Latin grammar question, what do they mean when they say...?

Question

...adjectives must agree with the nouns in case and number and gender? I don't understand that at all. (are they talking about endings?if they are which ones?) I don't understand latin grammar at all. My midterm is 2morrow :'( An example sentence would be helpful

Answer 1

You have had some good explanations already, so I'll just chime in with a few examples.

It's the noun that is the boss. The adjective has to obey the noun. If the noun is masculine, the adjective has to follow. If the noun is feminine, the adjective has to hook on and adapt - and so on. So:

"bonus" means "good". "Bon" is the root, "us" is the ending. The ending "-us" changes, depending on gender, case and number of the NOUN. The adjective always has to adapt to the noun.

Examples:

dominus bonUS = a good master
puella bonA = a good girl
templum bonUM = a good temple

That looks simple (-us/-us, -a/-a, -um/-um). But nouns can have other endings and still be masc, fem, neutr. It's not the ending of the noun, but the gender, that is important for the adjective. The adjectives follow the gender and not the ending of the noun:

frater bonUS = a good brother
soror bonA = a good sister
corpus bonUM = a good body

Number also counts. If the noun is in plural, the adjective must follow:

Domini boni = good masters
Puellae bonae = good girls
Templa bona = good temples
Fratres boni = good brothers
Sorores bonae = good sisters
Corpora bona = good bodies.

Case also counts (genitive, accusative, dative etc). The noun leads, and the adjective follows. here is an example of genitive:

Liber dominorum bonorum = Book of the good masters (m)
Liber puellarum bonarum = Book of the good girls (f)
Liber templorum bonorum = Book of the good temples (n)
Liber fratrum bonorum = Book of the good brothers (m)
Liber sororum bonarum = Book of the good sisters (f)
Liber corporum bonorum = Book of the good bodies (n)

Not all adjectives end with -us, -a, -um, though. The adjective gravis (heavy), ending with -is, is one example of "third declension adjectives". The noun is still the boss, and the adjective is still the faithful servant that has to obey the gender, number and case of the noun. But it has one little freedom left to enjoy - to stick to its own declension. So:

Dominus gravIS = a heavy master
Puella gravIS= a heavy girl
Templum gravE = a heavy temple

Domini gravES = heavy masters
Puellae gravES = heavy girls
Templum gravIA = heavy temples

Liber dominorum gravIUM = book of heavy masters
Liber puellarum gravIUM = book of heavy girls
Liber templorum gravIUM = book of heavy temples

Answer 2

Yes, they are talking about endings, and there are different endings in Latin for each case/number/gender combination.

Gender refers to masculine or feminine.
Number means singular or plural.
Case has to do with where in the sentence the noun is used: subject, direct object, indirect object, etc.

I agree with the previous answerer that it will be kind of hard for you to learn half a course's worth in one night. But you can try, I suppose.

The thing about Latin is that it's a dead language, so you can simply memorize, memorize, memorize. If you see charts in the textbook about endings, memorize those, and then study the examples in the textbook to see if you can figure it out. I wish I could help more, but I don't know Latin. I'm sure there are Latin grammar sites all over the web.

Here's an example Latin phrase that I do know:
"tabula rasa" = blank slate
Notice that the adjective "rasa" has the ending "a". This is the ending that matches the noun, since the noun is feminine, singular, and in nominative (subjective) case (I believe).

I hope this makes sense!

Answer 3

Hi!
In Spanish, as opposed to English, adjectives are specific according to the word (noun) they modify.
For example:
In English you would say:
JOHN IS BEAUTIFUL or JANE IS BEAUTIFUL or THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL.

In Spanish "Beautiful" would change depending on wheteher you are talking about a male, female, individual or group.
The above Sentences, in Spanish, would be:
JOHN ES BELLO / JANE ES BELLA / ELLOS SON BELLOS or ELLAS SON BELLAS.

Notice how the "BELLO" changes:
Bello: male, singular.
Bella: female, singular
Bellos: male, plural
Bella: female plural.

This is the reason why your text indicates thta the adjectives must agree with the number and gender of the noun you use.
It would be very similar as with English nouns.
For example, you say:
JOHN's book (HIS book)
JANE's book (HER book)
That Family's book (THEIR book) and so on...

Is not that hard though, in Spanish, since there are keywords to recognize most adjectives.
For example:
- Male singular adjectives usually end in "O": Bello, ansioso, feo.
- Female singular adjectives end in "A": Bella, ansiosa, fea.
- Male plura adjectives end in "OS": Bellos, ansiosos, feos.
- Female plural end in "AS": Bellas, ansiosas, feas.

Of course there are other adjective that you could call "irregular" because they don't follow those rules. This is the case of: "Inteligente" (Inteligent) which is the same for male and female, for example.
However, your plurals will always, ALWAYS end in "S" (Inteligentes).

You'll get the hang of it. For now, I think that's the best explanation I can give you!

Goodluck!

Answer 4

OK, it's not in Latin. But here's one in Spanish.

Say that -o is male. -a is female.
-s means plural.

So if you had two red pitchers, it would be dos jarros rojos. But if it were two red apples, it would be dos manzanas rojas. But if it were one red pitcher, it's un jarro rojo. One red apple, una manzana roja. See how the -os and -as correspond?

The adjective has to have the same format as the noun. So if it's a masculine singular nominative noun, it would have to be a masculine singular nominative (case) adjective.

Hope that helps.

Answer 5

Hey U Think U Have A Latin Grammer Problem Look At Me I'm Mexican and I Can Barely Speak Half A Word.

Answer 6

If you don't understand at all, then you are going to flunk that mid-term.

All nouns (like boat, door, girl, boy, house) in Latin have a gender, masculine or feminine or neuter.

Things are singular or plural. (boats, doors, girls, boys)

But you cannot learn a half-term's knowledge in one question on Q&A.

Answer 7

what it means is that...you would not say "they have a problem" like in english. because the noun is "they" which is MORE than 1, you say "they have problems" or...ellos tienen problemas" you can't say problema. also, if the noun is a girl, you must say "ella es unA americanA" if it's a boy, "el es un americanO"