Declension of Comparatives

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120. Comparatives are declined as follows.

Declension of comparative adjectives

a. All comparatives except plūs are declined like melior.

b. The stem of comparatives properly ended in ŏs-, but this became or- in the nominative masculine and feminine, and ōr- in all other cases except the nominative and accusative singular neuter, where s is retained and ŏ is changed to ŭ (cf. honŏr, -ōris; corpus, -ŏris). Thus comparatives appear to have two terminations.

c. The neuter singular plūs is used only as a noun. The genitive (rarely the ablative) is used only as an expression of value (cf. § 417). The dative is not found in classic use. The compound complūrēs, several, has sometimes neuter plural complūria.

Suggested Citation

Meagan Ayer, Allen and Greenough’s New Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges. Carlisle, Pennsylvania: Dickinson College Commentaries, 2014. ISBN: 978-1-947822-04-7. https://dcc.dickinson.edu/grammar/latin/declension-comparatives