In the last story, you saw several adjectives that mean "very [adjective]" or "[adjective]est." This form of the adjective is called the superlative. There is also a form of the adjective called the comparative, which is usually translated "[adjective]er." We refer to these as the degrees of an adjective, and we call the normal form of the adjective the positive degree.
| Positive | Comparative | Superlative |
| big | bigger, rather big | biggest, very big |
| good | better, rather good | best, very good |
Here's how comparatives and superlatives are formed:
|
positive |
stem (from feminine) |
comparative (stem + ior) |
superlative (stem + issimus) |
|
altus, alta, altum high, deep |
alt |
altior, altius deeper, higher |
altissimus -a -um deepest, highest |
|
īrātus, īrāta, īrātum angry |
īrāt |
īrātior, īrātius angrier |
īrātissimus -a -um angriest, very angry |
|
audax, audacis bold |
audac |
audacior, audacius bolder |
audacissimus -a -um boldest, very bold |
If the adjective ends in -er, the superlative ends in -errimus
|
positive |
stem (from feminine) |
comparative (stem + ior) |
superlative (masculine + -rimus) |
|
pulcher -a -um beautiful |
pulch |
pulchrior, pulchrius more beautiful |
pulcherrimus -a -um most beautiful |
|
acer, acris, acre sharp |
acr |
acrior, acrius sharper |
acerrimus -a -um sharpest |
There are also six words – facilis (easy), difficilis (difficult), similis (like), dissimilis (unlike),gracilis (slender), humilis (lowly, humble) – that end in -illimus instead of -issimus in the superlative. Their superlatives are facillimus, difficillimus, simillimus, dissimilimus, gracillimus, and humillimus.
There are also several adjectives that have irregular comparatives and superlatives. The most common of these are:
|
positive |
comparative |
superlative |
|
bonus good |
melior better |
optimus best |
|
malus bad |
pēior worse |
pessimus worst |
|
māgnus great |
māior greater |
maximus greatest |
|
parvus small |
minor less |
minimus least |
|
multus much |
plus more |
plūrimus most |
|
multī many |
plūrēs more |
plūrimī most |
To compare two things in Latin, the comparative adjective is followed either by quam ("than") or by a noun in the ablative. This ablative is called an ablative of comparision. When we use quam, the noun after quam goes in the same case as the noun we are comparing it to.
Cornēlia est callidior quam Sextus. Cornelia is more clever than Sextus. (quam + noun)
Cornēlia est callidior Sextō . Cornelia is more clever than Sextus. (ablative of comparison)