Adjectives must agree in number, case, and gender with the nouns they modify. They can be placed both before and after it. Although no binding rule can be given, in general such constructions are head-last: when the noun is dominant and the adjective is only used to modify or describe it, the latter is placed in front it, while in cases when the adjective needs special stress or forms a stable unity with the noun, it is mostly placed at the end. It remains, however, a matter of the speaker's taste. For example:
biały dzej “a beautiful day”
jałty jedźwiecz “a high building”
lęgwa wenedka “the Venedic language”
Sąta Cezarza Rumana “the Holy Roman Empire”
In comparison to the inflection of nouns and verbs, the inflection of adjectives is pretty straightforward. There is no distinction between declensions, and as far as there are differences, these apply only to roots ending in a hard versus soft consonant.
| Hard stems: bony “good” | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| masc./neut.sg. | fem.sg. | masc.pl. (*) | fem.pl. | other pl. | |
| dir. gen. dat. |
bony bonu boni |
bona boniej boniej |
boni bonór boniew |
bonie bonar boniew |
bonie bonór boniew |
| Hard stems: rzyki “rich” | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| masc./neut.sg. | fem.sg. | masc.pl. (*) | fem.pl. | other pl. | |
| dir. gen. dat. |
rzyki rzyku rzyczy |
rzyka rzyczej rzyczej |
rzyczy rzykór rzyczew |
rzycze rzykar rzyczew |
rzycze rzykór rzyczew |
| Soft stems: froci “strong” | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| masc./neut.sg. | fem.sg. | masc.pl. (*) | fem.pl. | other pl. | |
| dir. gen. dat. |
froci frociu froci |
frocia frociej frociej |
froci frociór frociew |
frocie frociar frociew |
frocie frociór frociew |
| Soft stems: brzewi “short” | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| masc./neut.sg. | fem.sg. | masc.pl. (*) | fem.pl. | other pl. | |
| dir. gen. dat. |
brzewi brzewiu brzewi |
brzewia brzewiej brzewiej |
brzewi brzewiór brzewiew |
brzewie brzewiar brzewiew |
brzewie brzewiór brzewiew |
(*) The masculine plural is used for for male persons only. All other masculine and neuter nouns use other form listed as "other".
The comparative and superlative are built by adding the suffix -jerzy/-jerza, the superlative by adding the suffix -'eśmy/-'eśma to the root of the adjective:
brzewi “short”, brzewierzy “shorter”, brzewieśmy
“shortest”
kłary “bright”, kłarzerzy “brighter”, kłarześmy “brightest”
lęty “slow”, lęcerzy “slower”, lęcieśmy “shortest”
kaldy “warm”, kaldzerzy “warmer”, kaldzieśmy “warmest”
In some cases, the degrees of comparison are irregular:
bony – mielerzy – oćmy “good – better – best”
mały – piejerzy – pieśmy “bad – worse – worst”
grędzi – mojerzy – mośmy “big – bigger – biggest”
łonięcy – łonierzy – łonieśmy “far – further – furthest”
pieskły – mnierzy – mnieśmy “small – smaller – smallest”
wiekły – wieszczerzy – wiecieśmy “old – older – oldest”
jałty – sprzerzy – sprześmy “high – higher – highest”
mółt – pły – płerześmie “many/much – more – most”
Adverbs can be created by removing the ending -y or -i from the adjective or by adding the suffix -mięć. There are no real rules as to which option is preferred. In many cases, both coexist with each other. When the longer form it used, it usually expresses the way in which something is done.
The longer form is built as follows: when the word root ends in a hard consonant, the adverbial ending -amięć is added. When the word root ends in a soft consonant, the ending is -emięć instead. Words ending in -ły always have -lemięć, except biały, mały, miły and sięgły, which have białamięć, małamięć, miłamięć and sięgłamięć.
Adjective ending in -ęci always have adverbial ending -ęć, never a form on -mięć.
In rare cases, adverbs can be encountered that have the ending -ie or -u.
Examples:
flary “wild” – flar, flaramięć “wildly”
kaldy “warm” – kald, kaldamięć “warmly”
profędy “deep” – profąd, profędamięć “deeply”
laty “glad” – latamięć “gladly”
zebdy “sudden” – zebdamięć “suddenly”
brzewi “short” – brzew, brzewiemięć “shortly”
korzecy “correct” – korzec, korzecemięć “correctly”
sięgły “single” – sięgłamięć “only”
wiortabły “true” – wiortablemięć “truly, really”
krwięci “cruel” – krwięć “cruelly”
ślęci “silent” – ślęć “silently”
siępilczy “simple” – siępilcze “simply, just”
dzarny “tomorrow's” – dzarnu “tomorrow”
kocięwy “continuous” – kocięwu “continuously”
Bony “good” is the only adjective with an irregular adverb: bień “well”.
Present tense participles (with the ending -ęci) only have an adverb on -ęć. Likewise, perfect passive participles just loose their ending -y:
przeszęci “present” – przeszęć “presently”
ciętęci “trying” – ciętęć “trying”
focigaty “tired” – focigat “tiredly”
putaty “drunk” – putat “drunk”
Comparatives can be adverbialised by substituting the ending -erzy by -u, superlatives by adding the ending -ie instead of -y. They never have forms on -mięć:
kłary “clear” – kłarzerzy “clearer” (adj.) – kłarześmy “clearest” (adj.)
kłar, kłaramięć “clearly” – kłarzu “more clearly” (adv.) – kłarześmie “most clearly” (adv.)
kaldy “warm” – kaldzerzy “warmer” (adj.) – kaldzieśmy “warmest” (adj.)
kald, kaldamięć “warmly” – kaldzu “warmer” (adv.) – kaldzieśmie “warmest” (adv.)
Predicates have the same form as ordinary adjectives, but sometimes the ending -y/-i in the direct case singular can be dropped. This is somewhat archaic and the resulting forms should not be confused with adverbs.
Grędzi dom "A big house", but: Ił dom je grądź. "That house is big."
Biały libier "A beautiful book", but: Ił libier je biał. "That book is beautiful."
Comparatives on -erzy have a short form on -erz, superlatives on -ieśmy do not have a short equivalent:
Miej papagał je bielerz(y) ka twej, uta papagał miej motrunie je bieleśmy za tutór!
My parrot is more beautiful than yours, but my grandmother's parrot is the most beautiful of all!
These short forms are also used for the names of languages and (often) for inhabitants of a country, region or town:
wenedki "Venedic, pertaining to Veneda" – wenedyk "Wenedyk, the Venedic language"
angielki "English, pertaining to England" – anglik "Englishman; the English language"
brzytańki "British, pertaining to Britain" – brzytanik "Brithenig".
Note that the difference between long and short forms is noticeable only in the direct case singular of masculine and neuter words!