Latin/Adjectives 2 Lesson 4
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This lesson we’ll continue studying Latin adjectives, including comparatives and superlatives that may be irregular or formed in an unusual way. We’ll also look at a few comparative and superlative adverbs, and have a “teaser” for a future lesson on participles.
New Grammar
editThere are a few irregular comparatives and superlatives this lesson; some of them have no positive forms. Latin adverbs are commonly formed from adjectives: for example, the 1st/2nd declension adjective
- līber, lībera, līberum = free; libere = freely; or
the 3rd declension adjective
- fortis, e = brave; fortiter = bravely.
Many other adverbs are formed in this way, although it is not an absolute rule. Adverbs can have comparative and superlative degrees as well: the comparative is the same as the neuter (acc.) s. of the comparative adjective:
- lātior, lātius (adj.) = wider; latius (adv.) = more widely.
The superlative adverb is formed by dropping the –us of the superlative adjective and adding –ē:
- facillimus, a, um = easiest; facillimē (adv.) = most easily.
We're not going to give a large number of sentences with these adverbs, but they do crop up in general usage and it helps to know the basic principle.
Finally, a teaser for a future lesson: did you know that many verbs can act as adjectives? It is a verbal adjective called a participle, and Latin literature is full of them. We’ll look at two types of participles in this lesson, the present active participle and the perfect passive participle. If you’ve followed along you have seen some present active participles already:
If derived from a first conjugation verb the ending is –āns, -antis:
- pugnāns, pugnantis = fighting;
if derived from 2nd-4th conjugation verbs the ending is –ēns, -entis. These present active participles are declined like 3rd declension adjectives.
Perfect passive participles are the 4th principal part of regular verbs. You have seen a few of these used as adjectives:
- praeteritus = having been gone past; rēctus = having been made straight; salsus = having been salted.
You’ll notice that these have a passive voice sense, and they are declined like 1st/2nd declension adjectives. But since they are also verbs, they can express action and take verbal modifiers. Much of advanced Latin involves learning to navigate around extensive participial phrases and clause constructions; we’ll keep sentences simple today!
New Vocabulary/ Irregular Adjective Comparisons
edit| Latin | English | Audio (Classical) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| miser, misera, miserum miserior, miserius miserrimus, a, um |
wretched more wretched most wretched |
||
| other adjectives ending in –er in the nom. s. m also form their superlatives by adding –rimus; ācer / ācrior / ācerrimus, pulcher / pulchrior / pulcherrimus, celer / celerior / celerrimus comparatives are formed regularly | |||
| multus, a, um plūs (neuter noun) plūrimus, a, um |
much more most |
||
| multī, ae, a plūrēs, plūra plūrimī, ae, a |
many more very many |
||
| the following have comparative and superlative forms, but the positive form is not used | |||
| exterior | outer | ||
| extrēmus | outermost | ||
| īnferior | lower | ||
| īmus or īnfimus | lowest | ||
| interior | inner | ||
| intimus | innermost | ||
| posterior | later | ||
| postrēmus | last | ||
| prior | former | ||
| prīmus | first | ||
| superior | higher | ||
| suprēmus or summus | highest | ||
| ulterior | farther | ||
| ultimus | farthest | ||
Other New Vocabulary
edit| Latin | English | Audio (Classical) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| lātus, a, um | wide | ||
| ācer, ācris, ācre (3rd declension adj.) | sharp, keen, bitter | superlative in –rimus | |
| dīligēns, dīligentis | careful, diligent | opposite is negligēns | |
| ācriter (adv.) | sharply, bitterly | ||
| lātē | widely | ||
| dīligō, dīligere, dīlēxī, dīlēctus (3) | love, value, care for |
New Sentences
edit| Latin | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Multās grātiās! | Many thanks! | |
| Multum vīnum bibit. | He drinks much wine. | |
| Multum est. | It is important. | |
| In multam noctem locūtī sumus. | We talked late into the night. | |
| Nōn multum dormit. | He does not sleep much. (adv.) | |
| Multī fortissimi virī mortuī sunt. | Many very brave (mighty) men died. | |
| Plūs aquae volō. | I want more water. | plūs is here a neuter singular noun, used with the genitive |
| Plūs minusvē. | More or less. | To show that the figure is approximate – of numbers in counting, even on grave markers for years. |
| Mīlitēs estis, et, quod plūs est, Rōmānī estis. | You are soldiers, and what is more, you are Romans. | |
| Lūcia plūs quam vīgintī annōs nata est. | Lucia is more than twenty years old. | |
| Paula plūrēs librōs quam Lūcia habet. | Paula has more books than Lucia. | |
| Volō plūra holera edere. | I want to eat more vegetables. | |
| Quid plūra? | What more? | Often used rhetorically when drawing conclusions; it implies, “what more is there to say?” |
| Plūrimī hominēs hoc faciunt. | Most people (a great many people) do this. | |
| Tū es ultimus Rōmānōrum. | You are the last of the Romans. | This is a nice compliment to pay someone who exemplifies the classic virtues of nobility, courage, and dedication to duty and country. |
| Gāius miserrimus erat. | Gaius was very miserable. | |
| Raeda Paulae celerrima est. | Paula’s car is very fast. | |
| Curre celerius! | Run faster! (adv.) | |
| Curre quam celerrime! | Run as fast as possible! | quam + a superlative adds the “as possible” meaning) |
| Mārcus quam plūrimum legit. | Marcus reads as much as possible/ the most he can. | |
| Parentēs līberōs dīligunt (amant). | The parents love their children./ The parents are loving their children. | In English we use the present participle to form the present progressive tense, but Latin present tense can express both meanings. |
| Parentēs dīligentēs sunt. | They are loving (caring) parents. | This is a present active participle; note it is an adjective here, not a verb. |
| Discipulus dīligēns erat. | He was a careful/ diligent student. | |
| Fēlēs dīligō. | I love cats. | |
| Dīlēcta mea pulcherrima est. | My beloved is very beautiful. | dīlēcta is a perfect passive participle of dīligō |
| Fāber dīligentissimus est. | He is a very careful craftsman. | |
| Lātissimum flūmen trānsivimus. | We crossed a very wide river. | |
| culter ācer/ īra ācris/ vīnum ācre | a sharp knife/ sharp (sudden) anger/ bitter wine (vinegar) | |
| Ācriter pugnant. | They are fighting bitterly. | |
| Mīlitēs, ācriter pugnantēs, hostēs vīcērunt. | The soldiers, fighting bitterly, conquered the enemies. | |
| superioribus temporibus | in former times/ previously | lit., in higher times |
| longē lātēque | far and wide | |
| datum / data | something given/ things given | Also from the perfect participle of dō, data we have our English word “date”, originally referring to the time when a letter or other document was given or dictated – e.g., data diē X Kalendārum Augustārum or July 23. |
| ā priorī | from the earlier | In philosophy, knowledge independent of experience |
| ā posteriorī | from the latter | In philosophy, knowledge dependent on experience |
| in extrēmīs | in extreme circumstances; at the point of death | |
| summā cum laude | with highest honor | |
| Multum, nōn multa. | Not many things, but much. | Pliny Junior In education, better to study deeply rather than gain shallow knowledge of many subjects. “Less is more.” |
Practice
edit| Practice and learn the words and phrases in this lesson | |
|---|---|
| Step one | First learn the words using this lesson: |
| Step two | Next try learning and writing the sentencing using this: |
| Note that the Memrise stage covers the content for all lessons in each stage. If you are skipping previous stages you may need to manually "ignore" the words in previous levels (use the 'select all' function) | |
We hope this lesson has been clear and helpful for you. As always, if you have questions or comments, please leave a comment on the discuss page and we will try to respond. After studying adjectives, we will go back to verbs for a time for the next series of lessons. Bonam fortūnam et valēte!