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creating adjectives

Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 3:49 am
by Turendil
We have just gotten to chapter 16 in wheelocks and I have a question I would like answered. What are the rules for creating an adjective in latin? In english we can transition from nouns to adjectives and suchlike by adding suffixes. The closest I can come in latin to a like transistion is by useing the infinitive and possum or suchlike. This captures the general sense but does not entirely answer the dilema.

So how do you create an adjective from a known noun or verb in latin?

Re: creating adjectives

Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 3:18 am
by modus.irrealis
Turendil wrote:So how do you create an adjective from a known noun or verb in latin?
If I understand you right, I would say Latin is not so different from English in that it seems to like adding suffixes as well -- in fact, some of the English suffixes were borrowed from Latin. Here are some examples from Allen and Greenough's grammar (which you can download off this site), which has a section on this topic:

periculum 'danger' > periculosus 'dangerous'
natura 'nature' > naturalis 'natural'
Roma 'Rome' > Romanus 'Roman'

But just like English, you have to know which suffix is used for which word -- I don't think there's some method that works with any noun or verb.