2-1-2 Adjectives

Table of contents

1. Adjectives
2. 2-1-2 Adjectives
3. 2-1-2 -īus adjectives

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Adjectives

Adjectives modify (i.e., tell us more about) nouns. They serve to specify a noun and indicate a quality of the noun that helps us envision which one we’re talking about. For example:

• the brown jacket
• happy holidays
• a short novel

These bolded adjectives give us a better mental picture of which jacket, holidays, and novel we’re talking about (for example, the brown jacket as opposed to the green or red one).

In Latin, adjectives must agree with nouns in gender, case, and number. This concept is called adjective-noun agreement. 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 equus (“large horse”, masculine nominative singular)
• magna arbor (“large tree”, feminine nominative singular)
• magnī equī (“large horses”, masculine nominative plural)
• magnae arbōrēs (“large trees”, feminine nominative plural)

Because adjectives need to match nouns, they also decline in gender, case, and number. Unlike nouns, however, which are locked to one gender based on their dictionary entry, adjectives can be declined into any of the three genders, precisely because they need to be able to match any noun.

Most adjectives fall into one of two major categories based on the endings that we can use to reflect different gender, case, and number combinations: 1st/2nd declension and 3rd declension. Adjectives in the former group, 1st/2nd declension, are also known as 2-1-2 adjectives. We’ll discuss 2-1-2 adjectives below and 3rd declension adjectives in the next unit.

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 2-1-2 adjective can modify a 3rd declension noun, or a masculine 2-1-2 adjective can modify a 1st declension noun:

• bonus dux (“good leader”; masculine nominative singular. bonus = 2-1-2; dux = 3rd declension masculine)
• magna arbor (“big tree”; feminine nominative singular. magna = 2-1-2; arbor = 3rd declension feminine)
• malus nauta (“bad sailor”; masculine nominative singular. malus = masculine 2-1-2; nauta = 1st declension masculine)

This means that you cannot rely on the ending of your adjective and the ending of your noun looking the same. In many circumstances, your adjective and noun will have different endings even if they match in gender, case, and number. You must evaluate the gender, case, and number possibilities for each adjective and noun that you encounter in order to determine whether an adjective can modify a noun.

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2-1-2 Adjectives

2-1-2 adjectives can be recognized from an adjective’s dictionary entry; it is a 2-1-2 if the three parts of the entry end in -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).

Here are some examples:

• magnus, magna, magnum - great
• bonus, bona, bonum - good
• pulcher, pulchra, pulchrum - beautiful, handsome, pretty

Note that this introduces a new kind of dictionary entry pattern to keep in mind. While verbs have four principal parts and nouns have two principal parts and a gender marker (m., f., or n.), a 2-1-2 adjective dictionary entry consists of three principal parts.

The declension of adjectives, like that of nouns, is a matter of finding the right stem and then attaching appropriate endings. To get a 2-1-2 adjective’s stem, you need to take the -a off the feminine nominative singular (the second part of the dictionary entry) and then add the appropriate endings onto it. This means that for the examples above, the stems are as follows:

• magn-
• bon-
• pulchr-

Note the final example: because we used the feminine form for the stem, the spelling is pulchr-, and not pulcher (with an e before the r) as in the masculine form.

Once you have the stem, add the appropriate ending:

• If you need a masculine form of the adjective, the ending should come from the paradigm chart for 2nd declension masculine nouns (like puer or equus).
• If you need a feminine form, the ending should come from the paradigm chart for 1st declension nouns (like puella).
• If you need a neuter form, the ending should come from the paradigm chart for 2nd declension neuter nouns (like oppidum).

From this, you can see why we call these 2-1-2 adjectives; the masculine, feminine, and neuter forms of the adjective use 2nd declension, 1st declension, and 2nd declension endings, respectively.

Because an adjective can be declined into three different genders and at least 10 different case-number combinations, its paradigm chart is rather large. Here is an example of a blank adjective paradigm chart, with the case-number combinations forming the rows and the genders forming the columns:

Using this, let’s look at two quick examples of the declension of a 2-1-2 adjective. First, bonus, -a, -um - good:

This range of forms ensures that you can match the adjective to any noun that you want to pair it with, in any case and number. For example:

• dux nōmen bonī nautae (masculine genitive singular) audīvit.
  • “The leader heard the name of the good sailor.”
• puer dōna bonīs matribus (feminine dative plural) dedit.
  • “The boy gave the gifts to the good mothers.”
• agricolae bona oppida (neuter accusative plural) vīdērunt.
  • “The farmers saw the good towns.”

In each of these examples, note how we can tell that the form of bonus modifies the noun that it does because of the fact that they match that noun in gender, case, and number. We can only know this, however, if we determine the range of possible parses for each noun and adjective in the sentence. For example, in the first sentence, here are each of the nouns and adjectives and their gender, case, and number possibilities:

• dux (noun)
  • masculine nominative singular
• nōmen (noun)
  • neuter nominative singular
  • neuter accusative singular
• bonī (adjective)
  • masculine genitive singular
  • masculine nominative plural
  • neuter genitive singular
• nautae (noun)
  • masculine genitive singular
  • masculine dative singular
  • masculine nominative plural

The question here is which noun does bonī modify? We can eliminate dux and nōmen immediately, since none of their gender, case, and number options match up with the options for bonī. This leaves nautae as the only possible noun that bonī can modify, but the pair can be one of two possibilities: masculine genitive singular or masculine nominative plural. Because the verb of the sentence (audīvit) is singular and would require a singular subject, we can eliminate masculine nominative plural as an option, leaving us with bonī agricolae as masculine genitive singular.

This process of parsing each word and comparing the possible gender, case, and number combinations is necessary in order to ensure that you understand correctly which noun an adjective modifies. A translation for the sentence above like “The leader heard the good name of the sailor” or “The good leader heard the name of the sailor” would be incorrect, since bonī cannot possibly match nōmen or dux in gender, case, and number.

Our second example is pulcher, pulchra, pulchrum - beautiful, handsome, pretty:

Again, note that the stem for all forms except the masculine nominative singular is pulchr-, which comes from the feminine nominative singular. These forms cover the range of gender, case, and number possibilities, including adjective-noun combinations like:

• pulcher equus, masculine nominative singular
• pulchrō equō, masculine dative singular
• pulchrae arbōrēs, feminine nominative plural
• pulchrum oppidum, neuter accusative singular

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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. In addition, 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 they are listed in the Week 4 Vocabulary under the appropriate heading.

So, take a look at the following paradigm of an -īus adjective, tōtus, tōta, tōtum - whole, entire, with the forms to note in bold:

This means that pairing this adjective with nouns in the genitive singular or dative singular will cause what looks like a mismatch in endings, but keep in mind that these are just special forms. Be careful as well that you note the full ending -īus so as not to confuse the genitive form with the masculine nominative singular in -us.

• dux tōtīus oppidī, “the leader of the whole town” (neuter genitive singular)
• but: totus ager, “the whole field” (masculine nominative singular)
• nauta aurum sōlī agricolae (masculine dative singular) dedit.
  • “The sailor gave the gold to the only farmer.”

The last example is particularly fraught, since the -ī ending on sōlī and the -ae ending on agricolae leads to a number of possible parses for each:

• sōlī
  • masculine dative singular
  • masculine nominative plural
  • feminine dative singular
  • neuter dative singular
• agricolae
  • masculine genitive singular
  • masculine dative singular
  • masculine nominative plural

Of the two matches, masculine dative singular and masculine nominative plural, we can eliminate the latter option because of the singular number of the verb dedit, which would require a nominative singular subject.

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