REGULAR COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES

Comparative Adjectives

These are used when you are comparing nouns e.g.

This road is longer than that one

longer is a comparative adjective.

in Latin these adjectives are formed by adding -IOR to the stem e.g. longIOR=longer

Look out for plurals: longIORES and neuter nouns: longIUS

Superlative Adjectives

These are used when you want to say “very long” or “longest”

In Latin they are formed by adding ISSIMUS to the stem e.g. longISSIMUS=very long/longest

If an adjective ends in ER (e.g. pulchER=beautiful) ERRIMUS is added instead e.g. pulchERRIMUS=very beautiful

    IRREGULAR COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES

    In Latin (as in English) some adjectives are irregular when they are used in comparisons:

positive	comparative	superlative
bonus (good)	melior (better)	optimus (best; very good)
malus (bad)	peior (worse)	pessimus (worst; very bad)
magnus (big)	maior (bigger)	maximus (biggest; very big)
parvus (small)	minor (smaller)	minimus (smallest; very small)
multus (much)	plus (more)	plurimus (most; very much)
multi (many)	plures (more)	plurimi (most; very many)