While many adjectives to describe character or mood do not belong to the 1st / 2nd declension group of adjectives and have different endings, there are nonetheless more than enough 1st / 2nd declension adjectives that you can use at this stage to describe somebody's personality or feelings. Some English derivatives have been added in brackets. Although the meanings of those derivatives may have changed, they are still related to the original Latin word.
- amīcus, -a, -um: friendly (Engl. amicable)
- ānxius, -a, -um: anxious
- āthlēticus, -a, -um: athletic
- benignus, -a, -um: kind (Engl. benign)
- bonus, -a, -um: good
- callidus, -a, -um: clever; wise, but can also meaning 'cunning' or 'crafty'
- dēfessus, -a, -um: tired
- ignāvus, -a, -um: lazy
- inimīcus, -a, -um: hostile; in Classical literature, this normally refers to a personal enemy rather than an enemy in battle which is generally a plural noun: hostēs. An English derivative is inimical i.e. unfriendly or hostile.
- īrātus, -a, -um: angry (Engl. irate)
- iūcundus, -a, -um: pleasant; agreeable
- labōriōsus, -a, -um: hard-working (Engl. laborious)
- lacrimōsus, -a, -um: tearful (Engl. lachrymose)
- laetus, -a, -um: happy
- malus, -a, -um: bad; evil (Engl. malfunction; maladjusted)
- miser, -a, -um: wretched; miserable; unhappy (Engl. miserable)
- piger, pigra, pigrum: lazy; backward
- saevus, -a, -um: cruel; savage
- sevērus, -a, -um: strict; stern (Engl. severe)
- studiōsus, -a, -um: eager; studious
- stultus, -a, -um: foolish (Engl. stultifying)
quālis
When asking about a person's character, you can use the interrogative word quālis meaning 'what kind / sort of...?'; the word is both masculine and feminine.
Quālis puer est Sextus? │ What kind of boy is Sextus?
Quālis vir est magister tuus? │ What kind of man is your teacher?
Quālis puella est Cornēlia? │ What kind of girl is Cornelia?
Quālis fēmina est? │ What kind of woman is she?
Quālis fēmina est domina vīllae? │ What kind of woman is the mistress of the estate?
We can add a little 'icing' to character description by using some adverbs of frequency since people are rarely consistent in their personalities. Adverbs are your best friends because they have no gender, case, number; they are what they are!
Here are some adverbs and adverbial phrases some of which have appeared in earlier posts:
- semper: always
- saepe: often
- interdum: sometimes; occasionally
- rārō; rārē: rarely
- numquam: never
- mane: in the morning
- co(t)tīdiē: every day
- interdiū: during the day
- vesperī / vespere: in the evening
- noctū / nocte: at night
You can also include the adverb valdē (very; very much; exceedingly) to intensify the description.
Here are some of those adverbs at work together with simple reasons introduced by quod (because):
- Quālis puella est amīca tua? Amīca mea semper laeta est quod multam pecūniam habet.
- Quālis vir est pater tuus? Pater meus vesperī dēfessus est quod interdiū labōriōsus est.
- Fīlius meus saepe stultus est quod in scholā numquam studiōsus est.
- Frāter meus multōs amīcōs habet quod valdē iūcundus est.
- Quālis vir est ille* agricola? Agricola valdē ignāvus est quod equōs suōs rārō cūrat et in lectō cotīdiē iacet.
- Fīlia mea interdum misera est quod nūllam pecūniam habet.
nūllus, -a, -um: no; not any
*ille, illa, illud is a demonstrative adjective and pronoun meaning 'that (person / thing)'; it contrasts with hic, haec, hoc in that it used when referring to someone or something that is away from the speaker:
Quantī cōnstat hic liber?
How much does this book cost? [i.e. the book that is near us or right in front of us or the one I'm holding in my hand]
Quantī cōnstat ille liber?
How much does that book cost? [i.e. the book that is over there]
And if you have absolutely no time for the person you're describing, you can opt for the demonstrative adjectives iste, ista, istud, which also mean 'that' but, in Classical Latin, have a pejorative sense, for example:
Iste puerulus valdē callidus est. │ That wretched / no-good little boy is exceedingly crafty!
We will look at this (and that and these and those) again in a later post.
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