CHAPTER III. OF ADJECTIVES. As the substantive is the name of a person or thing, the adjective, on the contrary, expresses the qualities of a person or thing; as La virtud es amable, el vicio es odioso; Virtue is amiable, vice is abominable; virtud and vicio are both substantives, amable and odioso are adjectives. The word which makes good sense with the words person or thing is an adjective: the word which cannot make any sense with them is a substantive. : This is an infallible rule to distinguish them from one another for instance, the word good is an adjective, because we may say, a good person, a good thing, un buen sujeto, una buena cosa; but the word man is a substantive, because we cannot say, a man person, a man thing. As there are two sorts of substantives, masculine and feminine, there must be of course two sorts of adjectives to qualify both genders; as, a good horse un buen caballo, a wicked girl una mala muchacha. You see plainly by these examples, that buen qualifies the goodness of the horse, and mala the wickedness of the girl. Many beginners are at a loss how to turn a masculine adjective into a feminine one, because when they look for it in a dictionary they find it terminated in o; therefore they must observe, that if they change the o into a they make it feminine; as, bueno masc. buena fem. good. If the substantive is in the plural, they must add an s to it: Los hombres son buenos, Men are good; Las mugeres son buenas, Women are good. They must also observe, that several substantives ending in er or ey make their plural by the addition of es; others ending with a consonant want only an s to form lose the last letter when they precede a substantive masculine. Example: un hombre a man, el primer hombre the first man, 'algun hombre some man, ningun hombre no man, &c. Tercero does not always lose the last letter; for the third day may be expressed by el tercer dia, or el tercero dia, both which expressions are sanctioned by the Spanish Academy. Ciento, when immediately preceding a substantive, loses the last syllable. Example: cien hombres a hundred men, cien almas a hundred souls; but if a copulative divides it, the said syllable is retained. Example: ciento y diex one hundred and ten, &c. Grande, when conveying an idea of greatness, in reference to merits, useful qualities, &c., and preceding a substantive beginning by a consonant, loses its last syllable. Example: un gran caballo a great or famous horse, una gran casa a fine house. But if it merely denote an idea of size, extent, &c., it retains the said syllable. Example: un grande caballo a large horse, una grande casa a vast house. Santo loses the last syllable before proper names. Example: san Pedro saint Peter, san Juan saint John, &c. Except santo Domingo, santo Toribio, santo Tomas y santo Tomé. We must further observe, that the Spanish adjectives ending in the singular in al, el, il, form their plural by the addition of es; as conjugal conjugal, plur. conjugales; fiel faithful, fieles faithful; gentil genteel, gentiles gen teel. Those ending in e, as amable amiable, prudente prudent, make their plural by the addition of an s; and are of both genders. Those ending in a are feminine, and make their plural by the addition of an s; as corva crooked, corvas crooked. Those ending in o are generally masculine; they make their feminine by changing o into a, and make in both genders their plural by the addition of an s; as malicioso masc. maliciosa fem, malicious; plur. maliciosos, maliciosas, malicious. Those ending in z, as feliz happy, make their plural by taking away the x, and putting ces, and are of both genders. SECTION г. Of comparatives and superlatives. A comparative is nothing else than a comparison of two or more objects, in order to know what proportion they bear to one another. Now as two objects can either be equal, superior, or inferior, to one another, there are three sorts of comparatives, called-of equality, superiority, and inferiority. The comparative of equality is formed by prefixing one of these words, como, tambien, tan; as El es tan fuerte como usted, He is as strong as you. mi The comparative of superiority is formed by prefixing the word mas to the adjective, as Soy mas alto que hermano, I am taller than my brother. The comparative of inferiority is formed by putting a negative before the verb and tan before the adjective, or by prefixing only the word menos to an adjective; No es tan rico como usted, he is not so rich as you; No soy tan dichoso como v. m., I am not so fortunate as you. The superlatives increase or diminish to the utmost degree the signification of adjectives. They are of two sorts; the one relative, and the other absolute. The first is formed by prefixing the article la or el to the word mas, as He visto la mas hermosa señora de Inglaterra, I have seen the handsomest lady in England; La calumnia es la culpa mas abominable, Calumny is the most abominable crime. The second is formed by prefixing the adverb muy to the adjective, as Soy muy pobre, I am very poor. Comparatives and superlatives irregularly formed. These three adjectives, bueno, malo, pequeño, deviate from others in the formation of their comparatives and superlatives, which are as follow: mejor better, lo mejor, bonísimo the best. Positive. bueno good, male bad, The cardinal numbers denote the quantity of persons or things, and answer to the question, How much? How |