Like in English we have adjectives in Marathi, to describe more about noun/pronoun.
Rule 1
In Marathi usage of adjectives can change according to the gender and multiplicity of the noun.
Generally, those masculine adjectives which end with vowel आ(A) change as per gender and multiplicity.
If the masculine adjective ends with vowel आ(A) then corresponding feminine ends with ई (I) and neuter ends with ए(e).
e.g.
Black -> काळा (kALA)
Black horse -> काळा घोडा (kALA ghoDA )
Black chair -> काळी खुर्ची (kALI khurchI )
Black page -> काळे पान ( kALe pAn )
In Marathi Horse (घोडा ) is masculine, chair (खुर्ची) is feminine and the page (पान ) is neuter. So the adjective was changed to काळा, काळी, काळे respectively.
For plurals, they will be
Black horses -> काळे घोडे (kALe ghoDe)
Black chairs -> काळ्या खुर्च्या (kALyA khurchyA )
Black pages -> काळी पाने (kALI pAne )
We have already seen the rules for making plurals depending on gender and ending vowel. Same rules are applied here to both adjective and noun.
Rule 2
Other adjectives generally remain the same in all genders.
A few examples of adjectives are given below. You will learn more adjectives as you will read Marathi more and more
| Adjective in English | masculine singluar | feminine singular | neuter singular | masculine plural | feminine plural | neuter plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| good | चांगला (chAMgalA) | चांगली (chAMgalI) | चांगले (chAMgale) | चांगले (chAMgale) | चांगल्या (chAMgalyA) | चांगली (chAMgalI) |
| big | मोठा (moThA) | मोठी (moThI) | मोठे ( moThe ) | मोठे ( moThe ) | मोठ्या (moThyA ) | मोठी (moThI) |
| fat | जाडा (jADA) | जाडी (jADI) | जाडे (jADe) | जाडे (jADe) | जाड्या ( jADyA) | जाडी (jADI) |
| long | लांब (lAMb) |
|||||
| wide | रुंद (ruMd) | |||||
Rule 3
When adjective ending with vowel आ(A) is used along with preposition, its form changes the same as their corresponding noun. i.e. there is सामान्य रूप (sAmAnya rUp) of adjectives in Marathi for adjective ending with vowel आ(A).
सामान्य रूप (sAmAnya rUp) created by appending या (yA).
See the below example to understand it clearly.
Good horse -> चांगला घोडा (chAMgalA ghoDA )
For good horse –> चांगल्या घोड्या साठी (chAMgalyA ghoDyA sAThI )
See the “चांगला” is changed to “चांगल्या” same as “घोडा” changed to “घोड्या”.
Good chair -> चांगली खुर्ची
For good chair -> चांगल्या खुर्ची साठी
Easy exam -> सोपी परीक्षा (sopI parIkShA )
After easy exam -> सोप्या परीक्षेनंतर ( sopyA parIkShenaMtar )
Rule 4
Other adjectives generally remain the same even when used with the preposition
Red horse:- लाल घोडा (lAl ghoDA )
For red horse:- लाल घोड्यासाठी ( lAl ghoDyAsAThI )
Here “घोडा” changed to “घोड्या” but the adjective “लाल” remained unchanged.
Beautiful drawing -> सुंदर चित्र (suMdar chitr )
About beautiful drawing -> सुंदर चित्राबद्दल ( suMdar chitrAbaddal)
Rule 5 : Verb as objective
n English we use phrases like “Speaking Doll”, “Talking book” etc. Here form of verbs speak, talk is used as a kind of adjective.
In Marathi, the same can be achieved by appending णारा (NArA )/ णारी (NArI) / णारे (NAre ) to verb depending on gender ie. Masculine, feminied and neuter respectively
Examples :
Masculine
Talking boy:- बोलणारा मुलगा (bolaNArA mulagA)
Rotating fan:- फिरणारा पंखा (phiraNArA paMkhA)
Feminine
Talking girls:- बोलणारी मुलगी (bolaNArI mulagI)
Moving chair:- हलणारी खुर्ची (halaNArI khurchI)
Flying saucer:- उडणारी तबकडी (uDaNArI tabakaDI )
Neuter
Talking book:- बोलणारे पुस्तक ( bolaNAre pustak )
Moving tree:- हलणारे झाड (halaNAre jhAD)
Similarily for past-tense verb i.e. seen passage, unseen passage, rotten food, etc. we will append लेला (lelA) / लेली (lelI )/ लेले (lele) to verb depending on gender ie. Masculine, feminied and neuter respectively.
Examples:
Masculine
Talked boy:- बोललेला मुलगा (bolaNArA mulagA)
Rotated fan:- फिरलेला पंखा (phiraNArA paMkhA)
Feminine
Talked girls:- बोललेली मुलगी (bolaNArI mulagI)
Moved chair:- हललेली खुर्ची (halaNArI khurchI)
Flyed saucer:- उडलेली तबकडी (uDaNArI tabakaDI )
Neuter
Talked book:- बोललेले पुस्तक ( bolaNAre pustak )
Moved tree:- हललेले झाड (halaNAre jhAD)
