The adjective (sifat) is an independent part of speech that denotes a quality of a thing (its colour, taste, size, character and so on); it answers qanday?, qanaqa? (what kind?) and qaysi? (which?). In a sentence it usually goes with a noun as an attribute, but it can also be a predicate (Kun issiq — "the day is hot") and, once nominalised, a subject or an object. In the exam the topic is tested through degrees of comparison, word formation and telling adjectives from adverbs. Knowing it also makes your speech richer and more precise: the same object can be described as katta, ulkan or bahaybat (big, huge, gigantic).
§1. Semantic groups of adjectives
Adjectives are grouped by the kind of quality they express:
character and state: aqlli, mehribon, dangasa, kasal, xursand (clever, kind, lazy, ill, glad);
place and time: tog‘li, shaharlik, kechki, yozgi, ertangi.
In a figurative sense an adjective may move to another group: shirin olma (taste: a sweet apple) — shirin so‘z (character: a kind word), og‘ir yuk (weight: a heavy load) — og‘ir kun (state: a hard day).
§2. Qualitative and relative adjectives
By how they express the quality, adjectives are of two kinds:
Qualitative adjectives (asliy) name the quality directly and usually have degrees: oq → oqroq → eng oq, katta → kattaroq. Most are root words: yaxshi, issiq, qizil.
Relative adjectives (nisbiy) express a quality through a relation to something else and are usually derived: tog‘li (mountainous), yozgi (summer), ilmiy (scientific), temir (temir eshik — an iron door). As a rule they have no degrees: ✗ yozgiroq.
If it can take a degree, it is qualitative; if it cannot, it is relative.
Some relative adjectives behave like qualitative ones when used evaluatively: aqlli → aqlliroq (cleverer) — the quality is being assessed, so a degree is possible.
§3. Degrees of adjectives
Degree shows how far a quality is present compared with something else.
Positive: baland · Comparative: balandroq · Superlative: eng baland, juda baland, g‘oyat baland
Positive degree (oddiy daraja) — the quality without comparison: baland tog‘ (a high mountain).
Comparative degree — the suffix -roq; the thing compared with stands in the ablative: Bu tog‘ undan balandroq (This mountain is higher than that one). The ablative alone can also express comparison: Undan baland.
Superlative (intensive) degree — the highest or a very strong degree: the words eng, juda, g‘oyat, nihoyatda, o‘ta, or partial reduplication (oppoq, qip-qizil, yam-yashil, ko‘m-ko‘k, sap-sariq — snow-white, bright red, vivid green, deep blue, bright yellow).
A weakened quality (diminutive degree) is expressed by -ish, -(i)mtir, -imtil: qizg‘ish (reddish), ko‘kimtir (bluish), oqish (whitish), ko‘kimtil.
Two degree markers never combine in one adjective: ✗ eng balandroq, ✗ juda oppoq.
In partial reduplication the first syllable of the adjective is taken and the consonant p, m or s is added: qora → qop-qora, yashil → yam-yashil, butun → bus-butun; a few forms are written solid: oq → oppoq.
Worked example
Which degree is the adjective in Bu yil hosil o‘tgan yilgidan mo‘lroq bo‘ldi ("This year’s harvest was more plentiful than last year’s")?
Find the adjective: mo‘lroq (qanday bo‘ldi?).
It contains the suffix -roq.
Two things are compared — this year’s and last year’s harvest; yilgidan is in the ablative.
By structure adjectives are simple (yaxshi, aqlli), compound (sofdil, ochko‘z, xushmuomala — pure-hearted, greedy, courteous), paired (katta-kichik, achchiq-chuchuk) or reduplicated (katta-katta, mayda-mayda).
The suffix -lik forms both nouns and adjectives: yaxshilik (kindness) is a noun, shaharlik bola (a town boy) contains an adjective. Decide the word class by the question.
Worked example
How are serhosil, beg‘ubor, ishchan formed?
serhosil = ser- + hosil — a prefix.
beg‘ubor = be- + g‘ubor — a prefix (meaning "without a speck").
ishchan = ish + -chan — a suffix.
Answer: the first two are formed with prefixes, the third with the suffix -chan.
§5. Nominalisation and function in the sentence
If an adjective stands in place of a noun and takes noun suffixes, it becomes nominalised:
Yaxshidan ot qoladi, yomondan dod qoladi ("The good leave a name behind, the bad leave a cry") — yaxshi and yomon act as nouns
Functions in the sentence:
attribute: Aqlli bola savolga javob berdi (The clever boy answered the question);
predicate: Kitob qiziqarli (The book is interesting);
when nominalised, subject or object: Kattalar maslahat berdi (The elders gave advice), Kichiklarni asra (Protect the little ones).
A nominalised adjective takes plural, possessive and case suffixes and answers kim? nima?. As an attribute the adjective stands before the noun and does not agree with it: katta uy — katta uylar — katta uyda. Unlike in Russian, it takes no number or case suffixes. If an adjective has a suffix, it is no longer an attribute but a nominalised word or a predicate: Uylar katta edi (The houses were big), Kattasini oldim (I took the bigger one).
§6. Adjective or adverb?
Many words act as an adjective in one sentence and an adverb in another. Decide the class not by form but by which word it depends on.
tez poyezd (a fast train) — depends on a noun, a quality of a thing → adjective;
tez yurdi (walked fast) — depends on a verb, a quality of an action → adverb.
yaxshi odam (adjective) — yaxshi o‘qiydi (adverb: studies well).
issiq choy (adjective: hot tea) — issiq kiyindi (adverb: dressed warmly).
The question helps too: an adjective answers qanday narsa? (what kind of thing?), an adverb answers qanday bajardi? or qay tarzda? (how was it done?). In the exam one word is often given in two sentences and you must say where it is an adjective.
Depends on a noun — adjective; depends on a verb — adverb.
Worked example
Which word class is kichiklar in Kichiklar kattalarni hurmat qiladi ("The young respect their elders")?
Originally it is the adjective kichik (qanday?).
It has taken -lar and answers kimlar? (who?).
In the sentence it is the subject.
Answer: a nominalised adjective acting as the subject.
§7. Spelling of adjectives
Compound adjectives are written solid: sofdil, ochko‘z, xushmuomala, ko‘pqavatli.
Paired and reduplicated adjectives take a hyphen: katta-kichik, achchiq-chuchuk, mayda-mayda.
Partially reduplicated forms take a hyphen: qip-qizil, yam-yashil, sap-sariq; only a few, such as oppoq, are written solid.
The prefixes be-, no-, ser-, ba-, bo- are written solid: benuqson, notanish, sermahsul.
The suffix -roq does not change the stem: past → pastroq, yaxshi → yaxshiroq.
-roq sometimes expresses not a comparison but a slight degree: Bugun havo salqinroq — it is rather cool today.
Worked example
Find the adjectives in Yam-yashil dalalar va ko‘pqavatli uylar ko‘rindi ("Vivid green fields and multi-storey houses came into view") and state their structure.
yam-yashil answers qanday dalalar?; it is formed by partial reduplication — superlative degree.
ko‘pqavatli (qanday uylar?) is built from ko‘p + qavat + -li — a compound adjective.