Lesson 6: Sicilian adjectives

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Adjectives

Adjective is a modifier, that is it modifies the noun and it agrees with the noun in number and gender.  Generally, for the masculine and feminine, they follow the same rules as the nouns.  The adjective in Sicilian usually follows the noun, as in:

La casa bedda                        The beautiful house

Lu muru autu                          The tall wall

La vucca china                       The full mouth

L’àrvulu nicu                          The small tree

 

Avèmu un cavàddu beddu           We have a beautiful horse

Acchianò la scala auta                   He climbed a tall ladder

Mê frati avia un cani nicu           My brother had a small dog

A iddu ci dèttiru na palla russa      They gave him a red ball

Sometimes the adjective precedes the noun it modifies to give a greater emphasis to the quality of the noun. The most common adjectives that follow this rule are:

            Beddu                                               beautiful

Bravu                                                good

Caru                                                  dear

Gran                                                 big, great

Bruttu                                                bad

            Bon                                                    good

 

Chidda è na bedda picciòtta   

That one is (really) a beautiful young lady

Iddu avi nu gran cavàddu       He (really) has a great horse

Lu patri avi n’àvutru cani     

The father has an other (different) dog

La iena è un bruttu armàlu                  

The hyena is (truly) an ugly (bad) animal

            Iddu è un caru picciòttu            He is a dear young man

 

Here too we have exceptions in the endings.  Some adjectives end in i, and they can follow a masculine or feminine noun and have the same ending in the plural form, as in:

Masculine                    Feminine

Lu bordu diagunàli  La lìnia diagunàli The diagonal line, edge

Lu suli lucènti             La stidda lucènti           The shining star, sun

Lu violu cumùni    La strata cumùni     The common street, pathway

 

Assìra vitti na stidda lucènti        Last night I saw a brilliant star

Iu nni vitti quàttru stiddi lucènti             I saw four brilliant stars

Mi truvàva nta la trazzèra cumùni      I was in the commn pathway

Ddu omu è gnurànti                                   That man is ignorant

 

Some adjectives form adverbs by adding menti to the ending:

Adjective                     Adverb

Umànu                       umanamènti                           humanly

Veru                           veramènti                              truly

Sicuru                         sicuramènti                            certainly

Stanu                          stranamènti                           strangely

 

Un èssiri umànu l’ài a trattàri cchiù  umanamènti pussìbili.

You have to treat a human being as humanly as possible

Quànnu parràva cu mia sicuramènti dicèva fissarì.

When he was talking to me he was lying (saying nonsense)

Anchi si lu fattu era veru un signìfica ca era veramènti bonu.

Even if what happened was true it does not mean that it was truly good

 

Diminutive, Augmentative

In Sicilian we find two ways of altering the quality or quantity of a noun or an adjective: a diminutive to denote quantity or quality, someone or something small or to denote endearment, in the noun or adjective, as in:

Sèggia                  siggitèdda                  chair, little chair, cute chair

Màsculu             masculìddu                 lad, little lad, cute lad

Soru                  surùzza                       sister, little sister, cute sister

Mischìnu           mischinèddu     poor thing, poorest thing (someone)

Porta                          purticèdda           door, little door, cute door

Piru                             pirìddu                  pear, little pear, cute pear

Surdàtu                      surdatèddu           soldier, small, cute soldier

 

Avìa un màsculu e ci fici na surùzza     

I had a boy and I made him a little sister

Mê ziu avi un masculìddu                               My uncle has a little boy

Dda casa avi na bedda purticèdda          that house has a pretty little door

Ddu surdatèddu, mischìnu, e` firùtu   

That little soldier, poor thing, is wounded

 

An augmentative, to denote quantity; to make an augmentative, the ending uni is added to the noun or adjective, as in:

Casa                           casùni                         house, big house

Vecchiu                      vicchiùni                     old man, very old man

Manu                         manùni                       hand, big hand

Fossu                         fussùni                        ditch, big ditch

Paredda                     pariddùni                    skillet, big skillet

Gaddina                     gaddinùni                   chicken, big chicken

 

A pejorative, to denote quality.  To make a pejorative the suffix azzu (mascul.) or azza (femin.) is added to the noun or adjective:

 

Casa                  casàzza             house, ugly big house
Vècchiu            vicchiàzzu        old, ugly, bad old man
Manu                manàzza           hand, ugly big hand
Fossu                fussàzzu           ditch, ugly big ditch
Parèdda         pariddàzza         skillet, ugly big skillet      Gaddìna            gaddinàzza       chicken, ugly big chicken

 

Iddu stava nta na casàzza                         He lived in an ugly house
Chista nun è casa, chista è casùni This is not a house, it is a big house
Lu piccirìddu avia dui manùna                The baby had two big hands
Frièva l'ovu nta nu pariddùni        She was frying the egg in a big skillet
Era un fussàzzu chinu di fangu                It was an ugly ditch full of mud

 

Comparative and Absolute

The comparative  in Sicilian is made in two ways. Comparison by equality by adding the adverbs, comu, tantu e quàntu (as), as in:

 

Ddu libbru è comu lu miu                             That book is like mine 

Iu àiu tantu pani quàntu nn’ài tu               I have as much bread as you

La mê casa è bedda comu la tua         My house is as beautiful as your

And comparison by inequality, by adding the adverb cchiù (more), or menu, (less)

Mê frati è cchiù granni d’iddu                     My brother is older than he

Sô soru è cchiù bedda di mia              His sister is more beautiful than I

Iu sordi nn’aiu menu d’iddu             I have less money than he        

Certain comparatives, made up by mègghiu (better), pèggiu (worse), do not take the adverb cchiù (more), as in:

Mègghiu di chiddu                                       Better than that

Pèggiu di l’àvutru                                         Worse than the other

Lu sàcciu fari mègghiu d’iddu     I know how to do it better than he does

Pi travagghiàri è pèggiu di mia   In order of work he is worse than I am

 

The relative superlative is formed by adding the article lu, la, li, as in:

Li cchiù nichi             the youngest       

Lu cchiù forti             the strongest

Li cchiù chini             the fullest         

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Lu cchiù autu             the tallest

 

Mê fìgghia è la cchiù bedda di tutti      My daughter is the most beautiful of all

Ddu muru è lu cchiù ghiàvutu di chidd’àvutri         

That wall is the highest of those others

Sta corda è la cchiù forti di l’àvutri dui  This rope is the strongest of the others

Ddi ciràsi sunnu li cchiù duci di tutti       Those cherries are the sweetest of all

 

The superlative absolute is made by adding the suffix issimu, issima, for the singular, and issimi for the plural.  It also can be formed with the adverbs assai, veru or the suffix uni, as in:

 

Benìssimu                              very well

Carìssimu                              dearest

Veru laidu                              truly ugly (ugliest)

Assai lentu                            truly slow (slowest)

Veru duci                               truly sweet (sweetest)

Riccùni                                  very rich

Veru longu                             truly long (longest)

Lu conti è riccùni                                           The count is very rich

Dda fìmmina è veru laida                               That woman is truly ugly

Carìssimu amicu, vui siti assai lentu 

My dearest friend, you are very slow

Sta strata è veru longa                                   This road is very long

Possessive adjectives

The adjectives of possession are;

Masculine        Singular            Feminine

Miu                                        mia                  mine  

Tou                                        tua                  yours

Sou                                         sua                  his, hers

                       Plural

Nostru                                     nostru             ours

Vostru                                    vostru             yours

Soi                                          soi                   theirs

These adjectives, in the singular, applied to a noun contract to mê, tô, sô, and the plural soi also contract to sô, as in:

Mê frati                                 my brother                              

Tô soru                                  your sister

Sô patri                                  his, her father

Sô figghiu                              their son

 

Mê ziu vinni cu sô nannu       My uncle came with his grandfather

Tô fìgghiu §u a sô casa         Your son went to his house

Ci dettiru li sordi a sô fìgghiu              They gave money to their son

 

These adjectives are also used with a simple or compound preposition, as in:

 

Stu gattu lu truvài vicìnu la mê casa    I found this cat near my house

Iddu ioca cu la tô palla                                   He plays with your ball

Dda casa é di sô matri                        That house belongs to his mother

Ssu cani  nun é di mê cucìnu                   That dog is not my cousin’s

L’àrbuli sunnu di tô patri                        The trees belong to your father

            Lu cavàddu lu dugnu a sô nipùti         I will give the horse to his nephew

            Luntànu di la mê casa                                   Far from my house

            allàtu a mê patri                                            Besides my father

 

The preposition di denotes possession:

La casa di Maria                                           Mary’s house

Lu cani di Petru                                              Peter’s dog

Lu cavàddu di Marcu                                    Marc’s horse

Di cui? Di Marcu.                                         Whose? Marc’s

 

Quantitative  Adjective

The adjective quantitative indicates quantity, as in:

Quàntu sunnu?                                   How many are there?

Quàntu acchiàni tantu scinni   

As much you go up so much you will come down

Quàntu surdàti c’eranu?                     How many soldiers were there?

 

The numerals, sometimes indicate an approximate quantity, as in:

 

Na dicìna                               about ten

Na cinchìna                           about five

Un cintinàru                           about a hundred

Na cinquantìna                      about fifty

C’eranu na cinquantìna d’armàli        There were about fifty animals

Quàsi na vintina                                 About twenty

Dammi na chilata di pasta                  Give me about a kilo of pasta

Dammìnni dû fila di spaghètti   

Give me a couple (a few strands) of spaghetti

 

Demostrative Adjectives

The demonstrative adjectives are those that indicate of which object we are talking about.  They are:

Masculine                    Feminine                     

Chistu                        chista                          this

Chissu                       chissa                         that

Chiddu                       chidda                         that

 

Chistu è mê    patri                                        This is my father

Chissu e chissa sunnu li mê ziiThat one and that one are my aunt and uncle

 

For clarification the adverbs here, there, further often are used, as in:

Chistu ccà                  chista ccà                   This one here (near me)

Chissu ddocu             chissa ddocu              That one there (near you)                    

Chiddu ddà                chidda ddà        That one there (away from both of us)

Chistu ccà mi piaci mègghiu                           I like better this one here

Chissu ddocu e cchiu` sapurìtu               That one (near you) is prettier

Chiddu ddà nun e miu                                    That one there is not mine

 

These adjectives are often used in a contracted way, as in:

Stu                              sta                              this

Ssu                             ssa                              that

Ddu                            dda                             that

 

Stu ballùni è russu                                           This balloon is red

Ssu àrvulu è ghiàvutu                                      That tree is tall

Ddu gaddu canta ogni matìna              That rooster crows every morning

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