Describing and identifying

Describing and identifying

Adjectives agree with nouns in gender, number, and case: puella bona, servus bonus, templum bonum. With sum, an adjective or noun can describe the subject rather than receive an action: puella laeta est.

Agreement is a three-part relationship

An adjective agrees with its noun in gender, number, and case. It need not share the noun’s declension or identical-looking ending. bonus, bona, bonum is cited in masculine, feminine, and neuter nominative singular forms. Choose the gender that belongs to the noun, then number and case from the noun’s job in the sentence.

Adjective position is flexible. bona puella and puella bona can both mean ‘the good girl,’ though context and word order may shape emphasis. Do not attach an adjective merely to the closest noun. In puella bonum puerum videt, bonum is masculine accusative singular and therefore agrees with puerum, not feminine nominative puella.

Attributive and predicate descriptions

An attributive adjective sits inside a noun phrase: puella laeta cantat, ‘the happy girl sings.’ A predicate adjective completes a statement with sum: puella laeta est, ‘the girl is happy.’ In both uses laeta agrees with puella. The linking verb does not turn laeta into an accusative object.

Read servī magnum templum vident. servī is masculine nominative plural, but magnum cannot describe it because magnum is neuter accusative singular. It pairs with templum, and the sentence means ‘The servants see the large temple.’ Checking all three agreement features prevents a plausible but grammatically impossible grouping.

Agreement, not matching letters

An adjective agrees with its noun in gender, number, and case, although their endings need not look identical when they belong to different declensions. bonus, bona, bonum provides masculine, feminine, and neuter forms. With est or sunt, a predicate adjective describes the subject: puella laeta est, ‘the girl is happy.’