Latin Adjectives: Agreement in Gender, Number and Case

Latin adjectives must agree with the noun they describe in gender, number and case. Once you see the pattern, it becomes routine.

The model: bonus, bona, bonum

The adjective bonus ("good") has three sets of endings, one for each gender:

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative sing.	bonus	bona	bonum
Genitive sing.	bonī	bonae	bonī
Dative sing.	bonō	bonae	bonō
Accusative sing.	bonum	bonam	bonum
Ablative sing.	bonō	bonā	bonō
Nominative pl.	bonī	bonae	bona

The masculine and neuter forms follow the second declension (like dominus, bellum), and the feminine follows the first declension (like puella).

Matching a noun

The adjective matches the noun's gender, number and case, and it need not sit next to it:

• puella bona — the good girl
• dominus bonus — the good master
• bellum bonum — a good war (neuter)
• puellae bonae — of the good girl / the good girls
• puellam bonam vidēmus — we see the good girl

Notice that bona is the feminine nominative singular but also the neuter plural. Context and agreement tell you which.

Adjectives of the third declension

Many adjectives follow the third declension, such as fortis, -e ("brave"):

	Masc./Fem.	Neuter
Nominative sing.	fortis	forte
Accusative sing.	fortem	forte
Nominative pl.	fortēs	fortia

Example: vir fortis (a brave man), puella fortis (a brave girl), bellum forte.

Adjectives as nouns

Adjectives often stand alone as nouns:

• bonī — good men, the good
• bona — good things

Comparison

Latin adjectives have comparative and superlative forms:

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
altus (high)	altior (higher)	altissimus (highest)
longus (long)	longior (longer)	longissimus (longest)

Common mistakes

• Matching the adjective to the wrong noun.
• Forgetting the neuter plural -a.
• Assuming an adjective must be next to its noun.

Tips

1. Learn bonus, bona, bonum as a model.
2. Check case, number and gender together.
3. Use the dictionary to see the three endings.

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