Editing Adjective (section)

==Distribution==
Adjectives feature as a [[part of speech]] (word class) in most [[language]]s. In some languages, the words that serve the [[semantic]] function of adjectives are categorized together with some other class, such as [[noun]]s or [[verb]]s. In the phrase ''a [[Ford Motor Company|Ford]] car'', ''Ford'' is unquestionably a noun but its function is adjectival ([[noun adjunct]], see [[#Other modifiers of nouns|below]]): to modify ''car''.

In some languages adjectives can function as nouns: for example, the Spanish phrase {{Lang|es|un rojo}} means {{gloss|a red [one]}}. This is also possible in English, see [[#Types of use|above]]. However, such nominalized adjectives mostly refer to people and are more commonly found in the plural: ''Reds'' or ''a Red'' (most commonly in the sense of {{gloss|communist}}), ''the rich and the famous'', ''the oppressed'', ''the poorer'' or ''the poorest'', or (not for people) ''(to venture into) the unknown'', ''the obvious'', etc., though use in the singular such as ''a poor'' (also the plural ''(the) poors'' unlike ''the poor'') or ''a gay'' (less so ''(the) gays'') is widely considered dated and generally avoided.

As for "confusion" with verbs, rather than an adjective meaning "big", a language might have a verb that means "to be big" and could then use an [[attributive verb]] construction analogous to "big-being house" to express what in English is called a "big house". Such an analysis is possible for the [[Chinese grammar|grammar of Standard Chinese]] and [[Korean grammar|Korean]], for example.

Different languages do not use adjectives in exactly the same situations. For example, where English uses ''"''to be ''hungry''" (''hungry'' being an adjective), [[Dutch grammar|Dutch]], [[French grammar|French]], and [[Spanish grammar|Spanish]] use "{{Lang|nl|honger hebben}}", "{{Lang|fr|avoir faim}}", and "{{Lang|es|tener hambre}}" respectively (literally "to have hunger", the words for "hunger" being nouns). Similarly, where Hebrew uses the adjective {{Script/Hebrew|זקוק}} ({{Lang|he-latn|zaqūq}}, roughly "in need of" or "needing"), English uses the verb "to need".

In languages that have adjectives as a word class, it is usually an [[open class (linguistics)|open class]]; that is, it is relatively common for new adjectives to be formed via such processes as [[Morphological derivation|derivation]]. However, [[Bantu languages]] are well known for having only a small closed class of adjectives, and new adjectives are not easily derived. Similarly, native [[Japanese adjectives]] (''i''-adjectives) are considered a closed class (as are native verbs), although nouns (an open class) may be used in the [[genitive]] to convey some adjectival meanings, and there is also the separate open class of [[Adjectival noun (Japanese)|adjectival nouns]] (''na''-adjectives).