Faster, Fastest: celerius, celerrime
Comparative adverb: the neuter of the comparative adjective. Superlative adverb: the superlative adjective with -e in place of -us.
How It Works
| Adverb | Comparative | Superlative |
|---|---|---|
| celeriter (quickly) | celerius | celerrime |
| fortiter (bravely) | fortius | fortissime |
| alte (high) | altius | altissime |
| diu (for a long time) | diutius | diutissime |
| bene (well) | melius | optime |
| male (badly) | peius | pessime |
| magnopere (greatly) | magis | maxime |
| parum (too little) | minus | minime |
The comparative adverb looks exactly like the neuter singular of the comparative adjective, so celerius can be either. The sentence shows which: an adverb goes with the verb, an adjective goes with a noun.
The plain adverb comes from the adjective: altus gives alte, and celer gives celeriter. After a comparative, quam means than. A superlative often comes with omnium (of all).
Examples (5)
- Marcus celerius currit quam Iulia.
Marcus runs faster than Iulia.
Celerius is the comparative adverb, and quam Iulia (than Iulia) finishes the comparison.
- Iulia omnium celerrime currit.
Iulia runs fastest of all.
Celerrime is the superlative adverb. Omnium shows who is being compared.
- Puer bene cantat, puella melius, magister optime.
The boy sings well, the girl better, the teacher best.
Bene, melius and optime are the three steps of one irregular adverb.
- Dilexerunt homines magis tenebras quam lucem.
People loved darkness more than light.
John 3:19. Magis (more) is the comparative adverb that goes with magnopere.
- Hodie longius ambulavimus quam heri.
Today we walked farther than yesterday.
Longius is the comparative of longe, and quam heri sets today against yesterday.
Common Mistakes
Adding -issimus to an adjective in -er.
Iulia omnium celerissime currit.Iulia omnium celerrime currit.Adjectives in -er add -rimus to the nominative: celer gives celerrimus, and pulcher gives pulcherrimus. The adverb takes -e in place of -us, so it is celerrime. Writers of classical prose use celerrime.
Building the comparative of bene from bonus.
Puella bonius cantat.Puella melius cantat.The comparative of bene (well) is melius, the neuter of melior (better). Build it from melior, never from bonus.
How It Connects
Learn This First
Adverbs compare like adjectives.
Related Patterns
Words in This Pattern
Practice Faster, Fastest: celerius, celerrime in Bubblegum
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