Adverb Degrees - Overview
Adverbs are words that modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. We’ve seen many examples of adverbs throughout this course, including ones like nōn and tamen. Such adverbs are indeclinable and have only positive degrees.
Other types of adverbs can be formed from adjectives in English by adding -ly to an adjective, indicating that a verbal action is being completed in an [adjective] manner. For example:
- He walked quickly. (i.e., in a quick manner)
- They sang beautifully. (i.e., in a beautiful manner)
Such adverbs, like adjectives, have a degree: positive, comparative, or superlative. The same relationships apply: positive is the base degree of an adverb, comparative corresponds to “more”, and superlative corresponds to “most.” For example:
- He sang beautifully. (positive)
- She sang more beautifully. (comparative)
- But they sang most beautifully. (superlative)
For these adverbs, we can use the adjectives from which they are derived to create adverbs in each of the three degrees.
Positive Adverbs
To form the positive degree of an adverb from an adjective:
- if a 2-1-2, add -ē to the stem:
- pulcher, pulchra, pulchrum, “beautiful” > pulchrē, “beautifully”
- laetus, -a, -um, “happy” > laetē, “happily”
- if a third declension adjective, add -iter to the stem, unless the stem ends in -nt-, in which case add only -er:
- ferox, ferocis, “fierce” > ferociter, “fiercely”
- acer, acris, acre, “sharp” > acriter, “sharply”
- sapiēns, sapientis, “wise” > sapienter, “wisely”
magister discipulōs sapienter docuit. The teacher taught the students wisely.
familia laetē cēnam parāvit. The family happily prepared dinner.
Note also that the neuter nom./acc. sg. form of an adjective can often be used as an adverb:
- is illa carmina facile didicit. He learned those songs easily.
- tē multum amō. I love you much.
Comparative Adverbs
The comparative degree of an adjective-derived adverb almost always exactly corresponds to the neuter nom./acc. sg. comparative form of the adjective:
- pulchrius, “more beautifully”
- laetius, “more happily”
- ferocius, “more fiercely”
- acrius, “more sharply”
- sapientius, “more wisely”
mīlitēs nostrī ferocius quam illī pugnāvērunt. Our soldiers fought more fiercely than those (soldiers).
ea carmina pulchrius quam is canit. She is singing the songs more beautifully than he (is).
Superlative Adverbs
The superlative degree of an adjective-derived adverb is formed by adding -ē to the superlative adjective stem:
- pulcherrimē, “most beautifully”
- laetissimē, “most happily”
- ferocissimē, “most fiercely”
- acerrimē, “most sharply”
- sapientissimē, “most wisely”
sapientissimē dīxit. He spoke very wisely.
virī ferocissimē clamāvērunt. The men shouted most fiercely.
Note that comparative and superlative adverbs can also be used with quam to indicate “than” or “as [adverb] as possible” respectively, similar to its use with comparative and superlative adjectives. The ablative of comparison is not usually used with comparative adverbs.