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Latin from scratch course › #14: Degrees of adjectives and adverbs › #14.29: Comparative degree

Latin from scratch #14.29: Comparison of adjectives

In the twenty-ninth class of the Latin from Scratch course, we’ll study the syntax of the comparison structures and the morphology of comparative adjectives.

Contents

  • Syntactic structures of comparison
  • Morphology of synthetic comparative adjectives
    • Irregular comparatives
  • Intensive comparative use

I explain everything in the following video (⏳ 13m 06s ⌛):

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Syntactic structures of comparison

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There are three types of comparison:

  • superiority: magis … quam “more … than” or “Xer than”
  • equality: tam … quam “as … as”
  • inferiority: minus … quam “less … than”

The most frequent comparison is superiority, which can also be expressed in an alternative way: plus … quam.

In all three structures, the adjective before quam and the word after minus, tam or magis are in the same case (*also the noun after quam):

Antonius minus/tam/magis altus quam Petrus est.

Antony is less/as tall / taller than/as Peter.

Dedi tibi donum minus/tam/magis dulce quam mellem.

I gave you a gift less/as sweet / sweeter than/as honey.

About the noun after quam (term of comparison, or second part of the comparison), it is actually more frequent to use the ablative without quam. However, this can only be used when the word being compared is in the nominative or accusative.

Antonius minus/tam/magis altus Petro est.

Dedi tibi donum minus/tam/magis dulce melle.

Morphology of synthetic comparative adjectives

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Only the superiority comparative form admits a synthetic form (i.e. in one word, as in English tall → taller). This is the preferred form in classical Latin. It is formed in the following way:

  1. root of the adjective
  2. suffix ‑ior (masculine and feminine) or ‑ius (neuter)

Regardless of the original declension of the adjective, these superiority comparatives are always declined according to the 3rd declension consonant-stem.

Antonius altior {quam Petrus / Petro} est.

Dedi tibi donum dulcius {quam mellem / melle}.

Puellae pulchriores {quam pueri / pueris} sunt.

The synthetic superiority comparative is the preferred form in classical Latin, but they have a limitation: the adjectives whose root end in a vowel cannot be formed in such way. For example, from caeruleus we couldn’t form *caeruleior, but the analytic form magis caeruleus.

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Irregular comparatives

There are a few adjectives whose comparative form is irregular:

  • bonus, bona, bonum → melior, melius
  • malus, mala, malum → peior, peius
  • magnus, magna, magnum → maior, maius
  • parvus, parva, parvum → minor, minus
  • multus, multa, multum → plures, plura

Intensive comparative use

Although this is a syntactic matter, it seems more intuitive to have it last, since it is not a very frequent use of the comparative.

The forms in -ior or -ius may be used as intensive comparative adjectives when there is no term of comparison (and it is not obvious from the context). In these cases we can translate as quite, too, very, etc., depending on the context.

Antonius altior est.

Antony is quite tall.

After the comparative degree, let’s study the superlative degree of adjectives.

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Next: Comparison of adjectives →

Paco Álvarez

About Paco Álvarez

I’m Paco Álvarez, a Spanish classical philologist. For years I’ve been teaching Latin and Greek online to Spanish students. When I saw there was nothing like my AcademiaLatin.com for English-speaking Latin lovers, I decided to create it myself, and that’s how LatinFromScratch.com was born.

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Course content

  1. Quick start
  2. Introduction
  3. Cases and their functions
  4. The five declensions
  5. First declension
  6. Verbal conjugation
  7. Present tense
  8. Second declension
  9. 2-1-2 adjectives
  10. Imperfect past tense
  11. Future tense
  12. Third declension nouns
  13. Third declension adjectives
  14. Perfect past tense
  15. Adverbials of place
  16. Fourth declension
  17. Fifth declension
  18. Pluperfect tense
  19. Possessives
  20. Personal pronouns
  21. Apposition
  22. Predicative complement
  23. Present subjunctive
  24. Imperfect subjunctive
  25. Perfect subjunctive
  26. Perfect future indicative
  27. Pluperfect subjunctive
  28. Syntax of cum
  29. Syntax of ut & ne
  30. Comparison of adjectives
  31. Superlative adjectives
  32. Adverbs from adjectives
  33. Demonstratives
  34. Relative clauses
  35. Passive voice
  36. Deponent verbs
  37. Relative time
  38. Participles: morphology
  39. Participles: syntax
  40. Infinitives
  41. Compounds of sum
  42. Irregular verbs
  43. Imperative

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