How Do You Read Latin Adjectives?

Question: How Do You Read Latin Adjectives?

A French woman wrote a question to the Ancient/Classical History forum that probably puzzles most people who have just started taking Latin.

I've just started learning 'Latin' on the internet, and there is something I just don't understand - but I'm sure there is an easy explanation:

certus, -a, -um - sure, fixed

What do the '-a' and -'um' represent? Do I use this to change 'certus' into a plural or feminine form?

Confused...
Hallais

Hallais was further confused by the notion of a neuter gender, but then her native French allows of one more noun gender than English. That's a related issue, for which see Latin Gender.

Answer: My short answer:

"Certus is the nominative singular masculine form.
The -a and -um are nominative singular endings for, respectively, the feminine and the neuter, that you use instead of the masculine. The masculine ending in certus is -us.
Certa is the nominative singular feminine.
Certum is the nominative singular neuter."

Fuller Explanation

Not only do you need to know how to read the Latin adjectives when you come across them in a glossary or dictionary, but you should get in the habit of writing them that way, too, on your personal vocabulary lists so you can easily distinguish adjectives from nouns.

There are two basic layouts for Latin adjectives in dictionaries. Both often have hyphens to indicate that something is attached at that spot. If they lack hyphens, they should still have commas. One form of Latin adjective has two hyphens (or just commas) and the other has only one.

2-Hyphen Adjectives (Adjectives of the 1st, 2nd, and some of the 3rd Declensions)

When you see an adjective listed with two hyphens, it means that the non-hyphenated form is the masculine (nominative singular) and includes its ending. The second entry -- the one after the first hyphen or comma -- is the ending you attach for the feminine, and the third entry -- the one after the second hyphen -- is the ending you attach for the neuter.

Adjectives of the 1st and 2nd declension have the ending of -us or -er for the masculine, -a, for the feminine, and -um, for the neuter.

• Remember, the masculine form already has its ending.

Example

carus, -a, -um 'dear'
or
carus, a, um

To form the masculine of this adjective, you use carus if the noun modified is nominative and singular. To form the feminine of this adjective, you use cara if the noun modified is nominative singular. To form the neuter of this adjective, you use carum if the noun modified is nominative singular.

• carus - the listed, complete form for the Masc. Sing. Nom.
• car + a = cara - the Fem. Sing. Nom.
• car + um = carum - the Neut. Sing. Nom.

1-Hyphen Adjectives (Some Adjectives of the 3rd Declension)

When you see an adjective with a comma, followed by an optional hyphen and an [e], the first, un-hyphenated form is the masculine AND feminine, while the hyphenated bit (-e) shows the ending to be attached to the stem when you want to form the neuter singular nominative.

Example

gravis, -e 'heavy'
or
gravis, e

To form the masculine OR feminine of the adjective gravis you use gravis for the nominative singular. The neuter nominative singular is grave. Incidentally, the neuter genitive singular is gravis, like the masculine and feminine.

• gravis - the listed, complete form for the Masc. or Fem. Sing. Nom.
• grav + e = grave - Neut. Sing. Nom.

More on Latin Adjectives

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