Latin Adjectives, part 3

Last time we looked at how adjective/noun pairs do not care about agreeing in declension.  This time, I want to talk a little bit about 3rd declension adjectives. They can be a little tricky.

The first think you need to know is this: they are all 3rd declension i-stem. But with one added surprise. This is really important. Important enough to merit a declension chart. So here it is.

	Nom	Gen	Dat	Acc	Abl
M/F sing	omnis	omnis	omni	omem	omni
N sing	omne			omne
M/F pl	omnes	omnium	omnibus	omnes	omnibus
N pl	omnia			omnia

See how in the ablative singular it is omni, instead of the omne we might expect? Why is that? I don't know but, it isn't a problem. This pattern makes the 3rd declension adjectives just a shade more like the 2nd declension.

The one last thing that is tricky about 3rd declension adjectives is the number of nominative singular forms each has.

If the pattern is -is, -e, then you have a two nominative adjective. Genitive is the same as the first nominative, as you see in the chart. If the pattern is -er, -ris, -re, it is three nominatives. Like the 2nd declension -er adjectives, sometimes they keep the e. Sometimes not. The English derivative will usually help keep you on track with the e. If the adjective looks like a noun, you have one nominative for all three genders. It is very typical for these to end with an -x. To show examples:

omnis, -e — 2 nominative singular forms. See the -is, -e?
acer, -cris, -cre — 3 nominative singular forms. See how the 1st one looks a little like a 2nd declension adjective?
loquax, -cis — 1 nominative singular form. See the -x, -cis?

Next time, a quiz.