Authority-grounded encyclopedic record
ába
adverb, conjunction
and · indicator of past tense when used with a gerund · tarpon · then; after that · indicador de tiempo pasado del verbo, usando gerundio · y
Meaning & authority
Evidence state: SOURCE-ATTESTED LEXICAL SENSE
Attributed sources: Hererun Wagüchagu · The People’s Garífuna Dictionary · Garífuna trilingual lexical evidence · wamaraga unabridged · gld
Teaching authority: Suazo · Conversemos en garifuna (Guaymuras 1991/1994) · 'Estudio del verbo ser' / adjective formation (p.34-37, 65-70) · FULL-AUTHOR-GRANT
Why this matters
The copula 'ser' (T-series) suffixes ARE the adjective-forming machinery: any abstract noun + -ti(m)/-tu(f)/-tinu(pl.m)/-tina(pl.f) yields the matching quality-adjective; the vowel encodes gender (i=masculine, u=feminine). Example: gudemei -> gudemeti / gudemetu = poverty -> poor (m) / poor (f)