We use comparative and superlative forms to compare things and to describe quantity of their quality. In English language, we add some suffixes, or additional words to the adjectives to make comparison.
For example: I am taller than you.
She is the tallest in my classroom.
It is more beautiful than the other.
This subject is the most complicated one in my book.
There are similar ways to create comparative and superlative forms in Latin.
Positive Degree (Gradus positivus)
It is the natural form of adjectives. In positive degree, adjectives are not comparative, nor superlative.
bonus -a -um (good)
brevis -e (little)
Comparative Degree (Gradus comparativus) This degree is used to compare two things by using the same quality. First things first is to remove the genitive endings of a Latin adjectives to form the comparative degree. After removing the ending, you will have the base of the adjective. trīstis (sad) trīst-is = trīst - the base Second step is to add -ior for masculine and feminine, and -ius for the neuter to the base. formula; base + ior = comparative form (masculine and feminine)
base + ius = comparative form (neuter)
examples; trīst + ior = trīstior (m./f.)
trīst + ius = trīstius (n.)
The comparative forms are decline like the third declension of adjectives. However, there are some differences:- The ablative, singular ending is -e, not -ī.
- The neuter, accusative, plural ending is -a, not -ia.
- The genitive, plural ending is -um, not -ium.
Too see the third declension of adjectives click!!!
Important note: Unlike in English, the comparative can mean 'rather', 'quite', or 'too' in Latin. For example; 'longior' can mean 'too long', 'quite long' or 'rather long'.
Superlative Degree ( Gradus superlativus)
This degree is used to express the highest quality of a thing. To create superlative degree, again, remove the genitive ending. There are three suffixes to add to the base. The most common suffix is -issim-. The others are -errim- , and -lim-.
formula: base + issim + us(mas.)/a(fem.)/um(neu.) = superlative form
example: long + issim + us/a/um = longissimus -a, -um
All adjectives endings in -er ( e. g. pulcher, celere, sacer...) will have -errim- to form superlative. formula: base + errim + us(mas.)/a(fem.)/um(neu.) = superlative form
example: pulch + errim + us/a/um = pulcherrimus -a, -um A few words end in -lis (facilis, difficilis, gracilis, similis, dissimilis, gracilis, humilis). These ones will have -lim- as the suffix to the base to form superlative. formula: base + lim + us(mas.)/a(fem.)/um(neu.) = superlative form
example: dissimil + lim + us/a/um = dissimillimus -a, -um Important note: If a superlative is followed by 'quam', the meaning will be 'as...possible'. For example, 'quam humillimus' means 'as low as possible'. Periphrastic Degrees Adjectives whose stems end on a vowel(e.g. arduus, pius...) get magis (more) to form comparative, and maxime (most) to form superlative.
arduus, -a, -um (steep)
comparative: magis arduus, -a, -um superlative: maxime arduus, -a, -um
Iregular adjectivesThere are some irregular adjectives. Some common ones are:
Positive Comparative Superlative
bonus (good) melior optimus
malus (bad) peior pessimus
magnus (great) maior maximus
multus (much) plūs plūrimus
paruus (small) minor minimus
exterus (external) exterior extremus
īnferus (below) inferior infimus
Agricola vīnum amat
agricola ad forum venit. agricola vīnum quaerit. sed, Quintus pecūniam nōn habet. Quintus ad forum frūmentum portat. agricola hodiē fēlīx est. agricola frūmentum Iūlianō vendit. Iūliano est laetus. nunc, Quintus pecūniam habet. agricola in foro ambulat. agricola bonum vīnum amat. Quintus vīnum bonum emit. Quintus est laetus. agricola ad casam revenit. Quintus et Iūlia in casā parvā habitant. Iūlia est in casā parvā. Iūlia in sellā sedet. ēheu! Iūlia est maesta. Iūlia nōn est laeta, quod Quintus pupam nōn emit. Iūlia ad hortum currit. ecce! amica est in viā. amica est Decima. "ohē! Decima!" clāmat Iūlia. Decima Iūliam videt. Iūlia per viam currit. nunc, Iūlia est laeta. amica quoque laeta est. casa parva est in terrā pulchrā. est in terrā silva magna. in silvā sunt multae pinī longae. Iūlia et Decima silvam magnam amant.
Note: All prepositions and the other unacquainted elements of the sentences will be explained in ongoing posts. It's better to see them in the sentences first. 'sed' means 'but'. 'ad' is a proposition and means 'to'.'hodiē' means 'today'. 'ēheu' means 'alas'. 'quod' is 'because'. 'ecce' means 'look'. 'ohē' is like 'hey'.'per' means 'through'. 'quoque' means 'too'. If 'est' is placed at the beginning of the sentence, it means 'there is'.
It's time to learn more vocabularies. In the first set of flashcards there are eleven nouns of first, second and third declensions.
In this set of flashcards there are ten latin verbs of first, second, third and forth conjugations.
Word order is not important in Latin, as it is in English. Because, declining elements of a sentence lets us know which word is subject, object , verb ...etc. It makes Latin sentences more flexible than English sentences. There are a few rules about order of words in Latin. In Latin first and last sentences are the most emphatic elements in a sentence. Less emphatic place is the mid part of the sentence. Often, subject is placed first, and verb is placed last. Other parts stand in the middle of a sentence. However, if giving emphasis to a word is needed, order of the words can be changed. Sometimes, it can be better for ear to change order of words too. This happens especially in poetry and in proverbs. Normal order of a sentences is like this:
Subject - Modifiers of the subject - Indirect Object- Direct Object - Verb
Changing the world order can be frequent among possessive adjectives, adjectives ...etc.
Possessive adjectives (my, your..etc) normally stand after their nouns in Latin. If giving an emphasis is desired, possessive adjectives are placed before their nouns. For example:
- servus meus aquam portāt. (My slave is carrying water)-normal
- meus servus aquam portāt. ( 'meus' (my) is emphatic.)
- servus Corneliī aquam portāt. (Cornelius' slave is carrying water)-normal
- Corneliī servus aquam portāt. ('Cornelius' is emphatic)
Adjectives are placed after their nouns in a normal sentence structure . If they are placed before their nouns, they become more emphatic. If it is a matter of a greater emphasis, adjective can be completely separated from its noun.
- servus meus aquam bonum portāt. (My slave is carrying the good water.)-Normal
- servus meus bonum aquam portāt. ('bonum' is emphatic.)
- bonum servus meus aquam portāt. ('bonum' is very emphatic.)
Other elements can be changed like verbs, objects..etc. As I said, Latin is a flexible language.
It's time to learn some of the basic Latin adjectives. After you you learn them, you can practice by using them in Latin sentences. Take a piece of paper, think, and write sentences that you created in your mind on it. This will help your brain to store those new words for a long term.
Adjectives express quality of nouns. For example: Red carpet, long way...etc. In Latin, adjectives agree with nouns which they belong to. Therefore, they also agree with their nouns' number and case. Let's examine them closely:
bonus: adj. good
Marcus bonōs librōs amat. (Mark loves good books). 'Bonōs' and 'librōs' in the accusative case (masculine and plural). They agree in the case, number and gender each other.
- If an adjective is separated by a verb and stands in the predicate, it is called predicate adjective. For example:
puella est pulchra. (The girl is beautiful)- If an adjective is closely attached to a noun, it is called attributive adjective. For example:
Marcus bonōs librōs amat. (Mark loves good books).
Here is another example:
puella pulchra bonōs librōs amat.
Declensions of Adjectives As I said at the beginning, adjectives agree with the nouns which they belong to. That means adjectives are declined just like nouns in Latin. There are some patterns which they fall. They are: Adjectives of First and Second Declensions In this group, terminations of adjectives differ for all masculine, feminine and neuter forms. In the nominative case masculine ending is mostly -us, feminine ending is -a, and neuter ending is -um. See how adjectives are declined in 'Table 10'. A few masculine adjectives end in -er in first and second declensions. Some of them omit -e. For example; miser, misera, miserum and pulcher, pulchra, pulchrum.
See how these adjectives are declined in 'Table 11' and 'Table 12'.
There are also nine irregular adjectives.
To see them, check 'Table 13' and 'Table 14'.
Adjectives of Third Declension Adjectives of third declension are grouped according to their endings. These groups are:
- Adjectives which have different endings for each gender, e. g. , m. celer, f. celeris, n. celere. Some of thse adjectives drop -e. Such as, puter, putris, putre. Check 'Table 15' and 'Table 16'.
- Adjectives which have the same form for masculine and feminine, and a different form for neuter, e. g. , m.&f. paralis, n. parale.
Check 'Table 17'. - Adjectives which have the same ending for all genders, e. g. , fēlīx. Check 'Table 18'.
Agricola et Iūlia
Quintus est agricola. agricolae fīlia est Iūlia. Quintus Iūliae librum dat. Quintus in sellā sedet. Quintus servum vocat. servus dominō aquam portat. agricola aquam bibit. Iūlia in sellā sedet et librum studet. Iūlia librum non comprehendet. Iūlia vocabula nescit. Pater! Iūlia clāmat. Quintus Iūliam videt. agricola liberum studet. Quintus Iuliae vocabula narrat. Iūlia in libero vocbula scrībit. nunc, Iūlia liberum comprehendet. Iūlia ridet. senex est Lucius. Lucius Quintī amīcus. amīcus est in villā. Lucius Iūliam non audit. Lucius dormit.
Note: In Latin 'in' means, 'in' or 'on' in English. It is used with a noun which is in the ablative form. 'Non' means 'not'. It's placed before verbs. It makes the sentence negative. 'Et' means 'and' in Latin. 'Nunc' means 'now' in English. 'Est' means 'is'. I will explain the details about it in future posts.
I created sets of flashcards about nouns and verbs. This step is important to build simple sentences and improve vocabulary. I will use these vocabularies in the reading texts and in exercises. Firstly, we will learn some basic nouns. There are 17 nouns. I give nouns with their genitive endings, genders, and their English equivalent as answers.
There are 16 basic Latin verbs in this set of flashcards. The number next to the verb is its conjugation (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th).
I am following this order, because it will help you to build simple Latin sentences. There is a key point in learning a new language: using vocabularies and grammar rules to communicate in a given language. Even though Latin is a dead language, you practice it by yourself, or with other people. Internet gives us many opportunities. I tell you; never study a language if you don't use it in some ways to describe your thoughts. Anyways, verbs have such an important mission in all language. They tell us what the subject does. I believe learning some basic verbs in this early stage will give a better understanding of Latin. Verbs are more complex in Latin than in English. I will try to simplify this complexity as much as I can. I am giving all conjugations of active indicative for the simple present and the present continuous tense in this post. There are more to mention about verbs. However, it's difficult to learn it one lesson. I will post about them later.
How verbs are formed and what are the conjugations?
Verbs change their endings according to the subject(e.g. I, you, he, she....), in other words, according to the person. It does not often occur in English. But, there are some cases: for instance, I do, she does or they go, it goes, and so forth... In Latin, verbs get their endings according to first person singular (I), second person singular (you), third person singular (he/she/it), first person plural (we), second person plural (you) and third person plural (they). An important point to mention; unlike English, in a simple sentence in Latin, subjective pronouns (I, you...etc) is not mentioned separately. However, subject is mentioned, if it is a name of a person. For example, do from dare (to give) means I give (no subject!), and Marcus labōrat from labōrāre (to work) means Mark works (Subject is given, because it is a person's name). The ending of the verb lets us know the subject. There are four main patterns which form endings of the verbs. They are called conjugations. All verbs are not conjugated in the same way. Now, we will learn conjugations of verbs in the simple present, and in the present continuous tense. The simple present and the present continuous tense have the same structure in Latin. Lets say, they are the same in Latin.
First Conjugation - stems in -a
Verbs of this group end in -āre in their present infinitive form. If you want to use a verb of first conjugation in a sentence, remove the ending - āre, and place the following endings according to the subject:
I -ō We -ā.mus
You -ā.s You -ā.tis
He/ She/ It -a.t They -a.nt
Some examples:
labōrāmus. - We work.
Lucia lancēs lavārat. - Lucia washes the dishes.
Second Conjugation - stems in -e
Verbs of this group end in -ēre in their present infinitive form. Replace -ēre with following endings according to the subject:
I -e.ō We -ē.mus
You -ē.s You -ē.tis
He/ She/ It -e.t They -e.nt
Some examples:
removēo - I am removing.
Tiberius rīdet. - Tiberius is laughing.
Third Conjugation - stems in consonants
Verbs of this group end in -ere in their present infinitive form. Replace -ere with following endings according to the subject:
I -ō We -imus
You -is You -itis
He/ She/ It -it They -unt
Some examples:
regis. - You rule.
Titus pilleum forō emit. - Titus is buying a hat from the forum.
Fourth Conjugation - stems in -i
Verbs of this group end in -īre in their present infinitive form. Replace -īre with following endings
I -i.ō We -ī.mus
You -ī.s You -ī.tis
He/ She/ It -i.t They -i.unt
Some examples:
dormiunt. - They are sleeping.
Lucius invenīs. - Lucius is finding.
You can try it with different persos and verbs. I will post some verbs and nouns for you to expend your vocabulary knowledge. I will also post reading samples to increase reading comprehension and overall Latin fluency.
There are five declensions for nouns in Latin language: they are first, second, third, fourth and fifth declensions. Although, there are minority of nouns which do not fallow the same patters, or have some peculiarities, most of the nouns are regular. It might seem hard to learn them in one day, but writing nouns in Latin sentences will make learning process easier. Here are the declensions: First Declension Nouns of this declension usually end in -a. Most nouns are feminine in first declension with a few exceptions. Such as, m.nouta (sailor), m.agricola (farmer), m.scrība (clerk). Genitive case of this group's nouns end in -ae. There are some nouns from Greek, and their endings might differ. Consequently, they can be declined differently. Please click and see how nouns are decline in table 1 and 2. Second Declension It's a large group of nouns. Most of the nouns are masculine with some neuter, and feminine nouns in this group. Most of the masculine nouns end in -us, -er and -r. Neuters end in -um. They have their genitive case in -ī. Once again, some nouns were borrowed from Greek and are inflected with a varying mixture of Greek and Latin endings .
Please click and see how nouns are decline in table 3 and 4. Third Declension It is the largest group of nouns with various endings. When a new word was absorbed into Latin, it was added to this group. This is probably the reason for nouns with various endings in this group. Their endings can be in: -a, -e, -i, -o, -y, -c, -d, -l, -n, -r, -s, -t, -x. There are masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns with various nominative endings. Without certainty, some masculine, feminine and neuter nouns' endings can be given: neuter: -a, -e, -i, -y, -l and -t, masculine ( sometimes of other genders' endings): -o, -or, -os, -eus, feminine (sometimes masculine): -as, - aus, -es, -is, -ys, -bs, -ns and -ps. This groups' genitive ending is -is.Please click and see how nouns are decline in table 5 and 6. Fourth Declension Most of the nouns are masculine except some feminine nouns, such as: manus (hand), donus (house), and neuter nouns like genū (knee). Masculine and feminine nouns end in -us and neuter ones end in -ū. Their genitive ending is -ūs.Please click and see how nouns are decline in table 8. Fifth Declension It is a small group of nouns which are mostly feminine except diēs (day) (note: diēs can be masculine on notable days). Their genitive ending is i -ei, and nominative ending is in -es.Please click and see how nouns are decline in table 9.
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