Descriptive words: Adverbs
Adverbs are the words that modify verbs (hence the name) and other descriptive words. Adverbs usually express location (place, space), time and frequency, manner. There are not many adverbs in Nûrlâm's dictionary:
New words
dhu (down[wards], underneath) – place, direction
ghu (above, up[wards]) – place, direction
gûth (almost, nearly) – manner
idh (out[wards]) – direction
krut (back[wards], ago) – both direction and time
mag (too [much]) – manner
nokh (once, one time) – time, frequency
sha (together) – manner
sharz (very) – manner
tîr (straight) – direction
Making adverbs from adjectives
Very few adverbs have the same form as adjectives (or other word classes):
New words
raih (seldom, rarely) < adj. “rare” – time, frequency
thil (often, frequently) < adj. “frequent” – time, frequency
zârsh (today) < noun – time
In majority of cases you need to add suffix -arz after the adjective (or sometimes other part of speech) to convert it to adverb. If the adjective already has suffix -ûrz, it should be replaced with -arz.
New words
aktûrz (precise) ⇒ aktarz (precisely) – manner
durt (sure) ⇒ durtarz (surely, of course) – manner
farkh (left) ⇒ farkharz (at the left, to the left) – place, direction
forg (right) ⇒ forgarz (at the right, to the right) – place, direction
hîs (fast, quick) ⇒ hîsarz (quickly) – manner
kog (true, real) ⇒ kogarz (truly, really, actually, indeed) – manner
mûl (road, path) ⇒ mûlarz (by the way) – manner
Word order
The following rules are applied to position of adverbs in sentence:
if adverb modifies the verb, it should be placed after the verb and it's object: the fire quickly burns the forest ⇒ ghâshum ghâshâ taum hîsarz;
if adverb modifies the adjective that precedes the noun, then adverb is placed before the adjective: very old dirt ⇒ sharz kû dug;
if adverb modifies the adjective that is placed after the noun, then adverb is placed after the adjective: really hot water ⇒ nîn gashûrz kogarz;
if adjective has a modifying adverb, it cannot join the noun as a clitic: almost black blood ⇒ ghor mor gûth / gûth mor ghor (not “ghormor gûth”);
if several adverbs follow the same word, they are ordered as Place–Manner–Time: warriors are going back together today ⇒ mauh ukhû krut sha zârsh;
if several adverbs precede the same word, they are ordered as Time–Manner–Place, which rarely happens though;
if there are too many adverbs describing the same verb, then some of them (usually referring exact time) may precede the subject, while others are placed after the verb. They should be ordered in the whole sentence as Time–Manner–Place, but this rule is not very strict.
Exercise 1
Translate from English into Nûrlâm:
come together
fly up
Exercise 2
Exercise 3
Make new adverb from adjectives you have learnt before: