May 28, 2022

Irregular Comparison

27 minutes

There are two important rules to remember in this chapter:

(1) There are six third-declension adjectives with irregular superlatives. Their positive forms end -lis in the masculine/feminine nominative singular, and their superlatives end -limus, for example, facillimus.

(2) All adjectives of any declension which have nominative singular masculine forms ending -er ─ for example, liber ─ form superlatives which end -rimus, such as liberrimus. This chapter, the last before we take the first test in this class, is basically an exercise in memorization.

There are no new grammatical concepts introduced here. But do remember: irregularity is a sign they’re being used a lot. Just saying… A little linguistics may help make some sense out of the irregularities certain Latin comparative forms exhibit, but unfortunately, it can’t take you all the way.

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