Lesson 8 — Grammatical Topic — "What" forms as adjectives  

You may have noticed that so far these lessons haven't shown you how to string an adjective together with a noun, to say things like "a white dog" or "good children," although you've learned how to say "the dog is white" and "the children are good."
It's important to keep in mind that Samala doesn't have a class of words like English adjectives. So while it's very easy to say "a black dog" or "good children" in English, in Samala this is a more complicated undertaking.
The Samala equivalent is the "what" form of verbs that describe conditions rather than actions, as you so on the previous page.
Here you see a regular sentence with the verb  owow  "to be white" contrasted with the corresponding "what" form:
  sentence: s–owow ha huu   "the dog is white"
"what" form:   ma huu ha–al–owow >   ma huu alowow   "a white dog," literally "a dog, one that is white"
And with the verb o "to be good":  
  sentence: –iy–o ha ii > io ha ii "the children are good"
"what" form: ma ii ha–iy–al–o >   ma ii ayao     "good children," literally "child(ren), ones that are good"
       
You have various options here. The "what" form can go before or after the noun, so you could say
a white dog
malowow a huu
malowow a huu literally "one that is white, a dog"  
or ma huu alowow     literally "a dog, one that is white"    
With the expression "good children," the "what" form specifically says plural, so you also have the choice of marking plural on the word for "child" or leaving it implied.
Here's a grid that shows you the options with this phrase. All of them are perfectly acceptable in Samala:
  marking "child" as plural     leaving"child" unmarked  
  noun first: ma iiwun ayao ma ii ayao    
  noun second:    mayao ha iiwun   ma iiwun ayao      
Here's an example of a dual "what" form used as an adjective:
  ma–i–al–ikmin ha eneq >  maalikmin a eneq  "two young women," literally "two who are young, woman"
The Samala equivalent can be deceptively simple.
When the "what" form is based on a verb that starts with some consonant other than glottal stop, the sequence of  ma–al– or  ha–al– is so compressed that the "what" form looks like a bare verb:
ma–al–tasn ha mitpn >   matasn ha mitpn  "a red door," literally "one that is red, a door"   a winding path
  ma–al–mxxn ha xus > mamxxn ha xus "a hungry bear," literally "one that is hungry, a bear"  
  ma–al–woyo ha aya > mawoyo a aya "a winding path," literally "one that is crooked, a path"  
          mawoyo a aya
Examples of
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For practice, here are several example of "what" forms used like English adjectives. Some of them come before the noun and others come after, but all of them could be in either order.
ma tomol ha–al–towi > "a fast canoe" literally "a canoe, one that is fast" a strong man
  ma tomol atowi
  ma al–ukal ha hy > "a strong man" literally "one who is strong, a man"
  malukal a hy malukal a hy
  ma ii ha–iy–al–umaw >   "healthy children" literally "a child, ones who are healthy"  
  ma ii ayaumaw  
  ma al–tasn ha spey > "a red flower" literally "one that is red, a flower" your new house
  ma tasn a spey
  ma s–ap ha–al–ikmin > "your new house" literally "your house, one that is new"
  ma pap alikmin ma pap alikmin
  ma uwumu ha–al–o > "good food" literally "food, what is good"  
  ma uwumu ao a sick dog
  ma iy–al–woyo ha k–ya > "my crooked arrows" literally "those that are crooked, my arrows"
  mayawoyo a kya
  ma al–yuxpan ha huu > "a sick dog" literally "one that is sick, a dog"
  mayuxpan a huu mayuxpan a huu
Here are a few examples with verbs that are based on a noun plus the suffix –i: a smokey fire
ma n hatowo
  ma n ha–al–tow–o > "a smokey fire" literally "a fire, one that is smokey"
  ma n hatowo
  ma iy–al–nuy–i ha k–haxwi > "my dirty clothes" literally "ones that are dirty, my clothing"
  mayanuyi a kaxwi  
  ma s–pepe ha–al–talik–i >   "his/her married older brother" literallyl "his/her older sibling, one who has a wife" a woman with earrings
  ma spepe ataliki
  ma al–suwayan–i ha eneq > "a woman with earrings" literally "one who has earring(s), a woman"
  mauwayani a eneq mauwayani a eneq

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