Salvete,
I have a few questions about declining certain adjectives. In my homework I had to decline “cubiculum ingens.” It is easy to decline the noun “cubiculum,” but what form of “ingens” would I use? “Ingentis” is the genitive sing. so should I use “ingent” as the stem? This is my best attempt:
singular
nom. cubiculum ingente
gen. cubiculi ingentis
dat. cubiculo ingenti
acc. cubiculum ingente
abl. cubiculo ingenti
plural
nom. cubicula ingentia
gen. cubiculorum ingentium
dat. cubiculis ingentibus
acc. cubicula ingentia
abl. cubiculis ingentis
On a similar vein, how would I do the same thing for “filius celer”?
Thanks in advance,
Deccius
You declined the adjective correctly, except the nominative singular. Hopefully this explanation will clarify how to derive the nominative singular of these adjectives for you.
3rd declension adjective have 3 different types of dictionary/vocabulary entries.
Some have 2 principal parts, where the first is the masc./fem. nom. sing. and the second the neut. nom. sing.
an example is facilis, -e. facilis is the feminine and masculine nominative singular. facile is the neuter nominative singular (as well as the accusative singular of course). With these, the stem is easily found by chopping off the gender ending.
Some have 2 principal parts, where the first is the masc./fem./neut. nom. sing. and the second the gen. sing.
an example is ingens, -entis. ingens is the nominative singular for all genders (and neuter accusative singular of course). ingentis is the genitive singular. With these, the genitive is given to show the stem.
A small group of adjectives has 3 principal parts, where the first is the masc. nom. sing., the second the fem. nom. sing., and the third the neut. nom. sing.
an example is celer, celeris, -e. celer is the masculine nominative singular. celeris is the feminine nominative singular. celere is the neuter nominative/accusative singular. With these, you can remove the feminine or neuter ending to find the stem.