Today I'm going to talk about Latin superlatives, and why they're the best type of adjectives. This is a little bit of a Latin joke, and I will get to that later.
As we're talking about superlatives. It'll be really helpful if you know your noun endings, especially the first and second declension. The reason for that will become clear. But if you don't already have this, download my free noun endings guide here, or type your email below to get it sent straight to your inbox.
It'll really help you out to just have this to hand as we go through how superlatives work in Latin.
What are superlatives?
Well, they're a type of adjective and they are translated in English using:
very - very happy
most - most happy
-est - happiest
I’ve forgotten how Adjectives work
If you're not sure about adjectives, here’s a quick recap of how they work in Latin.
They describe a noun, and in Latin they have to agree in case, number and gender with the noun that they're describing. For example:
laetus servus - “the happy slave”
servus is nominative in case, it's singular and it's masculine. laetus therefore also has to be nominative masculine singular to match.
laetae puellae - “of the happy girl”, “to the happy girl” or “the happy girls”
laetae goes with puellae. They match in case, number and gender. Each of these words could be nominative plural, or it could be genitive singular or dative singular. We're can’t be sure without context, but they do agree.
These two examples are both from 2-1-2 adjectives. If you're not sure about these, you can read more about them in this post. They're called 2-1-2 because they follow the second declension endings for masculine nouns, the first detention endings for feminine nouns, and the second detention neuter endings if they're describing neuter nouns.
So we have 2-1-2 adjectives, but we also have another type. Ones that look like this:
gravis servus - “the serious slave”
In this case, servus is still nominative, singular, and masculine. So gravis also has to be nominatve, singular, masculine. This doesn't look like they match, but gravis is a 3-3 adjective, meaning it follows the third declension endings (like canis, “dog”).
gravia bella - “the serious war”
bella is nominative or accusative neuter plural. So gravia also has to be nominative or accusative neuter plural. gravia in this case is following the third declension neuter endings.
3-3 adjectives follow third declension endings whether the noun they’re describing is third declension or not. What matters is the gender, not the declension. Again, if you aren’t sure about 3-3 adjectives, you can read a more in depth post about them here.
OK, I get adjectives. Now what are Superlatives?
I've said they are type of adjective, but they're not just the normal type of adjective. It's not just serious or happy. It's the most serious or the happiest. That's what a superlative is.
We spot them in Latin using these syllables:
-issim-
-errim-
-illim-
They're quite easy to spot because Latin doesn't often have double letters. And these syllables are inserted in the middle of the adjective. So you have your adjective stem, then you have one of these superlative indicators, and then you have your 2-1-2 endings.
laet- + -issim- + -us/-a/-um
pulch- + -errim- + -us/-a/-um
grav- + -issim- + -us/-a/-um
It doesn't matter whether the adjective was originally a 2-1-2 adjective or a 3-3 adjective. All superlatives have 2-1-2 endings, which makes it easier to learn because you just need to know your second declension and your first declension endings for superlatives. The us, a, um that you are familiar with.
Noun Agreement
The -us, -a, -um endings shown above are just the nominative for masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns respectively. But of course, as we have said, they have to agree with the noun in case and number, as well as gender.
So if a superlative is describing a masculine noun, it declines like servus, using the 2nd declension masculine endings. If it's a feminine noun, its like puella using the 1st declension endings, and for neuter nouns superlatives use the 2nd declension neuter endings, like bellum.
Again, if you're not sure about these endings, just download my Noun Endings guide. It's completely free and it'll really help because it has all these endings written out in pretty colours!
Superlative Examples
laetissimi domini
The very happy masters
laetissimi has the -issim- syllables we were looking at above to spot the superlative with, and it also has -i at the end, which matches domini. domini is a masculine plural nominative, and therefore so is laetissimi.
Note: it could also be a genitive singular phrase: “of the happiest master”, you would have to figure it out from context
pulcherrimas puellas
The most beautiful girls
pulcherrima has that double R syllable, -errim- so it means “the most beautiful”. It ends with -as, showing that it is a feminine accusative plural adjective. It is describing the puellas who are also feminine accusative plural.
ferocissimo flumine
By the fiercest river
This one is a little bit trickier. flumen, fluminis is third declension noun, so it doesn't necessarily look like it matches our 2-1-2 superlative. However, flumine is ablative singular. It is also neuter. ferocissimo could be either dative or ablative neuter, and we’re going to suggest ablative to go with flumine. It means “by the most fierce river”, or “by the very ferocious river”.
There are lots of different ways to translate a superlative. Just pick whichever one sounds most natural.
Remember that ferocissimo uses the second declension neuter endings, even though flumen is third declension. Declension doesn't matter. What matters is the gender of the noun it is describing, in this case neuter.
audacissimus nauta
“The boldest sailor”
Here is another that shows how important it is to know genders. nauta is a first declension noun, so it declines just like puella. However, it is masculine. This means the adjectives (and superlatives) that describe it have to also follow masculine endings like servus. In this example, nauta is nominative and singular, so audacissimus also has to be nominative singular.
I’ll say it again:
Declension doesn't matter. What matters is the gender of the noun being described.
Irregular Latin Superlatives
So that's how regular superlatives work. But there are a few, just like in English, that don't follow this pattern. Let's have a look at some of them now.
bonus a, um: good
optimus, a, um: best
The superlative of “good” is “best”, and optimus still uses the 2-1-2 endings, but the actual word itself has changed. It's also irregular in English, so it hopefully isn’t too daunting.
malus, a, um: bad
pessimus, a, um: worst
Again, the superlative is irregular in English as well (worst) but pessimus still uses the 2-1-2 endings that we expect.
magnus, a, um: big
maximus, a, um: biggest
This one is regular in English, but irregular in Latin.
parvus, a, um: small
minimus, a, um: smallest
Again, it has a completely different stem to the normal adjective, but it still has the 2-1-2 endings.
These irregular superlatives can't be noticed with the double letters we saw before, -errim-, -illim-, and -issim-. So you just have to learn these ones.
quam + Superlative
Superlatives can also be used with a very interesting word. quam can do a lot of different things in Latin. It pulls a lot of weight.
If it's with a superlative, it has a very specific meaning: “as … as possible”
quam pucherrimus: “as beautiful as possible”.
For example, puer quam pulcherrimus erat - “the boy was as beautiful as possible”. pulcherrimus is masculine nominative, and so still matches the puer.
So be aware if you see quam and any superlative, it means “as something as possible”: as fast as possible, as cold as possible, whatever the superlative may be.
Superlatives are the best
So now I hope you see why superlatives are the best Latin adjective. That's my Latin joke! You translate superlatives using most or est or very!
I know. I'm hilarious.
(Please don’t unsubscribe because of my terrible humour)
And that's all there is to Latin superlatives! I hope it's been useful! Do grab my noun endings guide from the link, it'll help you out as you learn your 2-1-2 endings.
Thanks for joining me today, and I'll see you next time on bambasbat.