Adjectives
Adjectives modify (i.e., tell us more about) nouns. In Latin, adjectives must agree with nouns in number, case, and gender. Thus, a feminine nominative singular noun must be modified by the feminine nominative singular form of the adjective, while a masculine nominative singular noun is modified by a masculine nominative singular adjective. For instance:
- magnus puer (“great boy”; masculine singular nominative)
- magna puella (“great girl”; feminine singular nominative)
- magnī puerī (“great boys”; masculine plural nominative)
- magnae puellae (“great girls”; feminine plural nominative)
Because adjectives need to match nouns in form, they also decline in gender, case, and number. Most adjectives fall into one of two major categories: 1st/2nd declension and 3rd declension. The former, 1st/2nd declension, includes 2-1-2 adjectives. The latter, 3rd declension, is split into three smaller categories: three termination, two termination, and one termination. All four of these categories (2-1-2, 3-, 2-, 1-termination) are described below.
Note that although an adjective must match its noun in gender, case, and number, it does not necessarily have to match in declension; for example, a 3rd declension adjective can modify a 1st or 2nd declension noun:
- sapiens puer (“wise boy”; masculine singular nominative. sapiens = 3rd declension, 1 termination; puer = 2nd declension masculine)
- sapiens puella (“wise girl”; feminine singular nominative. puella = 1st declension feminine)
Just like nouns, the dictionary entries for adjectives tells us what declension(s) they belong to and, thus, how to form them. Dictionary entries for adjectives come in four major types, with some special rules and irregulars to consider:
2-1-2 adjectives
Examples:
- magnus, magna, magnum - great
- bonus, bona, bonum - good
- pulcher, pulchra, pulchrum - beautiful, handsome
The 2-1-2 adjective can be recognized from endings of all three entries (-us, -a, -um or -r, -a, -um). The three forms listed tells us the nominative singular form for all three genders - masculine, feminine, and neuter (from left to right).
The declension of these adjectives is relatively simple. To get the adjective’s stem, you take the -a off the feminine singular form (the second part of the dictionary entry) and then add the appropriate endings onto it. If you need a masculine form, then you decline the adjective like a 2nd declension masculine noun (e.g., maritus). If you need a feminine form, you decline it like a 1st declension feminine noun (e.g., puella). If you need a neuter form, you decline it like a 2nd declension neuter noun (e.g., exemplum).
Note that getting the adjective’s stem from the feminine form is very important, since spelling can change from the masculine to the feminine form. For example, note the 2-1-2 adjective pulcher, pulchra, pulchrum, “handsome, beautiful.” If you were to base your declensions on the masculine form, there would be an extra -e- in your forms that shouldn’t be there. The proper stem is pulchr- (pulchra minus -a = pulchr).
The full declension chart for 2-1-2 adjectives can be found here.
2-1-2: -īus adjectives
There is a special subset of 2-1-2 adjectives known as -īus adjectives, so called because although they are 2-1-2 adjectives, their genitive singular forms across all three genders end in -īus, rather than the -ī or -ae familiar from regular 2-1-2 adjectives. Also, their dative singular forms across all three genders end in -ī, rather than the expected -ō or -ae. Nine adjectives fall into this pattern, and two of them are in your vocabulary for this module: nullus, nulla, nullum, “no, none”, and uter, utra, utrum, “both, whichever (of two).” So, take a look at the following examples:
- pater nullīus familiae, “father of no family”
- parentēs utrīus fīliī, “parents of whichever son”
The full declension chart for -īus adjectives can be found here.
Three termination adjectives
ācer, ācris, ācre - sharp, harsh
Three termination adjectives are so called for the three different parts of the dictionary entry, but they do not follow the -us, -a, -um or -r, -a, -um pattern that we saw in 2-1-2 adjectives. The dictionary entry for three termination adjectives similarly tells us the nominative singular forms for each gender: ācer is the masculine nominative singular form; ācris is the feminine nominative singular form; ācre is the neuter nominative singular form.
To decline a three termination adjective beyond the nominative case, begin the same way as with a 2-1-2 adjective: go to the second part of the dictionary entry, the feminine nominative singular form, and get the adjective’s stem by chopping off the final -is. Then, add the endings that you need.
Generally, these adjectives decline like third declension i-stem nouns in the masculine, feminine, and neuter with a few small differences.
The genitive plural for all third declension adjectives ends in -ium instead of -um and the nominative plural for neuter third declension adjectives ends in -ia instead of -a (NB: the ablative singular for all third declension adjectives ends with -ī instead of -e, but we don’t have to worry about that for now).
The full declension chart for three termination adjectives can be found here.
Two termination adjectives
fortis, forte - strong
Two termination adjectives can be recognized by the fact that their dictionary entry consists of two adjectival forms that end in -is and -e, respectively. In two termination adjectives, the first form (i.e. fortis) tells us the masculine AND feminine nominative singular form and the second form (i.e. forte) is the neuter nominative singular form.
Like three termination adjectives, two termination adjectives generally decline like third declension nouns except in the genitive plural for all genders and neuter nominative plural (as well as the ablative singular).
The declension of two termination adjectives is exactly the same as for three termination adjectives, except that the masculine and feminine nominative singular forms are the same. For reference, here is the paradigm chart for two termination adjectives.
One termination adjectives
ferox, ferocis - ferocious
One termination adjectives can be recognized by the -is ending in the second part of the dictionary entry. In the dictionary entry for one termination adjectives, the first form (i.e. ferox) signifies the nominative singular for all three genders (hence the name “one termination”), and the second form (i.e. ferocis) signifies the genitive singular for all three genders. Like three and two termination adjectives, one termination adjectives generally decline like third declension nouns except in the genitive plural for all genders and neuter nominative plural (as well as the ablative singular).
The full declension chart for one termination adjectives can be found here.
Irregulars
Beyond these four major categories, there are few common adjectival forms that are declined irregularly. These include demonstrative adjectives/pronouns like hic, haec, hoc and ille, illa, illud and the intensive/intensifying adjective/pronoun ipse, ipsa, ipsum (click for grammatical descriptions of the demonstrative and the intensive). You must become familiar with how they decline so that you can recognize them easily when you are reading a Latin text, so please refer to the paradigm charts linked to each irregular adjective in this paragraph for further clarification.
Substantives
One final note on adjectives. At times, they can be used effectively as nouns, which we refer to as substantival use of the adjective. You will recognize the substantival use of an adjective by the fact that there will be no noun with which it agrees. To fill out the meaning, we simple add “man/men”, “woman/women”, “person/people”, or “thing/things” to the meaning of the adjective depending on the gender and number. So while bonus can mean “good man”, bonae can mean “good women.”
Note that for plural groups of mixed gender, Latin defaults to the masculine. So, bonī can mean either “good men”, if we know for a fact that only male-identified figures are in the group, or “good people”, if the group is of mixed gender.