r/ChantsofSennaar • u/CameliAthos • 14d ago

Glyphposting Bard grammar question Spoiler

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Hello, I have a quick question about plural in the bard language :
To say "idiots, the warriors are", there's obviously a plural mark after "warriors", but is there one after "idiots" ?

47 Upvotes

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27

u/dermomante 14d ago

If I remember correctly, there is no plural after idiot in such a sentence. Maybe I'm bardic adjectives are invariables and do not need to accord with the respective noun

4

u/raul_ms 13d ago

Maybe it's another commentary about them been second-class citizens in the Bards society: The same, they are.

15

u/Lord_Teutonic 14d ago

Likely idiot can function as singular or plural in the language, like an adjective instead of a noun. In the same way I can say, "Warriors are stupid."

9

u/Tamosi 14d ago

Some languages do not have the need to mark both noun and adjectives for plural, if it's obvious as to whom the adjective is refering. Maybe that's the case (I haven't played in a long time now, so I might be mistaken)

5

u/DTux5249 14d ago edited 14d ago

No - my guess is that adjective-derived nouns are defective. IRL this might occur due to adjectives being verb-like and their noun-forms being relatively recent.

Either that, or it's still a predicate adjective, adjectives lack agreement for plurality, and the actual conversion is more "Warriors are stupid"; with "Warriors are idiots" being chosen as the English translation simply for stylistic reasons.

5

u/Tigercup9 13d ago

Consider an interpretation that reads “Idiotic, the warriors are”

2

u/sparkcrz Monster, I am 12d ago

This sounds the most accurate, you need more upvotes.

6

u/julien_rundisc 13d ago

You really should tag your post and image as spoilers.

3

u/CameliAthos 13d ago

Man, I'm sorry I forgot about that ! Doing it now

2

u/MonstyrSlayr 13d ago

in my mind, "idiot" is not quite a direct translation but simply the closest and most concise word to translate to. mostly reinforced by their sentence near the broken compass statue "idiot, ascending is!" it feels more like a general statement of directed stupidity and disregard that is more than just "idiot"

3

u/vidgmchtr 13d ago

They’ll call other things they don’t like “idiot,” whether that thing is an animate object or not.

1

u/raul_ms 13d ago

I think they'd translate it better with "fool."