Piedmontese Grammar
In this part we conclude our short speeck about the piedmontese adjectives. We remember that in Piedmontese the various types of adjectives are: Agetiv qualificativ, possessiv, dimostrativ, andefinì, anterogativ, numeraj. We already spoke about "qualificativ = descriptive" and "possessiv = possessive".
They indicate the position or location of the entity they are referred to, or better, they act as a pointer to the entity. Anyway their functions, in Piedmontese, are the same they have in other languages.
Often in Piedmontese thee adjectives are strengthened with the adverbs "sì, lì, là" (respectively approx. here, there). In the sentence this adjective comes before the name which is referred to, and the possible adverb comes after the name. We note that not always this adjective can be apostrophized before words starting by vowel, in particular if it is plural masculine, since the deletion of the final vowel can delete also the plural meaning. We report in the following table the used forms, including the related pronunciation, compared also with the italian correspondent (and english, of course):
| Italian | English | masc. sing. | femin. sing. | masc. plur. | femin. plur. |
| Questo/a/i/e | This / These | cost, sto, st' \ cust, stu, st \ | costa, sta, st' \ cust&, st&, st \ | costi, sti \ custi, sti \ | coste, ste \custe, ste\ |
| Codesto/a/i/e | That / Those 1 | ës, së, s' 2 \ &s, s&, s \ | sa, s' 2 \ s&, s \ | si \si \ | sé \ se \ |
| Quello/a/i/e | That / Those 1 | col \ cul \ | cola, col' \ cul&, cul' \ | coj \cui\ | cole, coj' \ cule, cui' \ |
2 - The using rules of these forms are the same as for the article.
The table shows also the "limitation" in using the apostrophe, allowed in singular forms and not allowed in plural forms. As an example "st'aso = this donkey" (singular, it can be apostrophized), but "sti aso = these donkeys" (plural, it cannot be apostrophized, otherwise it would be identical to singular).
In Piedmontese the forms related to "That" -> (codesto) are also sometimes used for "This" and "That" -> (quello).
We told that often, after the name which is associated to, and follow the adjective the adverbs "sì" = "here" or "lì" = "there" or "là" = "there" are added. The first (sì) is always pointing at something or someone near to the speaker. The second (lì) is always pointing at something or someone near to the listener. The third (là) is always pointing at something or someone far from the speaker and the listener. This can be used for specifying the adjectives of the second row in the table, that can be used in different ways, as we said above. The use of these adverbs is not actually required but it is very frequent.
In order to clarify what we said, we give a number of examples:
- Sta cadrega a l'é rota = This chair is broken (the chair is near the speaker)
- Sta cadrega sì a l'é rota = This chair (here) is broken (the chair is near the speaker)
- Sa cadrega sì a l'é rota = This chair is broken (the chair is near the speaker)
- Sa cadrega lì a l'é rota = That chair is broken (the chair is near the listener)
- Sa cadrega là a l'é rota = That chair is broken (the chair is far from speaker and listener)
- Col fieul lì a l'è pa vàire degordì = That boy is not so much clever.
- ës liber sì, ës liber là = this book, that book
- ës liber, ës liber lì = that book (near to the listener)
- Col'aqua, col'aqua là = That water (that water there)
- Coj'aque = Those waters
- Cole scòle= Those schools
- Coste scòle= These schools
- Sto caval= This horse
- Cost anlev, costi anlev = This pupil, these pupils
- I capisso nen sto discors ; i capisso nen sto discors sì = I don't understand this speech
- Coj temp a j'ero bin dur = Those times were quite hard
- Mi i andrai pròpi col dì lì = I will go just that day
- An col'epoca là as andasìa a pé = In that period they went on foot
- A mi cole cuche it jë conte nen = Don't tell me those fibs
They indicate, broadly speaking, the approximated quantity of the entity defined by the substantive they are referred to, or a generical cathegory of entities specified by the substantive.
We report in a table some of them and we will do some observations and examples after. We do not show the pronunciation since at this point it should be clear. For technical reasons (lazyness) we give them in italian alphabetic order (with english translation), and of course the table is not exhaustive (see the vocabulary).
| Italian | English | masc. sing. | femin. sing. | masc. plur. | femin. plur. |
| Alcuno, qualche | Some, a few | quàich, or quèich or chèich |
quàich, or quèich or chèich |
quàich, or quèich or chèich |
quàich, or quèich or chèich |
| Altrettanto | as much ...(as), as many ...(as) so much ...(as), so many ...(as) |
autërtant | autërtanta | autërtanti | autërtante |
| Altro | another, other | àutr 1 | àutra | àutri | àutre |
| Certo | certain | cert or certo 2 | certa | certi | certe |
| Ciascuno | every , each | minca un, or ògni | minca na, or ògni | ----- | ----- |
| Medesimo | same | midem, or medesim | midema, or medesima | midem, or medesim (sometimes medesimi) |
mideme, or medesime |
| Molto | much , many | tant, or divers | tanta, or diversa | tanti, or diversi | tante, or diverse |
| Nessuno | no , not ... any | gnun 3, or nsun | gnun-a, or nsun-a | gnun, or nsun | gnun-e, or nsun-e |
| Ogni | every | ògni, or tut4 | ògni, or tuta | tuti | tute |
| Parecchio | quite a lot of .... | divers or vaire5 | diversa | diversi | diverse |
| Poco | little , few | pòch | pòca | pòchi | pòche |
| Qualche | some , a few | quàich, or quèich or chèich |
quàich, or quèich or chèich |
----- | ----- |
| Qualunque | whatever | qualonque | qualunque | ----- | ----- |
| Quanto | how much , how many | quant | quanta | quanti | quante |
| Stesso | same | stess, or istess | stessa, or istessa | stessi, or istessi | stesse, or istesse |
| Tale | such (a) | tal | tala | taj | tale |
| Tanto | so much , so many as much, as many |
tant | tanta | tanti | tante |
| Troppo | too , too much , too many | tròp | tròpa | tròpi | tròpe |
| Tutto | all | tut | tuta | tuti | tute |
1) - we remember that in this case the pronunciation is \&utr\.
2) - we remember that the pronunciation is \[ch]'ærtu\.
3) - we remember that the pronunciation is \o[gn]'[ue]n\.
4) - as in the case: tut òm = every man.
5) - it is invariant, but it is mainly used at plural. When possibly used at singular requires the genitive partitive. See also examples.
We note that the invariant adjective dontrè = some has a plural sense (and plural is also the name which is referred to). Then in the current use, sometimes we find chèica instead of chèich, sometimes only as a pronunciation and sometime also written. This is not a bad error, just be careful that it is not a feminine form, since it is the same invariant form of "chèich" and therefore valid for both the genders and both the numbers.
We note that in Piedmontese, with indefinite adjectives is very often used the partitive complement (in particular at singular). For example "so much bread" is translated into "tant ëd pan". About this point and about similar forms we will speak again in Syntax.
Some examples:
I l'hai tanta fam e autërtanta seugn = I am so much hungry and I am the same sleepy Lor a l'han tròpi sòld e pòche grumele = They have too much money and too few seeds This is an idiom where the seeds are a representation of "cleverness" and "shrewdness". The "grumele" \gr[ue]m'ele\ are the seeds of fruits like orange or apple, little and not hard. The hard ones, and bigger, are called "os = bones" and correspond tothe english "stones". In Piedmontese the seed for sowing are called "smens". Another piedmontese idiom: when a nosy parker asks "what have you there?" or "what is that?", the answer is "(a son) smens ëd curios" = "(they are) seeds of curious".
We still note an exception due to the adjective "tal", which have the feminine in "tala", an so it does not follow the rule for adjectives ending by "...al".
Let's go back to examples:
- minca 'n òm a l'é amportant, e gnun òmo a serv a gnènte = each man is important, and nobody is no use.
- Ij midem problema, ël midem problema = the same problems, the same problem.
- a l'ha arzolvù vaire problema = he solved many problems
- a l'é mangiàsse vaire cirese = he ate many cherries
- a l'ha pà vaire 'd furbìssia = he has not so much astuteness
- i l'hai catà dontrè pom e dontrè tomatiche = I bought some apples and some tomatoes
- i l'avìa ciamate chèich biarava ma sòn a l'é tròpa ròba = I asked you for some beet but this is too much stuff
- a-i andran vaire person-e, ma pòchi studios a capiran tut = many persons will go, but few learned men will understand all
The locutions "not so much" and "not so many" very often are translated into "nen vàire" or "pà vàire", and this happens both when the value is adjective and when it is adverb. About this subject we note that when the plural name can be substuituted by a collective name, often the locution "vàire + (plur. substantive)" is substituted by the locution "motobin ëe + (collective name), as for example:
"Vàire person-e (= many persons)" often becomes "motobin ëd gent (= very much (of) people). This shows the piedmontese tendency for the use of the partitive, much less used both in Italian and English.
We will see particular uses of partitive in Syntax and in Idiomatic Sentences.
In Piedmontese they are similar to the corresponding italian adjectives, and serve at asking for the identity or for the quantity. They usually appear in interrogative sentences, but they can appear also when the sentence is not explicitly an interrogative one, but it just have a question's meaning.
For the first type (request of identity) we have the two adjectives:
- che = what, which also similar to the italian "che". Example: "che tòch (it) veus-to? = what piece do you want?". This adjective is invariant in gender and number (as it is also in Italian and English).
- qual = what also similar to the italian "quale". This adjective has the masc. plur. = quaj, the femin. sing. = quala, and the femin. plur. = quale. Also this adjective is an exception to the rule of adjectives ending by "...al". Example "quale part a son-ne da fé? = what parts have to be done?".
The first of the two ("che") is the most commonly used whenever possible (in many cases the two adiectives are equivalent), the second is quite rare.
For the second type (request of quantity) we have the adjective:
- quant = how much also similar to the italian "quanto". This adjective has the masc. plur. = quanti= how many, the femin. sing. = quanta, and the femin. plur. = quante. This adjective is an exception to the rule of invariance at plural for masculine. Example: "quanta strà a venta che a faso? = how much road they have to do?"
They are subdivided into four groups: cardinal (cardinaj), ordinal (ordinativ), collective (coletiv), multiplicative (moltiplicativ). Then we will speak about the fractional numbers and other mathematical expressions involving these adjectives.
We note here a piedmontese particularity: while in Italian and in French there is only the number "one" that have a masculine form and a feminine form, in Piedmontese the number one has a masculine and a feminine form, respectively "un, un-a", but also the number "two" has a masculine and a feminine form, respectively "doi, doe". So we have, for example: "Doi bero e doe fèje = two lambs and two sheeps".
Another piedmontese particularity is the nearly complete lack of a specific form for ordinals, as we will see below. The existing ordinals have masculine and feminine, singular and plural, as it is for multiplicative adjectives. Collective adjectives have singular and plural.
We give the usual table, where in blue colour there are adjectives which are also used, but they are italianisms.
| Number | Cardinal | Ordinal | Collective | Multiplicative |
| 1 | un, un-a | prim, prim-a, prim, prime | ------ | sempi, sempia, sempi, sempie |
| 2 | doi, doe | scond, sconda, scond, sconde | cobia, cobie pàira, paira |
dobi, dobia, dobi, dobie |
| 3 | trè | ters, tersa, ters, terse | trien-a, trien-e | tre vòlte tre vire triplo |
| 4 | quatr - quat 5 | quart, quarta | quatren-a | quat vòlte quat vire quadruplo |
| 5 | sinch | quint, quinta, quint, quinte | sichen-a, sinchen-e | etc. |
| 6 | ses | sest, sesta, sest, seste | mesa dosen-a, mese dosen.e sesen-a, sesen-e |
|
| 7 | set | sétim, sétima, sétim, sétime1 | ------ 2 | |
| 8 | eut | otav, otava, otav, otave1 4 | ------ |
| 9 | neuv | nòno, nòna | noven-a, noven-e |
| 10 | des | décim | desen-a, desen-e |
| 11 | ondes | ondicésim, etc. 1 | ------ |
| 12 | dodes | dodicésim etc.1 | dosen-a, dosen-e |
| 13 | tërdes | ------ | ------ |
| 14 | quatòrdes | ------ | ------ |
| 15 | quìndes | ------ | quindzen-a, quindzen-e |
| 16 | sëdes | ------ | ------ |
| 17 | disset | ------ | ------ |
| 18 | disdeut | ------ | ------ |
| 19 | disneuv | ------ | ------ |
| 20 | vint | vintésim, etc. | vinten-a, vinten-e |
| 21 | vintun 3 | ------ | ------ |
| 22 | vintedoi 3 | ------ | ------ |
| 30 | tranta | trantésim | tranten-a, tranten-e |
| 40 | quaranta | quarantésim | quaranten-a, quaranten-e |
| 50 | sinquanta | siquantésim | sinquanten-a, sinquanten-e |
| 100 | sent | sentésim | senten-a, senten-e |
| 123 | sent e vintetrè | ------ | ------ |
| 1000 | mila | milésim, milésima, milésim, milésime | milié (invar.) |
| 1548 | milasichsentquaranteut | ------ | ------ |
1) - Ordinals, from 7 on, are not part of the piedmontese language (sometimes they are used as italianisms). Anyway there are the ordinals corresponding to complete tens (10, 20, 30, etc. up to 90) and complete hundreds (100, 200, 300, ...., up to 1000). Sometimes also 7 and 8 have anyway their ordinal. For the ordinal of a generic number, in classical Piedmontese, some locutions are used like: "col ch'a fà + (cardinal number) = that one which does + (cardinal number)". So for example the "twentyfourth" will be "col ch'a fà vintequatr". Other locutions can be:"col ch'a conta + (cardinal), col ch'a resta + (cardinal), col ch'a l'é + (cardinal)", respectively "that one which counts + (cardinal number), that one which remains + (cardinal number), that one which is + (cardinal number)". When there is not ambiguity also the simple cardinal can be used. The simple cardinal is nearly always used for the sequence number of Kings, Popes, etc. as for: "Louis XIV" which is in Piedmontese "Luis quatòrdes".
2) - Also for collectives there is a rule as for ordinals, without particular locutions, but there are the "dosen-a" = "dozen" and "qundzen-a" = "(set of) fifteen".
3) - The coniunction "e" is put between hundreds and tens and between tens and units, starting from twenty, with an exception if the ten is 80 and if the unit is 1 or 8 (beginning by vowel). For example: twentyseven = vinteset ; twentyeight = vinteut ; twentyone = vintun ; 135 = sentetrantesinch ; 184 = sentotantequatr.
4) - The word "otava" is also the musical octave
5) - The number "four" is "quatr" if the following word begins by vowel and "quat" if the following word begins by consonant.
Of course, the ordinals can be masculine or feminine, singular or plural, while the collectives can be singular or plural. In the table we reported the forms in the sequence: masc. sing., femin. sing., masc. plur., femin. plur. for ordinals, and singular, plural for collectives. In general the numeral adjectives follow the rules that we've seen for gender and number.
In mathematics, speaking about "units, tens, hundreds, thousands, etc", in Piedmontese we have respectively "unità, desen-e, senten-e, milié, etc.", but dor "thousands" there are also:"ij mila, la cifra dij mila, mijé, milanta".
Fractional numbers and powers
We start from the simplest fraction: one half. In Piedmontese, as it is in Italian, two words translate "half". They are "metà" which is invariant, and "més, mesa, mesi, mese" (respectively for masc.sing., femin.ssing., masc.plur., femin.plur.). The two words not always are equivalent, and they can be adjectives or substantives (the first is more commonly substantive with a meaning of "one half"). See after some example.
Fractions whose denominator has an ordinal number are expressed "(cardinal of numerator) + (ordinal of denominator)". So, for example "3/4" is "tre quart". If the ordinal of the denominator does not exist, then in Piedmontese the expression is "(cardinal of numerator) of (cardinal of denominator)", or also "(cardinal of numerator) su (cardinal of denominator)". So, for example "7/19" is "set ëd disneuv" or also "set su disneuv".
For the powers, the exponent is espressed in cardinals. When there is an ordinal of the exponent it is also used the ordinal. For example "ten raised to the twentythird" will be in Piedmontese "des elevà a vintetrè" or "des a (la) vintetrè", while "three raised to the fourth (power)" will be "trè a la quatr" or "trè a la quarta (potensa)".
For radicals the mechanism is the same, an we have "fourth root of x" or "x in fourth root" will be, in Piedmontese "radis quarta d' x" or "radis a quat d' x" but "fifteenth root of y" in Piedmontese will be only "radis a quindes d' y" or "y an radis a quindes".
With powers having fractional exponent we have, for example: "10 raised to 3/11" = "des a la trè d'ondes" or "des a la trè su ondes"
Some examples:
- mèsa dosen-a = half a dozen
- i pìjo metà dla mica = i take one half of the loaf
- i l'hai spetà tre quart d'ora = I waited for three fourth of hour
- un ragg ëd sinch su sëddes ëd pòless = a radius of 5/16 of inch
