Comparatives and superlatives

Comparatives

Comparatives are used to compare two things.
In Latin, comparatives are usually formed by adding -ior for adjectives and adverbs, and -ius for nouns to the base form.
For example, pulchrior (more beautiful) is the comparative form of pulcher (beautiful).
The comparatives of nouns behave like third declension adjectives and have -ior for the masculine and feminine, and -ius for the neuter.
Unlike English, Latin does not use ‘than’ after a comparative; instead the word that follows the comparative is often in the ablative case.

Superlatives indicate the highest degree of something.
In Latin, we usually make superlatives by adding -issimus, -issima, -issimum to the base form.
For instance, pulcherrimus (most beautiful) is the superlative form of pulcher (beautiful).
When -er is the ending of an adjective, the superlative is -errimus, -errima, -errimum.
Some adjectives have irregular comparatives and superlatives that must be learned individually. A commonly used example is bonus (good), melior (better), optimus (best).

The dative case in Latin can be used after a comparative adjective to express for whom something is more.
For example, ‘She is taller for him’ would be expressed in Latin with a comparative followed by a dative.
Superlatives can take the ablative case with ‘ab’ to express ‘from’ or ‘by’ when indicating separation.
For example, ‘He was the tallest by a head’ – the ‘by a head’ part would be expressed using the ablative case with ‘ab’.
Understanding how to form and use comparatives and superlatives is important to expand the range of expression and comprehension in Latin.