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

There 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:

ēsuriēns, ēsurientis = hungering, hungry; sitiēns, sitientis = thirsting, thirsty.

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

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

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

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

Practice and learn the words and phrases in this lesson
Step one	First learn the words using this lesson: Adjectives 2 vocabulary
Step two	Next try learning and writing the sentencing using this: Adjectives 2 Sentences
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!

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