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Not having come across this before, how doe 'níos' affect 'deas' (since I assume that is the root of 'deise.')
1782
Most comparative adjectives are in the feminine genitive singular form after níos (as are superlative adjectives after is ); deise is the feminine genitive singular form of deas.
Thought this had something to do with Waterford for a minute! The difference a fada makes, eh?
I think An Déise is always capitalized too.
I was reflecting of the oddity to call one's brother nicest until I recalled the word used to be a synonym for stupid or a simpleton. So I looked it up and found it was from the Latin "nescius" or ignorant.
But ‘deas’ does not derive from that. (It's from the same Indo-European root as ‘dextrous’, according to Wiktionary.)
And "IS" ALWAYS means "nicest"(-est) and "nios" Always means "niser"?or there are exceptions?
The simple answer is that, if you look up an adjective in the grammar section on teanglann.ie, you will see the comparative form (bigger, smaller, nicer, flatter, etc) listed with "níos" and the superlative form (biggest, smallest, nicest, flattest, etc) listed with "is".
The slightly more complex answer is that "níos" is a present tense form - in the past tense, it is "ní ba" ("bhí sé anseo ní ba luaithe" - "he was here earlier").
Gramadach na Gaeilge makes the case that strictly speaking, there is no superlative form, just different grades of comparative.
You could try reporting it, but ‘more nice’ is very rare in English; it is almost always ‘nicer’.
One usually doesn't use ‘more’ (or ‘most’) with short adjectives. Instead of ‘more nice’, say ‘nicer’. (There is supposed to be some rule about when you can or most use this form, but the rule of thumb is when it is short.)
Is there a method of turning adjectives from masculine form to feminine form, or do you just have to learn it? Thanks.
- 1782
There are eight main declensions of adjectives, and the masculine vs. feminine distinctions are only in the genitive singular. The distinctions between the eight types aren’t always apparent from the nominative singular form, so it’s better just to learn it. (Note that all adjectives that end in a vowel except breá and te aren’t declined at all, and those two are only declined in the plural.)
"Deas" also means "pretty", doesn't it? I put "My brother is prettier" and Duo called it wrong.
When describing people ,"pretty" describes a persons physical appearance - "nice" and "pretty" are not synonyms when describing people, and an ordinary looking person can be "nice" without being "pretty".
"nice" and "pretty" can be synonyms when describing things or places - "a nice little cottage" or "a nice ring" can often be equally described as "a pretty little cottage" or "a pretty ring".
Deas means "nice", but when used to describe a place or a thing, you could probably get away with translating it as "pretty" at least on occasion. But it would be misleading to translate deas as "pretty" when describing a person.
