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AMCHS Latin
Adjectives are words that describe nouns and tell us more about them. They are words like "happy," "sad," "cold," "hot," "fast," "slow," "smart," "dumb," "brown," "red," and so on. In English, we usually put an adjective in front of a noun in order to make it describe that noun, like "happy dog" or "sad panda" or "red monkey butt."

In Latin, since word order is more fluid than English, adjectives are a little more complicated. An adjective could be right next to the noun it modifies, or two words away from it, or even on the opposite end of a long sentence. So how do you know which word that adjective is describing? You can use this rule: 

                         An adjective matches its noun in case, number, and gender.

Chant that. Repeat it over and over. Learn it. Like it. Love it. Take it on a date and watch the sunrise with it. Enter into a committed relationship with it. Propose to it on the pitcher's mound at a major league baseball game. Grow old with it. It's important.

What does that mean, though? An adjective is connected to its noun by matching it in certain ways. Like nouns, Latin adjectives can have different numbers (singular or plural), different genders (masculine, feminine, or neuter), and different cases (nominative, accusative, and so on). If an adjective is going to describe a noun, it needs to be in the same case, number, and gender as that noun. So if the noun is nominative, singular, and masculine, then the adjective needs to be nominative, singular, and masculine. If the noun is ablative, plural, and neuter, then the adjective needs to be ablative, neuter, and plural. You get the picture, right? Here are some examples of adjectives matching their nouns:

                        filius meus                                       my son (nominative, singular, masculine)
                        camelopardalibus pulchris        beautiful giraffes (dative, plural, neuter)
                        domos ligneas                               wooden houses (accusative, plural, feminine)          

Also like nouns, adjectives are split into declension groups to show what kind of ending they will have in any given situation. Also ALSO like nouns, those declension groups are split up according to the adjective's ending in the genitive case. There are two groups of adjectives: 1st-and-2nd Declension adjectives, and 3rd Declension adjectives.
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  • Home
  • Language
    • Words >
      • Nouns >
        • Nominative and Vocative Case
        • Genitive Case
        • Accusative Case
        • Dative Case
        • Ablative Case
        • Irregular Nouns
      • Verbs >
        • Tenses >
          • Present Tense
          • Perfect Tense
          • Imperfect Tense
          • Pluperfect Tense
          • Future Tense
        • Infinitives
        • Active, Passive, and Deponent Verbs
        • Subjunctive Mood
        • Imperative Mood
        • "Be" and Other Irregular Verbs
      • Other Basic Word Types >
        • Adjectives >
          • 1st and 2nd Declension
          • 3rd Declension
        • Adverbs
        • Prepositions
    • Phrases, Clauses, and Sentences >
      • Indirect Discourse >
        • Indirect Commands
        • Indirect Statements
        • Indirect Questions
      • Relative Clauses
      • Purpose Clauses
      • Result Clauses
      • Conditional Sentences
    • Literature and Literary Devices >
      • Poetic Meter
  • History
    • Origins of Rome
    • Kingdom
    • Republic
    • Empire
    • Crisis and Fall
  • Culture
  • Latin Club
  • Contact