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Adjective/Noun Agreement by Dr. Richard E. Prior

When two words share form characteristics, they are said to agree. Latin nouns bear the characteristics of gender, case, and number. Latin adjectives also have gender, case, and number. Since adjectives have to agree with whatever noun they go with, they must be able to appear in any gender, any case, and any number.

Here are some sentences with the adjective bonus (“good”) that will illustrate the principle of adjective/noun agreement.

Dominus bonus servum habē bat. (The good master used to have a slave.)

Dominus servum bonum habē bat. (The master used to have a good slave.)

Dominus servōs bonōs habē bat. (The master used to have good slaves.)

Dominus multōs servōs bonōs habē bat. (The master used to have many good slaves.)

Dea erat bona. (The goddess was good.)

Deae erant bonae. (The goddesses were good.)

Vitam bonam habuit. (He had a good life.)

Virī bonī vitās bonās habuē runt. (The good men had good lives.)

Modifiers in Latin tend to follow the words they modify. (Adjectives referring to size or quantity are the exception.) If you think about it, it makes a tad more sense than what we do in English, which is describe something before even saying what it is that's being described.

That seems simple enough, doesn't it? Let's take a closer look at the grammar of the last sentence in the example.

Virī	Nominative plural because it's the subject. (Vir is second declension masculine.)
bonī	Nominative plural masculine because it agrees with the subject.
vitā s	Accusative plural because it is the direct object. (vīta is first declension feminine)
bonā s	Accusative plural feminine because it agrees with the direct object.
habuē runt	Third person plural (because the subject is plural), perfect tense (because they don't have them anymore).

That still seems pretty simple. Nouns have case uses (such as nominative case to show a subject). An adjective simply duplicates (i.e., agrees in) the gender, case, and number of the noun it is modifying.

Table 6-1 Vocabulary</h2> <tgroup cols="2"> <colspec colname="col1" colnum="1"/> <colspec colname="col2" colnum="2"/> <tbody> <tr> <td>alius, -a, -ud</td> <td>another, other</td> </tr> <tr> <td>aliī … aliī</td> <td>some … others</td> </tr> <tr> <td>aut, conj.</td> <td>or</td> </tr> <tr> <td>aut … aut, conj.</td> <td>either … or</td> </tr> <tr> <td>bonus, -a, -um</td> <td>good</td> </tr> <tr> <td>brevis, -e</td> <td>short</td> </tr> <tr> <td>difficilis, -e</td> <td>hard, difficult</td> </tr> <tr> <td>dūō dū cere, dū xī , ductum</td> <td>to take someone someplace, lead</td> </tr> <tr> <td>dulcis, -e</td> <td>sweet</td> </tr> <tr> <td>et, conj.</td> <td>and, even, too</td> </tr> <tr> <td>et … et, conj.</td> <td>both … and</td> </tr> <tr> <td>facilis, -e</td> <td>easy</td> </tr> <tr> <td>fē lix, fē lī cis</td> <td>happy, lucky</td> </tr> <tr> <td>fortis, -e</td> <td>strong, brave</td> </tr> <tr> <td>gravis, -e</td> <td>heavy, serious</td> </tr> <tr> <td>iam, adv.</td> <td>now, already (basic idea: at this point in time)</td> </tr> <tr> <td>ingē ns, ingentis</td> <td>huge</td> </tr> <tr> <td>inveniē , invenī re, invē nī , inventum</td> <td>to find</td> </tr> <tr> <td>longē, adv.</td> <td>far</td> </tr> <tr> <td>longus, -a, -um</td> <td>long</td> </tr> <tr> <td>magnus, -a, -um</td> <td>large, great</td> </tr> <tr> <td>malus, -a, -um</td> <td>bad, evil</td> </tr> <tr> <td>meus, -a, -um</td> <td>my</td> </tr> <tr> <td>mī les, mī litis, m.</td> <td>soldier</td> </tr> <tr> <td>multus, -a, -um</td> <td>much, many</td> </tr> <tr> <td>neque (nec), conj.</td> <td>and … not</td> </tr> <tr> <td>neque … neque, conj.</td> <td>neither … nor</td> </tr> <tr> <td>nunc, adv.</td> <td>now (basic idea: right now as we speak)</td> </tr> <tr> <td>omnis, -e</td> <td>every, all</td> </tr> <tr> <td>petē , petere, petī vī , petī tum</td> <td>to ask, look for, attack, to go after something</td> </tr> <tr> <td>quia, conj.</td> <td>because</td> </tr> <tr> <td>quoque, adv.</td> <td>also</td> </tr> <tr> <td>saepe, adv.</td> <td>often</td> </tr> <tr> <td>sed, conj.</td> <td>but, instead, rather</td> </tr> <tr> <td>semper, adv.</td> <td>always</td> </tr> <tr> <td>senex, senis</td> <td>old</td> </tr> <tr> <td>sī, conj.</td> <td>if</td> </tr> <tr> <td>sī c, adv.</td> <td>like this, thus</td> </tr> <tr> <td>suus, -a, -um</td> <td>his, her, its (own)</td> </tr> <tr> <td>tristis, -e</td> <td>sad</td> </tr> <tr> <td>tum, adv.</td> <td>then</td> </tr> <tr> <td>tuus, -a, -um</td> <td>your (singular)</td> </tr> <tr> <td>vetus, veteris</td> <td>old</td> </tr> </tbody> </tgroup> </table>  <div id="pagination"><ul><li class="prev"><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/learning-latin/using-adjectives/" title=" Using Adjectives"> Using Adjectives</a></li><li class="next"><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/learning-latin/using-adjectives/the-parts-of-an-adjective.htm" title="The “Parts” of an Adjective">The “Parts” of an Adjective</a> </li></ul></div></div> <div id="coda"> <div id="rel"><div class="n5">Related Articles</div><ul> <li><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/learning-latin/using-adjectives/adjectivenoun-agreement.htm" zT="18/1YL/Zn"> Adjective/Noun Agreement - 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