Exercise 27: Adverbs
simple | comparative | superlative |
‘He ran quickly’ | ‘He ran more quickly’ | ‘He ran most/very quickly’ |
Simple adverbs are formed from adjectives:
adjectives in -us -a -um (like cupidus) add -ē to the stem (cupid-ē)
adjectives in -er -era -erum (like tener, Kennedy #71) add -ē to the nom. sing. masc. (tener-ē)
3rd declension adjectives (cf. Kennedy #73, 74, 75) add -iter to the stem (e.g. fortis, fort-iter; acer, acr-iter; felix, felic-iter etc) OR, if the stem ends in -nt, just add -er (e.g. sapiens, wise; sapient-er, wisely)
Comparative adverbs are ALL formed from the neuter (accusative singular) of the adjective
Superlative adverbs add – ē to the superlative adjective stem (dignissimus, dignissim-ē)
EXAMPLES
adjective | adverb | comparative adverb | superlative adverb |
dignus (worthy) | dignē | dignius | dignissimē |
tutus (safe) | tutē | tutius | tutissimē |
acer (keen) | acriter | acrius | acerrimē |
sapiens (wise) | sapienter | sapientius | sapientissimē |
fortis (brave) | fortiter | fortius | fortissimē |
SOME IRREGULAR FORMS
adjective | adverb | comparative adverb | superlative adverb |
bonus (good) | bene | melius | optimē |
malus (bad) | male | peius | pessimē |
parvus (small) | paulum | minus | minimē |
multus (many) | multum | plus | plurimum |