Comparative Forms More About Adjectives

REVIEW OF THE BASICS

• How many declensions are there for adjectives?• TWO •What are they?• 1st -2nd AND 3rd

• How can you tell the declension?• 1st – 2nd look for the –a • 3rd look for the -is

Review of the Basics cont.

•How do you get the BASE of an adjective?•Drop the –a or -is

Attributes of an Adjective

•All adjectives have GENDER, NUMBER, CASE and DEGREE•The gender, number and case depend on the noun that the adjective is modifying.

EXAMPLES

longam viammultos mercatorescanem ferumdomino iratomagnis exercitibus

DEGREES

•There are three degrees for an adjective.•POSITIVE - big

•COMPARATIVE - bigger

•SUPERLATIVE - biggest

HOW TO FORM THE COMPARATIVE

1. Get the base of the adjective

2. Add -ior or -ius3. Add 3rd declension NOUN

endings to make the adjective agree with the gender, number and case of the noun being modified

EXAMPLE

• taller horses - accusative plural•equos (always do the noun first)

•altus, alta, altum drop the –a to get the base

alt----

•Add ior altior----•Add an accusative, plural, masculine 3rd decl noun ending to altior---- to make it agree with equos •Equos altiores

Dissecting the adjective

alt ior es basease comparative ending The ending is acc. pl. masc. because

the noun was acc. pl. masc. The ending is –es because

comparative forms are 3rd declension

WHEN DO YOU USE –IUS?

•The –ius form is ONLY used for NEUTER, SINGULAR NOMINATIVE AND ACCUSATIVE.•ALL other forms use -ior

Here are all the possible formsMASC / FEM SINGULAR

MASC / FEMPLURAL

NEUTERSINGULAR

NEUTERPLURAL

-ior -iores -ius -iora-ioris -iorum -ioris -iorum-iori -ioribus -iori -ioribus-iorem -iores -ius -iora-iore -ioribus -iore -ioribus

NOTA BENE

•Notice the form for the masculine/feminine singular, nominative does NOT add ANY ending. It is just -ior•Notice the neuter, nominative and accusative singular use -ius

NOTA BENE

•Notice the endings you add are 3rd declension endings.•It does not matter what declension an adjective is. Once it is put in the comparative, it uses the COMPARATIVE ENDINGS.

TRANSLATIONS

• THERE ARE FOUR WAYS TO TRANSLATE THE COMPARATIVE

•too•rather•more•-----er

Some examples

rather angry leaders (acc. pl) duces iratioresmore beautiful flowers (dat. pl.)floribus pulchrioribusfaster horse (nom. sing.)equus celerior

TRY THESE

1. rather sad girl (acc. sing.)2. taller man (abl. sing)3. more serious dangers (abl. pl.)puella, puellae; tristis, tristevir, viri; altus, alta, altumpericulum, periculi; gravis, grave

ANSWERS

puellam tristioremviro altiorepericulis gravioribus

Try these sentences. Use the translation option “rather”

1. Equum celeriorem habeo.

2. Nostri milites sunt fortiores.

3. Servi, qui in agro laborabant, iratiores erant.

4. Nocte in illa urbe periculum est gravius.

5. Bellum, quod contra illos pugnavimus, longius erat.

6. Amici Caecili fabulam miriorem de versipelle audiverunt.

Try these. Use the translation option “too”

1.Hic est iratior

2.Illa est inimicior

3.Hi sunt fortiores

4.Illa fabula erat longior

5.Hoc bellum est longius

6.Illud iter erit periculosius

HOW TO EXPRESS “than”

Option #1: Simply use quam Marcus est fortior quam DrususMarcus is stronger than DrususMeus equus est celerior quam tuus equusMy horse is faster than your horse

Option #2 : The Ablative of ComparisonPut the 2nd of the two words that are being compared in the ablative.When you translate you add the word “than” into the English sentence.There will NOT be any WORD in the Latin sentence that means “than” . The idea comes from the 2nd word being put into the ablative case.

Marcus est fortior DrusoMarcus is stronger than DrususMeus equus est celerior tuo equoMy horse is faster than your horse

Try these

1.Haec epistula est longior quam illa epistula

2.Hi montes sunt altiores quam illi.

3.Meus canis est ferior quam ille canis

Try these

1.Haec epistula est longior illā epistulā

2.Hi montes sunt altiores illis.3.Meus canis est ferior illo

cane

Ablative of Degree of Difference

multo and paulo are used to express the degree of difference with a comparative.

multo - muchpaulo - a little

examplesHic est multo iratior quam ille.Hi milites erant paulo fortiores illis.Ille nuntius erat paulo longior hoc nuntio.Illi servi sunt multo miseriores quam nostri servi