Follow gender, number and case

Wilson describes adjectives agreeing with their nouns in gender, number and case, usually preceding them. His good horse and good mare examples change the adjective along with the masculine or feminine noun. The plural examples then add number to that comparison. Agreement is therefore a relationship within the phrase: the relevant question is which noun the adjective qualifies and which grammatical form that noun phrase requires, not simply which English adjective appears in a translation.[2]

A changing adjective has a paradigm

The Lodiana grammar illustrates white with ਚਿੱਟਾ, ਚਿੱਟੀ and ਚਿੱਟੇ in its adjective table. The first two occupy masculine and feminine singular nominative positions; the third appears in the masculine plural nominative and masculine singular oblique rows. These repeated shapes show why a learner should compare the full row and column. A changed ending can carry more than one grammatical contrast, and a familiar-looking form needs its phrase to make its role clear.[1]

The same discussion distinguishes adjectives ending in a consonant, which it describes as uninflected, from the changing pattern. It then treats numerals as an exception to that description and supplies their own examples. This prevents the white paradigm from becoming an instruction to add the same endings to every descriptive word. Learn whether a particular adjective changes, then compare the forms actually used with its noun; a translation such as white does not encode those distinctions.[1]

Agreement also matters in sentence models

Virk, Humayoun and Ranta’s 2011 computational grammar carries agreement information from a noun phrase to the adjective modifying it. The authors connect this with number, gender and case morphology. Their implementation provides a modern example of representing the relationship, while explicitly leaving some Punjabi constructions outside its coverage.[3]

The two older tables remain dated descriptions. Their examples demonstrate a pattern without certifying every regional pronunciation or later spelling choice.[1][2]

Sources & notes

Source records include access dates and, where known, limits on what was examined. Checks used AI assistance; independent human or specialist review has not been completed.

  1. Lodiana American Presbyterian Mission Press; J. Newton attribution in the archive catalogue; Rev. J. Porter, press superintendent. A Grammar of the Panjabi Language; with Appendices ↗Historical descriptive and teaching grammar · Source date: 1851 · Locator: Printed p 14 / PDF 27, sections 46–47, full white adjective and numeral comparison tables; rendered page inspected; original title PDF 6, preface PDF 8–9 and errata PDF 13. Accessed 2026-11-02.The specified pages of the actual 1851 Bodleian/Google scan were read. Displayed script examples were checked against rendered pages. The original title names the press and superintendent; the archive catalogue attributes J. Newton. The preface addresses readers familiar with Urdu and acknowledges regional variation. Its terminology and examples are historical descriptions, with no recording or complete account of present-day usage. Purist judgements and social hierarchies are not adopted. Later revised editions and editorial additions were not used.Return to Script form 1 ↑Return to Script form 2 ↑Return to Script form 3 ↑Return to A changing adjective has a paradigm, paragraph 1 ↑Return to A changing adjective has a paradigm, paragraph 2 ↑Return to Agreement also matters in sentence models, paragraph 2 ↑
  2. J. Wilson; acknowledged assistance of Munshi Mahbub Alam; Punjab Government Press. Grammar and Dictionary of Western Panjabi, as Spoken in the Shahpur District, with Proverbs, Sayings and Verses ↗Historical district grammar and dictionary · Source date: 1899 imprint; preface September 1898 · Locator: Printed pp 14–15 / PDF 32–33, Adjectives and good horse/mare phrases; original title PDF 7 and preface PDF 11. Accessed 2026-11-02.The specified pages of the actual BSB original-edition scan were read. The title date 1898 and printing imprint 1899 are distinguished. Wilson credits Munshi Mahbub Alam and limits collection to historical Shahpur. Salt Range alternatives retain their local scope. Colonial purity rankings, caste characterisations and unseen earlier works are not adopted. Roman forms were not converted into newly asserted script spellings or certified pronunciation.Return to Follow gender, number and case, paragraph 1 ↑Return to Agreement also matters in sentence models, paragraph 2 ↑
  3. Shafqat Mumtaz Virk, Muhammad Humayoun and Aarne Ranta; RANLP 2011 / Association for Computational Linguistics. An Open Source Punjabi Resource Grammar ↗Computational grammar research · Source date: 2011-09 · Locator: Printed p 74 / PDF 5, section 3.3; pp 75–76 / PDF 6–7, stated coverage limits; actual seven-page paper, printed pp 70–76. Accessed 2026-11-02.The actual seven-page primary PDF and bibliography were read. The authors explicitly build on Humayoun and Ranta’s 2010 morphology. Their computational model acknowledges incomplete coverage; it is not a complete learner grammar or a current accuracy benchmark. Damaged extracted transcriptions are not reproduced. The unfinished compound-verb agreement identified by the authors is not taught as correct.Return to Agreement also matters in sentence models, paragraph 1 ↑
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Record PH-LAN-0077 · English edition · human review not performed