19.07.25: Level 3; pronominal adjectives; introduction; the naughty nine …

From previous posts: Level 3; Sonnenschein; Prō Patriā [4]; Caractacus [1] and [2]

https://adckl2.blogspot.com/2025/04/level-3-sonnenschein-pro-patria-4.html

https://adckl2.blogspot.com/2025/04/level-3-sonnenschein-pro-patria-4_22.html

ūnī [dative] ex ducibus suīs … magnum numerum cōpiārum … mandāvit │ he entrusted a large number of troops to one of his commanders

Vōs tōtī [dative] orbī terrārum imperitandī cupidī estis │ You are eager to command the whole world 

Images #1 and #2: There are nine adjectives which belong to the 1^st / 2^nd declension but do not follow the exact same pattern; these can be remembered by using the mnemonic U-N-U-S  N-A-U-T-A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMFcKMmSM7E

ūnus, -a, -um: one

nūllus, -a, -um: none

ūllus, -a, -um: any (one)

sōlus, -a, -um: alone

neuter, -ra, -rum: neither

alter, -a, -um: another (of two)

ūter, -a, -um:  either

tōtus, -a, -um: whole; all

alius, -a, -ud:  another (of 3 or more)

In grammar they are sometimes known as pronominal adjectives; all that means is that they can function as either [i] adjectives e.g. English: Do you have any money? or [ii] pronouns: Sorry, I don’t have any.

[i] One soldier held the prisoner, while [ii] the other put him chains.

Image #3: the differences between these nine adjectives and other 1^st/2^nd declension adjectives are in:

[i] the genitive singular: -īus (with long /ī/: -īus, but can be shortened in verse: -ĭus)

[ii] the dative singular: -ī

Neither of these endings agree with the noun in gender – only in case.

In all other respects they are the same as any other 1^st/2^nd declension adjective:

[iii] the genitive of alius i.e. alīus is often replaced with alterīus

Image #3 shows tōtus, -a, -um (all; the whole) in all forms singular and plural to show that the only changes are in the singular of the genitive and dative cases. Other images in later posts on this topic will only focus on the singular.