Super Superlatives

When worst comes to worst

Today we're going to be looking at superlatives in Latin. How to form them, how to recognise them and what they mean.

So what is a superlative?

In Latin, we have three different, let's say, orders of adjective.

1. We have the normal type of adjective, which is like happy or sad or tired. In Latin, adjectives look like laetus.

2. We have comparatives, laetior, which are happier, sadder, more tired. They compare something to something else.

   I have posts about adjectives and comparatives on my channel, so if you're confused about either of those, you can find them here in the bambasbat archive.

3. Today we're going to be looking at superlatives. Now superlatives are the most something you can be, so they are the happiest, saddest, most tired. laetissimus

How to translate superlatives

We have several options for how to translate superlatives in Latin.

laetissimus, can mean “happiest”, but it can also mean “very happy” or “most happy”, and you just have to pick which one makes most sense in your translation. All are absolutely fine.

How to spot superlatives

I've been using laetus as my example because it forms in the most common way. A Latin superlative is really easy to spot and that's because of the -issim- addition in the middle of the word.

It's formed using:

• the stem adjective (laet-)

• -issim-

• the ending that you need for your adjective.

So we've looked at laetus and changed that to laetissimus and that is the most common way that superlatives are formed.

There are some slightly irregular ones, instead of -issim- they might use -irrim- / -errim-, or they might use -illim-, but they do the same thing. It’s that double letter, the double R or the double L, and it is just as easy to spot as the double S in the normal superlatives.

How superlatives change

Now superlatives are a type of adjective, and so they have to agree in case, number, and gender with the noun they are describing. That means that their endings can change a lot.

Luckily, they follow the 2 1 2 adjective pattern.

• So if you're describing a masculine noun, it goes like the second declension. So if I'm describing a man, I might say laetissimus vir, “the very happy man”.

• If you're describing a feminine noun, like the first declension nouns. If I'm describing a woman, I might say, laetissima femina, “the most happy woman”.

• And if you're describing a neuter noun, it goes like the second detention neuter endings. If I'm describing a war, I might say bellum laetissimum, “the happiest war”. That's kind of a weird sentence, but you get my point.

For each of these, there is the -issim- addition in the middle, and the correct gender ending. All of those are nominative singulars, laetissimus, laetissima, laetissimum. That's what we mean when I say it's a 2 1 2 ending pattern.

Examples

1. puerum laetissimum vidi.

laetissimum has that -issim- sound in the middle, so I know that's a superlative, but we need to know what the adjective goes with.

From the ending, laetissimum, we know that's an accusative singular. Is there another accusative singular? Yes, puerum. So it is the boy that is very happy, but he is not in charge of the sentence.

vidi is the verb, it means “I saw”.

“I saw the very happy boy.”

2. viros feminarum pulcherrimarum salutabamus.

This is one of the slightly irregular superlatives, pulcherrimarum, with a double R instead of the double S. In this case, pulcherrimarum is genitive plural, and it's also feminine. Is there something that looks genitive? Yes - feminarum is a first decension, generative, plural.

So feminarum pulcherrimarum means “of the very beautiful women”.

 viros is an accusative singular, so we know that “the men” aren't the subject of this sentence. What we have left is the verb, salutabamus, “we were greeting”. Then take the accusative, the men, or “the husbands” in this case, and then the genitive plurals, “of the very beautiful women”.

We were greeting the husbands of the very beautiful women.

Review

1. Latin superlatives have to agree with the noun they are describing in:

• case

• number

• gender

2. They follow a 2 1 2 noun endings pattern.

3. They use -issim- or -errim- or -illim-

And that's really all there is to Latin superlatives. I hope this has helped!

Make sure you know your adjective stems first of all, but its also really important that you know your 2 1 2 noun endings. If you don't, you can download my free noun endings guide here. It has all the tables for the first and second declensions, as well as the third declension. So go and grab that, it will really help you to learn those 2 1 2 endings.

Thanks so much for joining me, and I'll see you next time on bambasbat!