.
The
smoky chimney. |
The stourie brace.
The
dusty mantlepiece. |
The grippy puggie
The
grasping monkey. |
Awfu dreich wather.
Awfully
dull weather. |
A waefu chiel.
A
woeful fellow. |
An awfu mishanter.
An
awful mishap. |
A fearsome beast.
A
fearsome beast. |
A gruesome carline.
A
ghastly old woman. |
A braw lichtsome day.
A
beutiful joyous day. |
A winsome young man.
A
charming young man. |
A waesome ongaun.
A
sad going on. |
The stanern waw.
The
stone wall.
| The treen buirds.
The
wooden boards. |
A straen tattie-bogle.
A
straw scarecrow.
| |
- The past participles of verbs may also be used as adjectives.
The thruishen corn.
The threshed grain. |
The feart laddie.
The scared boy. |
 |
The soopit fluir.
The swept floor. |
The drucken mannie.
The drunk man. |
The cuisten baw.
The cast ball. |
The shoddit horse.
The shod horse. |
The thrawn wifie.
The obstinate woman. |
The drookit dug.
The soaked dog. |
- Suffixes and prefixes.
The suffix <fu> implies
the subjective condition.
A fearfu wee dug.
A
timid little dog. |
The suithfu chiel.
The
honest fellow. |
The waefu weedae.
The melancholy widow. |
The thochtfu Dominie.
The thoughtful headmaster. |
The suffix <like> can
be attached to adjectives to qualify the meaning.
She gied a wycelike ootcome sae weel
pitten on.
She presented
a good appearance so well dressed. |
The auld plane-tree wis wainishtlike.
The old sycamore tree had a
shrunken appearance. |
The suffix <lin> or
<lins> signifies 'way', 'condition' or
'direction'.
It's a snell eastlin wind.
It
is a fierce east wind. |
The hauflins laddie.
The
half-grown boy. |
He wis blindlins fou yestreen.
He
was blind drunk last night. |
The prefix <cam> signifies
'awry'.
The camsheuch auld gowk
wadna lat me see his dochter.
The
crabbed old fool wouldn't let me see his daughter. |
The raip wis sae camshauchelt
A coudna unraivel't.
The
rope was so tangled that I couldn't untangle it. |
A cammelt crummock.
A
crooked walking-stick. |
Thae's gey an camsteirie nowt.
Those
are extremely unruly cattle. |
The suffix <rif> 'abundant'
signifies 'full of the quality of'.
The bairn's awfu waukrif.
The baby is awfully wakeful. |
It's a gey an cauldrif day
the day.
It's an extremely
cold day today. |
- Adjectives may be formed by suffixing
<like> or <kin >.
The nicht wis black-like.
The
night was blackish. |
Siclike fowk gars me grue.
Such people make me shudder. |
It wis a black-kin o a nicht.
It
was a blackish night. |
- siccan (sic kin). With
the indefinite article added siccan becomes sicna.
Sicna day as A hae haed, siccan
cauld as it is.
Such a
day as I've had, so cold as it is. |
- Whiten (whit kin o)
is used both singularly and in the plural and can mean,
depending on situation or context, 'what kind of?' or
'what sort of?'
With the indefinite article added whiten becomes
whitna.
Whit kintra dae ye come
frae?
Which (part of the)
country do you come from? |
Whit year wis thay mairit in?
In
which year were they married? |
Whiten baccie's that?
What
sort of tabacco is that? |
Whiten fowk dis siclike?
What kind of people do such
like? |
Whitna body's yon?
What
sort of a person is he (or she)? |
Whitna cou's it ye hae?
What kind of a cow is it that
you have? |
- Adjectives don't usually change their
form in the plural, the following exceptions exist.
| Singular |
Plural |
| that |
that |
thir |
those |
| this |
this |
thae |
these |
| little |
little |
muckle |
much, large |
| mony |
many |
|
|
Northern Scots uses this and
that as the plural of this and that.
- Demonstrative adjectives point out
people and objects.
Definite demonstrative adjectives
refer to a particular person or object.
| Definite singular |
Definite plural |
| this |
this |
thir |
those |
| that |
that |
thae |
these |
| yon (thon) |
that |
yon (thon) |
that |
| sic |
such |
sic |
such |
| (the) tither |
the other |
the tithers |
the others |
This and thir refer
to objects near the person speaking.
That and thae refer to objects near
the person spoken to.
Yon (thon) refers to objects farther
off in place or time.
Northern Scots uses this and that as
the plural of this and that.
A dinna like thae tatties.
I
don't like these potatoes. |
Whase bairns is thir?
Whose
are those children? |
Dae ye see yon tree?
Do you see that tree over there? |
A aft mynd o yon time.
I often think of that time
(long ago). |
He's a richt timmer-heid thon.
That man is a downright blockhead. |
A hinna seen him this lang
time.
I haven't seen him
for a long time. |
She haedna seen him this
mony a year.
She hadn't
seen him for many years. |
Indefinite demonstrative adjectives
do not refer to any particular person or object.
| Singular |
Plural |
| the ae* |
the only, a certain
one |
|
|
| ony |
any |
ony |
any |
| anither |
another |
ither(s) |
others |
*ae is the adjectival form
of ane.
Are thare ony parritch left?
Is
any porridge left? |
It's the ae dug A hae.
It's
the only dog I have. |
A wad liefer hae the tither.
I
would rather have the other. |
He didna hae ony ither anes.
He
didn't have any others. |
She coft anither poke aiples.
She bought another bag of apples. |
The chiels speirt whit ither
haed.
The fellows inquired
what each other had. |
- Adjective comparisons.
In single syllable words comparisons
are formed by suffixing er (comparative) and
est (superlative).
The comparative expresses more or
greater degree The superlative expresses the most
or highest degree.
| |
Comparative |
Superlative |
| heich |
high |
heicher |
higher |
heichest |
highest |
| laich |
low |
laicher |
lower |
laichest |
lowest |
| braw |
nice |
brawer |
nicer |
brawest |
nicest |
| lang |
long |
langer |
longer |
langest |
longest |
If the adjective ends with ee
the comparative and superlative are formed by adding
-er and -est respectively e.g. wee
(small), wee-er, wee-est.
Note the comparative of like - liker
meaning more like.
In words of two or more syllables
the comparitive is formed by prefixing mair,
and the superlative is formed by suffixing maist.
The tree's mair muckle nor the hoose.
The tree is larger than the
house. |
The hoose is the muckle maist biggin
in the toun.
The house
is the largest building in town. |
Sometimes double comparatives are
used.
He's mair aulder nor me.
He's
older than me. |
It's mair sweeter nor hinnie.
It's
sweeter than honey. |
The maist bonniest lassie.
The
prettiest girl. |
|
- Irregular comparrison.
| |
Comparativ |
Superlative |
| guid |
good |
better |
better |
best |
best |
| ill |
bad |
waur |
worse |
warst |
worst |
| hin(t) |
rear |
hinner |
rearer |
hin(t)maist |
rearest |
| mony |
many |
mair |
more |
maist |
most |
| muckle |
much |
mair |
more |
maist |
most |
| little |
little |
less |
less |
least |
least |
| naur(haund) |
near |
naurer |
nearer |
neist |
next |
Mony, mair and maist
are used with countable nouns.
Muckle, mair and maist are used
with uncountable nouns. 
- Negative Adjectives.
The negative prefix <wan> corresponds to
'un'.
That wis ae wanchancie mishanter.
That was one unfortunate accident. |
Thon bour-tree is awfu wanshapen.
Yonder elder tree is awfully
deformed. |
The tint gear wis wanawnt.
The
lost belongings were unclaimed. |
Yer dochter's a wansonsie wee lassie.
Your daughter is a mischieveous
little girl. |
Negative adjectives nae and
nane.
The negative adjective nae
is used before nouns.
A hae nae siller in ma pootch.
I
have no money in my pocket. |
It's nae guid greetin.
It's
no good crying. |
Thare's nae body hame the
nicht.
There's no one at
home tonight. |
Nane o the twa.
None
of the two. |
Nane o thaim.
None
of them. |
Thare'll nane o the twa
o yese'll gang.
Neither
of you shall go. |
Negative attributes can be expressed
by adding less to the noun or verb.
The careless wee laddie.
The
careless little boy. |
The fusionless sodger.
The
pithless soldier. |
A hairmless wee laum.
A
harmless little lamb. |
A thochtless thing tae dae.
A
thoughtless thing to do. |
- Several nouns, adverbs and prepositions
of place are used as adjectives.
| |
Comparative |
Superlative |
| up |
up |
upper |
upper |
upmaist |
upmost |
| abuin |
above |
buiner |
upper |
buinmaist |
topmost |
| doun |
down |
nether |
lower |
dounmaist |
lowest |
| aneath |
beneath |
nether |
lower |
neathmaist |
lowest |
| ablo |
below |
nether |
lower |
blomaist |
lowest |
| ben* |
in |
|
|
benmaist |
inmost |
| afore |
before |
|
|
foremaist, first |
foremost, first |
| ahin(t) |
behind |
hinner |
behind |
hin(t)maist |
hindmost |
| naur(haund) |
near |
naurer |
nearer |
neist |
next |
| in** |
in |
inner |
inner |
inmaist |
inmost |
| oot |
out |
|
|
ootmaist |
outermost |
| east |
east |
easter |
farther east |
eastmaist |
easternmost |
| wast |
west |
waster |
farther west |
wastmaist |
westernmost |
*ben
is only used to refer to the inner room of a dwelling.
**In colloquial speech in is often shortened
to i' before consonants and is often written
as such.
- The nouns of number, quantity and
distribution are often used as adjectives, others are:
Yon's an orra chiel.
That is an odd fellow. |
It's no aft that the sun's
oot for sae lang.
It is
infrequent that the sun shines for so long. |
Thare's no mony fowk come.
There are only a few people
who have come. |
Aye nou an than thare's an
antrin blast o wind.
Every
now and then there is an occasional blast of wind. |
- The interrogative adjectives are:
Interrogatives ask questions.
The older whilk corresponding
to English 'which' is now considered obsolete and
may be replaced by whit.
Whilk cou's that?
Whit cou's
that?
Which cow is that? |
Whilk haund will ye tak?
Whit
haund will ye tak?
Which
hand will you take? |
