Module 27

Comparative and Superlative Adjectives and Adverbs; Dative of Degree of Difference

Adjectives

Remember that Greek and English adjectives have the same function, though the Greek adjective has endings and the English adjective does not. Adjectives in both languages are words that describe nouns. In the phrase the happy and sad blues, the, happy, and sad describe the noun blues. The Greek adjective has endings because the endings enable it to agree in gender, case, and number with the noun it modifies.

Adjectives and Degree

English and Greek adjectives have three degrees: positive, comparative, and superlative. English creates the three degrees of the adjective through suffixes or with the adverbs more and most:

Greek does the same.

Adjectives of the Comparative and Superlative Degree

Adjectives show degrees by using one of two sets of suffixes or by using the adverb μᾶλλον more for the comparative degree and the adverb μάλιστα most for the superlative degree.

The comparative degree suffixes -τερος, -τέρᾱ, -τερον decline like first and second declension adjectives.

The superlative degree suffixes -τατος, -τάτη, -τατον decline like first and second declension adjectives.

The comparative degree suffixes -ιων, -ιον decline like third declension nouns with some alternate forms.

The superlative degree suffixes -ιστος, -ίστη, -ιστον decline like first and second declension adjectives.

An additional way to form the comparative and superlative is to use the adverbs μᾶλλον or μάλιστα, along with the positive degree of the adjective.

Declining Comparative and Superlative Adjectives

To form the comparative and superlative degrees of 1st and 2nd declension adjectives, obtain the stem by dropping -ος from the masculine nominative singular.

If the stem ends in a long syllable (a long vowel or diphthong or a short vowel followed by two consonants or by the double consonants -ζ, -ξ, or -ψ), add to it -ότερος, -οτέρᾱ, -ότερον for the comparative and -ότατος, -οτάτη, -ότατον for the superlative.

If the stem ends in a short syllable, add to it -ώτερος, -ωτέρᾱ, -ώτερον for the comparative, and -ώτατος, -ωτάτη, -ώτατον for the superlative.

Consider the following examples.

Comparative degree

Superlative degree

Declining Comparative and Superlative Adjectives in -ης, -ες and in -ύς, -εῖα, -ύ

To form the comparative and superlative degrees of 3rd declension adjectives ending in -ης, -ες and of adjectives ending in -ύς, -εῖα, -ύ, add the suffixes directly to the stem without any intervening vowel. The stem of these adjectives is taken from the neuter singular nominative.

Comparative degree

Superlative degree

Declining Comparative and Superlative Adjectives -ίων, -ιον and -ιστος, -ίστη, -ιστον

Adjectives that take -ίων, -ιον in the comparative degree take -ιστος, -ίστη, -ιστον in the superlative degree. The comparative degree declines like a third declension noun with a few alternate forms. The superlative degree declines like 1st and 2nd declension adjectives.

Comparative degree

Superlative degree

Adverbs

Unlike nouns, pronouns, and adjectives, adverbs do not have gender, number, or case. Adverbs modify adjectives, verbs, or other adverbs. Like adjectives, adverbs have three degrees: positive, comparative, and superlative.

For the positive degree English typically adds the suffix -ly. English uses the suffixes -er and -est or more and most to create the comparative and superlative degrees of the adverb:

Greek creates the three degrees by adding a suffix.

Adverbs of the Positive Degree

Most adverbs are formed from adjectives by adding -ως to the stem, found by dropping the ending from the masculine genitive singular of the adjective.

1. Adverbs in -ως accented on the ultima always have a circumflex: κακῶς.

Adverbs of the Comparative Degree

Adverbs formed from adjectives use as their comparative degree the neuter accusative singular of the comparative degree of the adjective.

Adverbs of the Superlative Degree

Adverbs formed from adjectives use as their superlative degree the neuter accusative plural of the superlative degree of the adjective.

Comparison with ἤ and the Genitive Case

When you compare two things as in these sentences,

laughter is stronger than tears,

and

the whole is greater than the part,

using the comparative degree, you may do so by using the word ἤ than or by using the genitive case without ἤ, called a genitive of comparison.

Consider these examples. The underline marks the second item in the comparison.

1. ὁ γέλως κρείττων ἢ οἰμωγή.

Laughter is stronger than tears.

2. ὁ γέλως κρείττων οἰμωγῆς.

Laughter is stronger than tears.

3. καὶ τὸ ὅλον μεῖζον τοῦ μέρους ἐστί.

The whole is greater than the part.

4. καὶ τὸ ὅλον μεῖζον ἢ τὸ μέρος ἐστί.

The whole is greater than the part.

Note that when you use ἤ, the two things being compared are always in the same case.

Dative of Degree of Difference

If you want to state the degree by which one thing is more than another, use the dative case. In this sentence,

πoλλῷ ἥδε σoφωτέρα τῆς μητρός ἐστι,

she is much wiser than her mother,

the πoλλῷ by much is the dative of degree of difference.

Adjectives and Adverbs in Summary

Τhe chart below contains all the information found above, and information on adjectives from other modules, but in a condensed form. Look it over, making sure that you understand how to read it.

Practice Translating Comparative and Superlative Adjectives. Translate the sentences below, which have been adapted from a variety of ancient Greek authors. Check your understanding with the translations in the Answer Key, making sure that you understand why each word translates as it does. Now go back and read each sentence two or three times, noticing with each rereading how much better your understanding of the sentence becomes. Make this a habit and you will improve quickly.

Satyros of Kallatis, Σάτυρος Κάλλατις c. 150 BCE. Satyros was a philosopher, historian, and biographer whose subjects included kings, philosophers, poets, orators, and statesmen. Fragments of his biography on Euripides were found on a papyrus scroll at Oxyrhynchus, Egypt in the early 1900s.

1. τί νομίζεις τὴν δημοκρατίαν πoλλῷ ἡδίονα τυραννίδος;
2. μικροὶ γέροντι παῖδες ἡδίους πατρὶ καὶ μητρί τινου (Satyros).
3. ὁ δὲ στρατηγὸς ἔφη αὐτὸς κρείττων ὕδατος.
4. θάνατος ἡμᾶς ταῦτα ἀναμιμνήσκει ὅτι ὁ πλοῦτος χείρων ἢ ὑγίεια.
5. τίνι τρόπῳ εἶ τρόπου ἡσυχίου ἐπεὶ τάχιστα εἰς ὀργὴν σπεύδεις;
6. ἔφη μέγιστον γὰρ ἕλκος πόλεως κακὸν ῥήτορα δημαγωγόν· ὃς γὰρ δῆμον πείθει κακὰ ποιέειν (Satyros).
7. ταῦτα γάρ ἐστι δήπου ἃ συνέχει τὴν νεωτέραν κωμωιδίαν καὶ ἃ πρὸς ἄκρον ἤγαγεν Εὐριπίδης (Satyros).
8. ἐν δὲ τούτῳ τῷ καιρῷ κινδυνεύσεις ἐγεῖραί τινα ᾧ τὰ χρήματα πλεῖστα καὶ κρατίστη ἡ ἀνδραγαθία;
9. σκοπέειν δ’ ἄξιον. τί γὰρ εὐλογώτερον ἐπεὶ τάς γε κακίας καὶ τὰς ἀρετάς, καθάπερ ἔλεγεν ὁ Σωκράτης̣, τὰς αὐτὰς̣ ἐν καὶ ἀνδρὶ καὶ γυναικὶ ἔστιν εὑρεῖν (Satyros);
10. ἡ δὲ μεταπέμπει τὴν ἄνθρωπον καὶ ἰδοῦσα τὸ κάλλος, “χαῖρε,” φησίν, “γύναι· ψευδεῖς ἄρ’ αἱ διαβολαί· σὺ γὰρ ἐν τῷ προσώπῳ τῷ σῷ καὶ τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἔχεις φάρμακα κάλλιστα (Satyros).

Vocabulary

1. The asterisk indicates the top 250 most frequently occurring vocabulary, which you are to memorize.

Practice Translating. Translate the sentences below, which have been adapted from Homer’s Odyssey (Ὀδύσσεια). Remember the meanings and functions of the cases presented in Module 7. Use your memory to identify endings and their functions. If you forget an ending or a function, consult the Adjective, Adverb, Noun, and Pronoun Chart in Appendix VIII and the Case and Function Chart in Appendix I. Check your understanding with the translations in the Answer Key, making sure that you understand why each word translates as it does. Now go back and read each sentence two or three times, noticing with each rereading how much better your understanding of the sentence becomes. Make this a habit and you will improve quickly.

Adverbs and Verbs

Adjectives, Nouns, Pronouns

1. The asterisk indicates the top 250 most frequently occurring vocabulary, which you are to memorize.

Practice Parsing Greek Sentences. Parse each word of the sentences found below. For nouns and pronouns, give their case and function. For verbs, their give person, number, tense, mood, and voice. For adverbs and conjunctions, identify them. For prepositional phrases, give the preposition and the preposition’s object. For adjectives, tell what noun they agree with in gender, number, and case.

οὖν τι βούλῃ περὶ τῶν ἐκεῖ φράζειν ἐμοί ἢ ἄπειμι;

εἴ ἐθέλεις παρά μοι, ξεῖνε, ἧσθαι ἐν μεγάροις καὶ τέρπειν, οὐκ οἴομαί μοι ὕπνον ἐπὶ βλεφάροις χυθήσεσθαι.

Check your answers with those in the Answer Key.

Boustrophedon

Boustrophedon is a way of writing that starts in the way that we are used to but upon reaching the end of the line the writing turns back on itself with the letters facing in the new direction, much as a farmer, plowing a field, turns his cow at row’s end.

Fig. 2 Schematic of reverse boustrophedon text, in the fashion of rongorongo, but using the Latin alphabet. Created by Kwamikagami, 2008, Wikimedia, public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Reverse_boustrophedon.png

Fig. 3 Fragmentary boustrophedon inscription in the agora of Gortyn (Crete)—code of law. Photograph by PRA, 2009, Wikimedia, CC BY, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Crete_-_law_of_Gortyn_-_boustrophedon.JPG

In cultures where books are expensive and difficult to acquire, one book serves many readers and people learn how to read words from many different angles, including upside down. For them, reading upside down is as rightside up as reading rightside up is to us. As you consider the many ways that people differ from each other, also consider how culture determines much of what we assume, believe, desire, think about, and value. These differences represent the vast range of human potential and possibility.

Module 27 Top 250 Vocabulary to be Memorized. Like learning the alphabet and endings, memorizing vocabulary is essential to acquiring language. The better you memorize the top 250 most frequently occurring vocabulary words the greater mastery of the language you will have.

Adjectives

λοιπός, λοιπή, λοιπόν left, remaining

μέσος, μέση, μέσον middle, middle of + gen.

μικρός, μικρά, μικρόν small, little, short

Verbs

εἶμι come, go

ἔρομαι (εἴρομαι), ἐρήσομαι (εἰρήσομαι), ἠρόμην, -----, -----, ----- ask, ask ‘x’ in acc. about ‘y’ in acc.

εὑρίσκω, εὑρήσω, ηὗρον, ηὕρηκα, ηὕρημαι, ηὑρέθην find out, discover

ἥκω, ἥξω, ------, ------, ------, ------ have come, be present

πάρειμι go in, enter; pass by