MovaAdjectives, adverbs, comparison and numerals
An adjective agrees with its noun in gender, number and case. It is formed on a noun-stem and is declined with the endings of chapter 3; the great groups are the adjectives of three endings of the first and second declension (ἀγαθός, -ή, -όν), the adjectives of the third declension, and the mixed groups, which take their masculine and neuter in the third declension and their feminine in the first (ἡδύς, ἡδεῖα, ἡδύ). The chapter also covers comparison, the adverbs made from adjectives, and the numerals.
Contents
- Adjectives of the first and second declension
- Adjectives of the third declension
- Mixed declension
- Irregular adjectives
- Comparison
- Adverbs
- Numerals
- Use: attributive, predicative, substantive
- Examples from the corpora
- How Mova handles it
- Sources
1. Adjectives of the first and second declension
Masculine and neuter follow the second declension (λόγος, ἔργον), the feminine the first (χώρᾱ, γνώμη). The feminine has ᾱ after ε, ι, ρ and η elsewhere, as in chapter 3.
| ἀγαθός "good" | δίκαιος "just" | μικρός "small" | ἐχθρός "hostile" | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| m. | ἀγαθός | δίκαιος | μικρός | ἐχθρός |
| f. | ἀγαθή | δικαία | μικρά | ἐχθρά |
| n. | ἀγαθόν | δίκαιον | μικρόν | ἐχθρόν |
| G m.n. / f. | ἀγαθοῦ / ἀγαθῆς | δικαίου / δικαίας | μικροῦ / μικρᾶς | ἐχθροῦ / ἐχθρᾶς |
| D m.n. / f. | ἀγαθῷ / ἀγαθῇ | δικαίῳ / δικαίᾳ | μικρῷ / μικρᾷ | ἐχθρῷ / ἐχθρᾷ |
| A m. / f. / n. | ἀγαθόν / ἀγαθήν / ἀγαθόν | δίκαιον / δικαίαν / δίκαιον | μικρόν / μικράν / μικρόν | |
| pl. m. f. n. | ἀγαθοί, ἀγαθαί, ἀγαθά | δίκαιοι, δίκαιαι, δίκαια | μικροί, μικραί, μικρά | |
| G pl. | ἀγαθῶν (all) | δικαίων (all) | μικρῶν (all) |
Contracted adjectives: χρυσοῦς, χρυσῆ, χρυσοῦν "golden" (χρύσεος); ἀργυροῦς "silver"; ἁπλοῦς, ἁπλῆ, ἁπλοῦν "simple". Those in -εος keep the contracted feminine in η, but after ρ and vowels the feminine is in ᾱ: ἀργυρᾶ, ἁπλῆ.
Two endings. Compounds and many other adjectives in -ος have the same form in the masculine and feminine and a neuter in -ον: ἄδικος, -ον "unjust"; βάρβαρος, -ον; ἀόρατος, -ον "invisible" (Gen. 1:2 ἡ δὲ γῆ ἦν ἀόρατος); ἀκατασκεύαστος. Some simple adjectives also have two endings in Attic (βάρβαρος, ἥμερος, ἔρημος, ἡσύχιος).
Attic second declension. ἵλεως, ἵλεων "gracious", πλέως, πλέων "full": the two-ending type in -ως with the ω of chapter 3: ἵλεως, ἵλεων; ἵλεω; pl. ἵλεῳ, ἵλεα.
2. Adjectives of the third declension
These are declined like the third-declension nouns with the same stems. Two endings only: the masculine and feminine are alike.
| εὐδαίμων "fortunate" (-ον-) | ἀληθής "true" (-ες-) | |
|---|---|---|
| m. f. N | εὐδαίμων | ἀληθής |
| n. N | εὔδαιμον | ἀληθές |
| G | εὐδαίμονος | ἀληθοῦς |
| D | εὐδαίμονι | ἀληθεῖ |
| A m. f. | εὐδαίμονα | ἀληθῆ |
| A n. | εὔδαιμον | ἀληθές |
| V m.f. | εὔδαιμον | ἀληθές |
| N pl. m. f. | εὐδαίμονες | ἀληθεῖς |
| N pl. n. | εὐδαίμονα | ἀληθῆ |
| G pl. | εὐδαιμόνων | ἀληθῶν |
| D pl. | εὐδαίμοσι | ἀληθέσι |
| A pl. m. f. | εὐδαίμονας | ἀληθεῖς |
Stems in -ες: εὐγενής, ἀσθενής, εὐτυχής, πλήρης, ἀκριβής. Stems in -ον: σώφρων, σῶφρον (gen. σώφρονος), ἄφρων, εὐδαίμων. The nominative accent of the compounds in -ων is recessive (εὔδαιμον, ἄφρον). Stems in -εν: ἄρρην, ἄρρεν, gen. ἄρρενος (ἄρσην in Ionic and old Attic). Stems in a stop: ἅρπαξ (ἁρπαγ-), φυγάς (φυγαδ-), ἄπαις (ἀπαιδ-), εὔελπις (εὐελπιδ-); stems in -ορ: ἀπάτωρ (ἀπάτορος).
3. Mixed declension
These adjectives have a masculine and neuter of the third declension (stem in a consonant or υ) and a feminine of the first, built on a different stem with the suffix -ια or -σα.
Stems in υ (ἡδύς, βαρύς, ταχύς, βραχύς, γλυκύς, εὐρύς, ὀξύς, βαθύς, θῆλυς): masculine and neuter as the υ-stems of chapter 3 but with the genitive in -έος (ἡδέος, not -έως) and the feminine in -εια.
| ἡδύς "sweet" | |
|---|---|
| m. f. n. N | ἡδύς, ἡδεῖα, ἡδύ |
| G | ἡδέος, ἡδείας, ἡδέος |
| D | ἡδεῖ, ἡδείᾳ, ἡδεῖ |
| A | ἡδύν, ἡδεῖαν, ἡδύ |
| V | ἡδύ, ἡδεῖα, ἡδύ |
| N pl. | ἡδεῖς, ἡδεῖαι, ἡδέα |
| G pl. | ἡδέων, ἡδειῶν, ἡδέων |
| D pl. | ἡδέσι, ἡδείαις, ἡδέσι |
| A pl. | ἡδεῖς, ἡδείας, ἡδέα |
Stems in ντ (participles, and adjectives like χαρίεις): the masculine and neuter have the nasal-stem endings, the feminine has the suffix -σα (-ουσα, -ᾶσα, -εῖσα): the pattern of every participle (chapter 10): λύων, λύουσα, λῦον (gen. λύοντος, λυούσης, λύοντος); πᾶς, πᾶσα, πᾶν (παντός, πάσης, παντός); χαρίεις, χαρίεσσα, χαρίεν (χαρίεντος, χαριέσσης).
Stems in ν (μέλας, μέλαινα, μέλαν "black": μέλανος, μελαίνης; τάλας, τάλαινα, τάλαν): the feminine in -αινα.
The perfect active participle has the stem -οτ- and a feminine in -υια: λελυκώς, λελυκυῖα, λελυκός (λελυκότος, λελυκυίας, λελυκότος) has a feminine in -υια.
πᾶς is declined with the ν- or ντ-stem: πᾶς, πᾶσα, πᾶν; παντός, πάσης; παντί, πάσῃ; πάντα, πᾶσαν, πᾶν; plural πάντες, πᾶσαι, πάντα; πάντων; πᾶσι; ἅπας and σύμπας are compounds. Its accent is irregular in the genitive plural (πάντων, πασῶν: the feminine plural is circumflex, like a first-declension genitive).
4. Irregular adjectives
| μέγας "great" | πολύς "much, many" | |
|---|---|---|
| N m. f. n. | μέγας, μεγάλη, μέγα | πολύς, πολλή, πολύ |
| G m.n. / f. | μεγάλου / μεγάλης | πολλοῦ / πολλῆς |
| D m.n. / f. | μεγάλῳ / μεγάλῃ | πολλῷ / πολλῇ |
| A m. / f. / n. | μέγαν / μεγάλην / μέγα | πολύν / πολλήν / πολύ |
| N pl. m. f. n. | μεγάλοι, μεγάλαι, μεγάλα | πολλοί, πολλαί, πολλά |
| G pl. | μεγάλων | πολλῶν |
Both have a short stem in the nominative and accusative singular, masculine and neuter (μεγα-, πολυ-), and the second-declension stem μεγαλο-, πολλο- everywhere else. The vocative of μέγας is μεγάλε (rare).
5. Comparison
The comparative and superlative are made in two ways (smyth-1920 §313 ff.).
Regular with -τερος, -τερα, -τερον and -τατος, -τάτη, -τατον added to the stem:
| positive | comparative | superlative |
|---|---|---|
| σοφός "wise" | σοφώτερος | σοφώτατος |
| δίκαιος | δικαιότερος | δικαιότατος |
| δεινός "terrible" | δεινότερος | δεινότατος |
| κοῦφος "light" | κουφότερος | κουφότατος |
| εὐδαίμων | εὐδαιμονέστερος | εὐδαιμονέστατος |
| ἀληθής | ἀληθέστερος | ἀληθέστατος |
| χαρίεις | χαριέστερος | χαριέστατος |
| γλυκύς | γλυκύτερος | γλυκύτατος |
| νέος "young" | νεώτερος | νεώτατος |
| πρέσβυς "old" | πρεσβύτερος | πρεσβύτατος |
The vowel before -τερος is ω if the syllable before it is short (σοφός → σοφώτερος) and ο if that syllable is long by nature or by position (δίκαιος → δικαιότερος, κοῦφος → κουφότερος, δεινός → δεινότερος, μικρός → μικρότερος); stems in ες add -έστερος (ἀληθέστερος) and stems in -ων add -έστερος (εὐδαιμονέστερος).
With -ίων, -ιστος (the old suffixes), mostly on a short list, with the dental of the stem assimilated:
| positive | comparative | superlative |
|---|---|---|
| ἀγαθός | ἀμείνων, βελτίων, κρείττων | ἄριστος, βέλτιστος, κράτιστος |
| κακός | κακίων, χείρων | κάκιστος, χείριστος |
| καλός | καλλίων | κάλλιστος |
| μέγας | μείζων | μέγιστος |
| πολύς | πλείων (πλέων) | πλεῖστος |
| ὀλίγος | ἐλάττων | ὀλίγιστος, ἐλάχιστος |
| ῥᾴδιος | ῥᾴων | ῥᾷστος |
| ἡδύς | ἡδίων | ἥδιστος |
| ταχύς | θάττων | τάχιστος |
| αἰσχρός | αἰσχίων | αἴσχιστος |
| ἐχθρός | ἐχθίων | ἔχθιστος |
| μικρός | μικρότερος, ἐλάττων | μικρότατος, ἐλάχιστος |
Declension of the -ων comparatives (ἡδίων, ἥδιον), stem ἡδιον-: N ἡδίων, ἥδιον; G ἡδίονος; D ἡδίονι; A ἡδίονα or ἡδίω, ἥδιον; N pl. ἡδίονες or ἡδίους, ἡδίονα or ἡδίω; A pl. ἡδίονας or ἡδίους. The shortened forms (ἡδίω, ἡδίους, from ἡδίοα, ἡδίοες with loss of ν between vowels and contraction) are common in Attic. The superlative is declined like ἀγαθός (ἥδιστος, -η, -ον).
Adverbs of comparison are made from the neuter accusative of the comparative (σοφώτερον) and from the neuter plural of the superlative (σοφώτατα, τάχιστα, μάλιστα). Irregular: μάλα "very", μᾶλλον, μάλιστα; ἧττον, ἥκιστα; εὖ, ἄμεινον or βέλτιον, ἄριστα; ἐγγύς, ἐγγύτερον, ἐγγύτατα.
For the use of the cases and of ἤ after the comparative, see chapter 11. The comparative with the genitive of comparison (the ablatival genitive) and with ἤ "than" are the two constructions (smyth-1920 §§1066–1084); the superlative with ὡς or ὅτι ("as … as possible": ὡς τάχιστα, ὅτι πλεῖστοι) is idiomatic.
6. Adverbs
(smyth-1920 §§341–346)
| formation | rule | examples |
|---|---|---|
| from adjectives | -ως, from the stem of the genitive: σοφός → σοφῶς | σοφῶς, δικαίως, ἀληθῶς, καλῶς, ἡδέως |
| neuter accusative | of the adjective | πολύ, μέγα, ταχύ, ἄλλως, ὀλίγον |
| place where | -ου, -οι, -ι, -θι | οὗ, οἴκοι, Ἀθήνησι, αὐτοῦ, ἄλλοθι, ἐκεῖ |
| place whence | -θεν | οἴκοθεν, ἐκεῖθεν, πόθεν, Ἀθήνηθεν |
| place whither | -δε, -σε, -ζε | οἴκαδε, ἐκεῖσε, Ἀθήναζε, πόσε |
| time | νῦν, τότε, πότε, ὅτε, αὖθις, εὐθύς | |
| manner | οὕτω(ς), ὡς, πῶς |
The adverb of an adjective in -ης is in -ῶς (ἀληθῶς); in -υς the form is -έως (ἡδέως) and in -ων the form is -όνως (σωφρόνως). An adverb stands before the adjective or adverb it modifies (οὕτω μέγας "so great"); comparatives and superlatives are strengthened by πολύ, μακρῷ, ὡς and ὅτι.
The correlatives of place and manner are built on a few stems (chapter 6).
7. Numerals
| cardinal | ordinal | adverb | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | εἷς, μία, ἕν | πρῶτος | ἅπαξ |
| 2 | δύο | δεύτερος | δίς |
| 3 | τρεῖς, τρία | τρίτος | τρίς |
| 4 | τέτταρες, τέτταρα | τέταρτος | τετράκις |
| 5 | πέντε | πέμπτος | πεντάκις |
| 6 | ἕξ | ἕκτος | ἑξάκις |
| 7 | ἑπτά | ἕβδομος | ἑπτάκις |
| 8 | ὀκτώ | ὄγδοος | ὀκτάκις |
| 9 | ἐννέα | ἔνατος | ἐνάκις |
| 10 | δέκα | δέκατος | δεκάκις |
| 11 | ἕνδεκα | ἑνδέκατος | |
| 12 | δώδεκα | δωδέκατος | |
| 20 | εἴκοσι(ν) | εἰκοστός | εἰκοσάκις |
| 30 | τριάκοντα | τριακοστός | |
| 40 | τετταράκοντα | τετταρακοστός | |
| 50 | πεντήκοντα | πεντηκοστός | |
| 100 | ἑκατόν | ἑκατοστός | |
| 200 | διακόσιοι, -αι, -α | διακοσιοστός | |
| 1000 | χίλιοι, -αι, -α | χιλιοστός | |
| 10 000 | μύριοι | μυριοστός |
Only the numbers 1–4 and the hundreds from 200 up are declined. The forms:
| m. | f. | n. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| "one" N | εἷς | μία | ἕν |
| G | ἑνός | μιᾶς | ἑνός |
| D | ἑνί | μιᾷ | ἑνί |
| A | ἕνα | μίαν | ἕν |
| "two" N A | δύο (also δύω) | ||
| G D | δυοῖν (δυεῖν) | ||
| "three" N | τρεῖς | τρία | |
| G | τριῶν | ||
| D | τρισί(ν) | ||
| A | τρεῖς | τρία | |
| "four" N | τέτταρες | τέτταρα | |
| G | τεττάρων | ||
| D | τέτταρσι(ν) |
The negatives οὐδείς, μηδείς "no one" are declined like εἷς (οὐδενός, οὐδεμιᾶς); the forms οὐθείς, μηθείς occur in the later fourth century. The compound numbers are made by juxtaposition with καί or without it: δύο καὶ δέκα, with καί, the smaller number first (πέντε καὶ εἴκοσι, as in English "five and twenty") or the larger (εἴκοσι καὶ πέντε ποδῶν "twenty-five feet", Xen. An. 1.2.8).
Letters were used as numerals (chapter 1, section 1). The numbers of men are expressed with the cardinals and the partitive genitive (χίλιοι τῶν ὁπλιτῶν) or with an adjectival numeral (τριακόσιοι ὁπλῖται); the "twice, thrice" series are -πλοῦς (ἁπλοῦς, διπλοῦς, τριπλοῦς) and -πλάσιος (διπλάσιος).
8. Use: attributive, predicative, substantive
Attributive and predicate position. With the article, the adjective stands between the article and the noun (ὁ ἀγαθὸς ἀνήρ) or after the noun with a repeated article (ὁ ἀνὴρ ὁ ἀγαθός) and is attributive; without the article, or outside the article-noun group, it is predicate (ἀγαθὸς ὁ ἀνήρ, ὁ ἀνὴρ ἀγαθός: "the man is good") (smyth-1920 §§1154–1171). The place of the adjective decides between "the good man" and "the man is good", which is why chapter 5 treats position.
Substantive use. An adjective with the article is a noun: οἱ ἀγαθοί "the good, the nobles", τὰ ἀγαθά "goods, good things", οἱ πολλοί "the many, the people" (smyth-1920 §§1021–1029).
Agreement with two nouns of different gender gives the masculine for persons and the neuter for things (§1053 ff.). Comparison is expressed by the cases (chapter 11).
9. Examples from the corpora
Xen. An. 1.2.7 ·
tlg0032.tlg006ἐξελαύνει σταθμοὺς τρεῖς παρασάγγας εἴκοσιν εἰς Κελαινάς, τῆς Φρυγίας πόλιν οἰκουμένην, μεγάλην καὶ εὐδαίμονα. ἐνταῦθα Κύρῳ βασίλεια ἦν καὶ παράδεισος μέγας ἀγρίων θηρίων πλήρης "he marches three stages, twenty parasangs, to Celaenae, a city of Phrygia, inhabited, large and prosperous. There Cyrus had a palace and a great park full of wild animals"
τρεῖς (three), εἴκοσιν (movable ν before the vowel of εἰς), μεγάλην καὶ εὐδαίμονα (accusative feminine: the first from μέγας, μεγάλη; the second a two-ending third-declension adjective, εὐδαίμων, whose feminine is the masculine form), μέγας (the short stem of the nominative masculine) and πλήρης, an adjective in -ης, governing the genitive ἀγρίων θηρίων.
Thuc. 1.1.1 ·
tlg0003.tlg001ἐλπίσας μέγαν τε ἔσεσθαι καὶ ἀξιολογώτατον τῶν προγεγενημένων "expecting that it would be great and the most worthy of record of all that had happened before"
μέγαν is the accusative masculine (agreeing with the war, the understood subject of the infinitive ἔσεσθαι); ἀξιολογώτατον is the superlative, followed by the genitive of the group from which it is picked out (τῶν προγεγενημένων, perfect participle).
Xen. An. 1.1.1 ·
tlg0032.tlg006πρεσβύτερος μὲν Ἀρταξέρξης, νεώτερος δὲ Κῦρος "the elder Artaxerxes, the younger Cyrus"
The two comparatives, used without a second member, give a contrast of two, which is the Greek idiom for "the elder / the younger" (smyth-1920 §1066).
Septuagint Gen. 1:2 · UD PTNK
Septuagint-Genesis-1:2-grcἡ δὲ γῆ ἦν ἀόρατος καὶ ἀκατασκεύαστος "and the earth was invisible and unformed"
Two predicate adjectives of two endings; PTNK tags them Gender=Fem,Masc since the feminine and masculine forms coincide.
10. How Mova handles it
Parts of speech and the treebank conventions. The words of this chapter fall on the borderline of three UPOS tags, and the three UD treebanks divide them differently (counts from UD 2.18, 2026-10-22; PTNK all three files, Perseus and PROIEL train).
| word | PTNK | Perseus | PROIEL |
|---|---|---|---|
| πᾶς | ADJ (367) | ADJ (742) | DET (971), PRON (524) |
| εἷς "one" | NUM (37), ADJ (2) | ADJ (41), NOUN (29) | NUM (367) |
| ἄλλος | ADJ (4) | ADJ (380), PRON (60) | ADJ (286), PRON (107), DET (68) |
| the cardinals | NUM, NumType=Card (430) | NUM (205) | NUM (1,423) |
PTNK marks the ordinals NumType=Ord (62) and the cardinals NumType=Card (430); Perseus and PROIEL have no NumType. Degree. PTNK gives Degree=Cmp (73) and Degree=Sup (11) and no Degree=Pos; Perseus gives Cmp (294) and Sup (281) and no Pos; PROIEL gives all three (Pos 9,443). A model trained on PROIEL predicts Degree=Pos for every ordinary adjective and is then wrong for the other two corpora, whichever way the comparison is made.
Gender. The two-ending adjectives get Gender=Fem,Masc in PTNK (the set convention of chapter 3; PROIEL does the same), and a single value in Perseus.
Lexicon. A lexicon that gives the adjective's comparison class (regular, in -ίων, suppletive) is what lets a tagger assign Degree to a form like ἄριστος or χείρων. LSJ (CC BY-SA) and the Koine lexicons (Abbott-Smith, Dodson) record the irregular forms in their entries; we have not tested how far that suffices. Mova has no such table. Not built.
11. Sources
- Smyth, H. W. 1920 (smyth-1920): §§286–354 (adjectives, comparison, pronouns, adverbs, numerals), §§1018–1098 (adjectives and adverbs in the sentence), paraphrased from the Perseus text (CC BY-SA).
- Goodwin, W. W. 1892 (goodwin-1892); Kühner–Blass–Gerth (kuhner-1890): public domain.
- Xenophon, Thucydides (Perseus canonical-greekLit, CC BY-SA 4.0); Septuagint, UD PTNK (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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