Some adjectives are primitive, as umi, long; poto, wise. Some formed from nouns by the addition of a, like y in English; as word, wordy; thus, ‘ele‘ele, dirt; ‘ele‘elea, dirty; palapala, mud; palapala, muddy. Others are formed by doubling the noun; as pona, a knot; ponapona, knotty; fatu, a stone; fatufatua, stony. Others are formed by prefixing fa‘a to the noun; as ‘o le tu fa‘asamoa, a Samoan custom. Like ly in English, the fa‘a often expresses similitude; ‘o le amio fa‘apua‘a, swinish conduct. In one or two cases a is prefixed; as apulupulu, sticky, from pulu, resin; avanoa, open; from va and noa.

Verbs are also used as adjectives: ‘o le ala faigata, a difficult road; ‘o le vai tafe, a river, flowing water; ‘o le la‘au ola, a live tree; also the passive: ‘o le ali‘i mata‘utia.

Ma is the prefix of condition, sae, to tear; masae, torn; as, ‘O le i‘e masae, torn cloth; Goto, to sink; magoto, sunk; ‘o le va‘a magoto, a sunken canoe.

A kind of compound adjective is formed by the union of a noun with an adjective; as ‘o le tagata lima malosi, a strong man, lit. the stronghanded man; ‘o le tagata loto vaivai, a weak-spirited man.

Nouns denoting the materials out of which things are made are used as adjectives: ‘o le mama auro, a gold ring; ‘o le fale ma‘a, a stone house. Or they may be reckoned as nouns in the genitive. (See Syntax.)

Adjectives expressive of colours are mostly reduplicated words; as sinasina, white; uliuli, black; samasama, yellow; ‘ena‘ena, brown; mumu, red, etc.; but when they follow a noun they are usually found in their simple form; as ‘o le ‘ie sina, white cloth; ‘o le pua‘a uli, a black pig. The plural is sometimes distinguished by doubling the first syllable; as sina, white; plural, sisina; tele, great; pl. tetele. In compound words the first syllable of the root is doubled; as maualuga, high; pl. maualuluga. Occasionally the reciprocal form is used as a plural; as lele, flying; ‘o manu felelei, flying creatures, birds.

Comparison is generally effected by using two adjectives, both in the positive state; thus e lelei lenei, ‘a e leaga lena, this is good—but that is bad, not in itself, but in comparison with the other; e umi lenei, a e puupuu lena, this is long, that is short.

The superlative is formed by the addition of an adverb, such as matua, tasi, sili, silisili‘ese a‘ia‘i, na‘ua; as ‘ua lelei tasi, it alone is good—that is, nothing equals it. ‘Ua matua silisili ona lelei, it is very exceedingly good; ‘ua tele na‘ua, it is very great. Silisili ese, highest, ese, differing from all others.

Naua has often the meaning of “too much”; ua tele naua, it is greater than is required.

Numerals

The cardinals are:—

• E tasi, one.

• E lua, two.

• E tolu, three.

• E fa, four.

• E lima, five.

• E ono, six.

• E fitu, seven.

• E valu, eight.

  – 9 –

• E iva, nine.

• E sefulu, ten.

• E sefulu ma le tasi, eleven.

• E sefulu ma le lua, twelve.

• E luafulu. or e lua sefulu, twenty.

• E tolugafulu, thirty.

• E fagafulu, forty.

• E limagafulu, fifty.

• E onogafulu, sixty.

• E fitugafulu, seventy.

• E valugafulu, eighty.

• E ivagafulu, ninety.

• E selau, one hundred.

• E lua lau, two hundred.

• E tolugalau, three hundred.

• E afe, one thousand.

• E lua afe, two thousand.

• E tolugaafe, three thousand.

• E mano, ten thousand.

E mano is the utmost limit. The natives do not say, e lua mano, but all beyond mano is manomano, ilu; that is, innumerable.

Hazlewood, in his Fijian Grammar, regards the particle e as a kind of article. It would seem rather to be the verbal particle, because the numerals take ua and sa, instead of e; as, ua valu, there are eight. When joined to nouns of time e is omitted before the numeral: ‘E po fitu, seven nights, but, E fitu o matou po, our nights are seven.

“Numerals in the Melanesian languages are used as nouns, adjectives, and verbs.” (Codrington, p. 237.) E sefulu, it is tenned; here it is a verb.

Ordinals

‘O le muamua, or ‘o le ulua‘i, first.

‘O le lua, second.

‘O le tolu, third, etc.

Months are counted differently after the second—

‘O le toluga masina, the third month.

O le faga masina, the fourth month, etc., up to the ninth, after which the ordinary counting is followed.

The numeral adverbs, once, twice, etc., are expressed by atu; as O le atu tasi, once; ‘O le atu lua, twice, etc.

Another method is by prefixing fa‘a; as Ua ‘ou sau fa‘alua, I have come twice.

Distributives are formed by prefixing ta‘i; as ta‘itasi, one by one, one at a time; ta‘ilima, five each, or by fives. To‘a is added in counting persons; as ta‘ito‘alua, two at a time, or in pairs.

Thicknesses of things doubled, or folds, are expressed by prefixing to the cardinal number sautua; as sautualua, doubled; sautuatolu, threefold, etc.

Very many things are counted each in its own peculiar way. A knowledge of this is absolutely necessary, as being always used by the natives, and also to prevent mistakes; thus, to say, ‘o i‘a e lualau, instead of meaning two hundred, would mean only two.

The following are the principal forms:—

Men are counted by prefixing to‘a: e to‘atasi, one; e to‘atinoagafulu, ten.

Young pigs and cocoa-nuts by affixing oa, or in couples; as e luaoa, four; e fagaoa, eight. The odd one being expressed separately; thus, o popo e onogaoa ma le popo e tasi, thirteen.

– 10 –

Cocoa-nuts by the score; thus, e seaea, twenty; e luaea, forty; e tolugaea, sixty.

Fowls, broadfruit, and some shell-fish; e tasi, one (as often with other things); e luafua, two; e tolugafua, three; e fuagafulu, ten; e fualua, twenty; e fuaselau, one hundred.

Crayfish; when ten, e tu‘eagafulu; tu‘elua, twenty.

Fish; e lualau, two; e tolugalau, three; e lauagafulu, ten; e laulua, twenty; e lauselau, one hundred; e laulualau, two hundred; e lauafe, one thousand.

Bonito (not called i‘a by Samoans, except on Tutuila); ‘o atu e luatino, two bonitos; e tinoagafulu, ten.

Taro, e luamata, two; e matagafulu, ten; e matalua, twenty, etc.

Yams; units as cocoa-nuts, tens as bananas: ‘O ufi a ‘aulua, twenty yams, lit. twenty stems.

Bananas; le ‘aufa‘i, one bunch (or stem); e lua‘au, two bunches; e ‘auagafulu, ten; e ‘aulua, twenty.

Masi, in round cakes or balls (potoi); e potoiagafulu, ten; in flat cakes, afiagafulu, ten.

Native-made dishes (cooked in leaves); e fa‘a‘ofuagafulu, ten; ‘ofulua, twenty.