Page:A Concise Grammar of the Malagasy Language.djvu/41

 On looking at these five adjectives it will be noticed that the first of them alone has the accent on the second syllable; hence we may deduce the following Rule, to help us to know the class to which any adjective beginning with m- may belong:—

If the accent is on the second syllable, it belongs to the first class, and begins with ma- uncontracted.

If the accent is on the first syllable, ma- either has its a suppressed (as in màrina), or its a forms a diphthong with the i or o of the root-word of the adjective (as in maìnty).

Any adjective can be made imperative or optative by following the rules given for active verbs or those for root-passives; and either the meaning of the adjective, or else the context, will determine whether a command or a wish is intended to be expressed. As, mazòto, 'diligent'; màzotòa, 'be diligent': faìngana, 'quick'; faingàla, 'be quick.'

The following adjectives, and some others, have a quasi-transitive sense, and govern a direct accusative as their complement; as, fèno àzy nỳ tràno, 'the house is full of them'. In English we require a preposition in such cases, in Malagasy no preposition.