| Adjectives |
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In all languages, an adjective modifies or describes a noun or pronoun. In Latin any adjective must agree with the noun or pronoun it modifies in case, number and gender. Just as a noun never leaves its declension (puella, puellae, f. is always 1st declension and must therefore use first declension endings) so too an adjective stays in its declension family.
Before moving forward let's review the words case, number and gender. The last is easy: a noun is masculine, feminine or neuter with a few exceptions that can be either masculine or feminine such as canis. Number refers to whether a noun is singular or plural and case refers to nominative, genitive, dative, accusative or ablative.
Some adjectives belong to the first and second declension families. The second declension is used to modify nouns that are masculine or neuter and the first for feminine nouns. Some belong to the third declension family.
| iratus, -a, -um angry |
laetus, -a, -um happy |
stultus, -a, -um stupid |
| prudens, prudentis wise, sensible |
pinguis, pingue fat |
nobilis, nobile noble |
| facilis, facile easy |
pulcher, pulchra, pulchrum beautiful |
celer, celeris, celere swift |
| acer, acris, acre keen, sharp |
magnus, -a, -um large, great |
bonus, -a, -um good |
Adjectives never leave their declension family while they are positive degree adjectives. Sometimes an adjective may agree in declension too if the two words belong to the same declension. Thus, you can see such combinations as:
| 1st/2nd declension adjective with 1st, 2nd, 3rd declension nouns | 3rd declension adjective with 1st, 2nd, 3rd declension plural nouns | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative singular | genitive singular | nominative singular | genitive singular |
| irata ancilla iratus vir iratus consul irata imperatrix |
iratae ancillae irati viri irati consulis iratae imperatricis |
celeres raedae celeres pueri celeria itinera |
celerium raedarum celerium puerorum celerium itinerum |
Adjectives can be:
Always remember the three words case, number and gender when you think of adjectives.
Sometimes one sees an adjective without a noun; this is a substantive adjective. It means that the noun has been mentioned in a previous sentence so it is understood here.
Exempli Gratia Here is a dish of apples. The good are on the left and the bad are on the right. We know that the good and bad are referring to apples from the first sentence so in Latin the word for apple is neuter plural so good and bad will be bona and mala, neuter plural forms. Apple is genitive plural; dish OF apples, but in the second sentence, the understood word apples is the subject of are so the adjectives must be nominative as well as neuter plural.
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