Module 27 Comparative and Superlative Adjectives and Adverbs ; Dative of Degree of Difference Adjectives

The course is built on three pillars: memory, analysis, and logic. Readers memorize the top 250 most frequently occurring ancient Greek words, the essen� al word endings, the eight parts of speech, and the gramma� cal concepts they will most frequently encounter when reading authen� c ancient texts. Analysis and logic exercises enable the transla� on and parsing of genuine ancient Greek sentences, with compelling reading selec� ons in English and in Greek off ering star� ng points for contempla� on, debate, and refl ec� on. A series of embedded Learning Tips help teachers and students to think in prac� cal and imagina� ve ways about how they learn.

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

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.

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.
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.

Comparative and Superlative Adjectives
Adverbs

Comparative and Superlative Adjectives
Adverbs 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.
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. 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.

Etymology Corner XXVII by Dr. E. Del Chrol
Technical Terms 23, Parts of Speech Verbs, cont. As we learned in Module 17, infinitives can be dynamic, or potential in their meaning, which is a good translation of the Greek ἐν δυνάμει. Think of the English dynamic meaning powerful or having capacity/potential to act, or a dynamo, a type of generator for electricity (i.e. power). Some infinitives we see in Module 24 are declarative, in that they make clear (from Latin clarare, which gives us the English clarify) what is introduced by the verb of saying, thinking or perceiving. Declarative infinitives are used in some types of indirect statement, that is, statements (utterances that stand firmly, Latin stare) that come not from a straight path (in, not¸ dis, apart from, regere, to keep in a straight line, which gives us regular, rule, and ruler). A direct statement is a quotation, a straight-forward repeating of an utterance. An indirect statement requires someone to report what someone said, adding one layer of complexity, which makes it not a straight quotation. What someone said is made clear with their declarative infinitive.
What to Study and Do 27. Before moving on to the next module, make sure that you refresh your memory on noun and adjective agreement and how adjectives can function as substantives. Memorize the definition of the positive, comparative, and superlative adjectives and adverbs. Memorize the function of the genitive of comparison and the dative of degree of difference. Finally make sure that you understand how to read the chart on adjectives and adverbs.
Learning Tip 27: Learn to Engage in Debate and Disagreement. When considering life's essential problems that admit of no one right solution, seek to understand before being understood. Understand the arguments of the other so well that you can reproduce them to the other's satisfaction. Help others clarify their arguments so that they are not misunderstood. Debate so as to bring out the best in others and let others bring out the best in you. Learn how to disagree without being disagreeable. Debate and disagreement help us to learn deeply and well.