In English, we rarely think of "matching" adjectives with nouns, but in Latin, this is exactly what we do.
In Latin, adjectives must AGREE with the nouns they modify in THREE ways:
CASE: if the noun is in the ablative, then the adjective is in the ablative.
NUMBER: if the noun is plural, the adjective is plural.
GENDER: if the noun is feminine, the adjective is feminine.
The categories in the following table can be described as follows:
- Determiners — articles and other limiters. See Determiners
- Observation — postdeterminers and limiter adjectives (e.g., a real hero, a perfect idiot) and adjectives subject to subjective measure (e.g., beautiful, interesting)
- Size and Shape — adjectives subject to objective measure (e.g., wealthy, large, round)
- Age — adjectives denoting age (e.g., young, old, new, ancient)
- Color — adjectives denoting color (e.g., red, black, pale)
- Origin — denominal adjectives denoting source of noun (e.g., French, American, Canadian)
- Material — denominal adjectives denoting what something is made of (e.g., woolen, metallic, wooden)
- Qualifier — final limiter, often regarded as part of the noun (e.g., rocking chair, hunting cabin, passenger car, book cover)
