Latin for Beginners · Lesson LVII · Part 11: Comparing adjectives and adverbs
57. Forming and comparing adverbs
Goal: Your child makes adverbs from adjectives (cārē, fortiter), compares them, and knows the irregular ones such as bene, melius, optimē.
You'll need
- The book: the lesson pages, plus the special vocabulary at the back of the book
- A notebook and pencil
- Index cards for new words
What's in the book
How adverbs are formed and compared from first- and second-declension adjectives (§ 320) and from third-declension adjectives (§ 321), case forms used as adverbs (§ 322), irregular comparisons (§ 323), a practice list (§ 324), the rule (§ 325), and nine Latin and seven English sentences (§ 326). Vocabulary on page 297.
The lesson, step by step
Warm up
Your child compares bonus and magnus. Today's irregular adverbs come from those.
The new idea
From a first- or second-declension adjective, add -ē to the base: cārus gives cārē (dearly). From a third-declension adjective, add -iter (or -ter): fortis gives fortiter (bravely), audāx gives audācter.
The comparative adverb is the neuter comparative adjective (cārius, fortius). The superlative adverb ends in -ē (cārissimē, fortissimē).
Irregular adverbs
Read § 323 aloud as a chant:
bene, melius, optimē
diū, diūtius, diūtissimē
magnopere, magis, maximē
saepe, saepius, saepissimē
Vocabulary
Page 297. Some of the words:
aequus, -a, -um, even, level; equal
fossa, -ae, f., ditch (fosse)
gēns, gentis (-ium), f., race, tribe, nation (Gentile)
Also simul atque, as soon as, and plūrimum valēre, to be most powerful.
Latin to English
Translate the nine sentences about Marius and the Germans. Two of them:
Barbarī nihilō fortiōrēs erant quam Rōmānī.
Inter omnīs gentīs Rōmānī plūrimum valēbant.
English to Latin
Do the § 324 list (form and compare the adverbs), then write the seven English sentences.
Wrap-up
Your child makes adverbs from three adjectives you name. Memorize § 323 and the new words.
Answers to the book's problems
1. Nothing was done better than that battle in which Marius with a much smaller army put much larger forces of the Germans to flight. 2. The enemy boldly made attacks on the cohorts of the Romans; but Marius withstood all these most bravely. 3. The barbarians were no braver than the Romans. 4. At first the barbarians seemed to be superior, then the Romans fought more fiercely. 5. Finally, when the battle had been fought for a very long time on almost even terms, the barbarians took to flight. 6. Certain tribes of the Germans, as soon as they heard the report of that disaster, hid themselves in the farthest regions of their territory. 7. The Romans conquered more often than the enemy, because they had better arms. 8. Among all the nations the Romans were the most powerful. 9. As soon as these cohorts had withdrawn into more level ground, they pitched camp without any difficulty.
Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.