Download Gender, Number, and Case

Why Grammar?
D
o you realize that the book and writing is the only form of communication we have
that allows people to communicate sophisticated thought across centuries and
millennia? Think about it, cds and dvds degrade, radio waves are there and then they
aren’t. The technology goes in and out of style so quickly that we would be hardpressed
to play a record pressed 30 years ago. We know about the Greeks and the Romans because we
can read their thoughts, the record of their activities, their entertainment, their feelings. But in
order to understand these thoughts, we need to understand not just the meaning of the words,
but how those words fit together to make a complete thought.
is to give you a summary of the elements of the Latin language to
which you can refer and review as you learn more about how the elements of this language work
to convey ideas across the centuries.
The purpose of this manual
This is an interactive manual. To help solidify your understanding of the language, you should
review this book often, continue to drill vocabulary and forms, and take advantage of the online
flash cards that help you review concepts and constructions. I’ve used icons throughout the book
to help you identify what you should do to learn the grammatical element we’re discussing.
Completing and reviewing this book and the recommended activities herein will soon make you
into a Latin pro!
Anatomy of Language
Latin and English are both made up of parts that work together to
communicate ideas.
L
atin and English both have seven primary parts. These are called “Parts of Speech.” These
parts of speech work together to form sentences. Not all parts of speech will be used in
any given sentence; however, there are some building blocks without which a sentence
does not exist.
These parts of speech include:
1. Nouns
2. Pronouns
3. Adjectives
4. Verbs
5. Adverbs
6. Prepositions
7. Conjunctions
In this manual, we will be reviewing how these parts fit together to communicate thoughts.
Nouns, adjectives, verbs, and prepositional phrases are such vital elements of a sentence that they
each get their own section. You should fill in all of the missing pieces to make this a resource that
you can use throughout your Latin (and English!) career.
Anatomy of a Sentence
Sentences are made up of subjects and verbs (at the very least). In addition, they can have objects,
phrases, and clauses to help flesh out the meaning.
Some definitions might help:
Sentence – A complete thought made up of at least one clause containing a subject and a verb.
Clause – A complete thought that can be combined with other clauses within a single sentence.
Independent Clause – A complete thought that can form a sentence by itself.
Dependent Clause – A complete thought introduced by a conditional or temporal word such
as “when”and “if”that must be joined with an independent clause to form a sentence.
Phrase – A group of words that work together but do not include a subject or verb. An example of a
phrase is a prepositional phrase. Phrases must be combined with a clause to make up a sentence. NOTE:
Clauses don’t need phrases, but phrases need clauses!
Words – Words are the building block of the sentence!
In English, the meaning of a group of words comes from the order in
which those words appear. For example:
A word about word order.
Sally bites the dog.
is very different than
The dog bites Sally.
In Latin, however, the meaning of a group of words comes from the form of each word. The
words themselves have an “expected” order, but since the word order does not affect the literal
meaning of the sentence, that order is flexible.
Therefore, we will spend a lot of time discussing how word forms can change and how those
changes affect the word’s meaning in the following pages.
Nouns
Nouns are people, places, things, and ideas.
N
ons are the same in both English and Latin. Among other things, they tell us who or
what is involved, where it happens, or the cause of an action.
In Latin, nouns have certain characteristics that help us understand their meaning in a sentence
and how they relate to other words. These characteristics are gender, number, and case.
There are five patterns for how these characteristics manifest themselves. Think of it like a body
part. Eyes are eyes are eyes, but they come in blue, green, brown, hazel, or even purple, yellow, or
red with special contacts! Nouns are nouns are nouns, but their characteristics (gender, number,
and case) will look different depending on which pattern they belong to.
Each pattern in Latin is called a declension. Whoever named the declensions would not have
won any marketing prizes. He simply called them the 1st declension, 2nd declension, 3rd declension,
4th declension, and 5th declension. Creative!
In Latin, we often use just one or two words from a declension to show how all of the other
words in that declension change to show different numbers and cases. We call these example
words paradigms.
An Interesting Factoid:
The Greek word for “example” is paradeigmatos which has come into our
English vocabularies as “paradigm”.
Gender, Number, and Case
GENDER
We are all familiar with human gender and wth animal gender. But noun gender? Yes, it really
does exist! This is a concept we call “grammatical gender”. It’s an artificial construct that we use to
help categorize and explain why certain patterns use certain letters.
The Phoenicians and Hebrews considered writing a magical art and associated certain letters with
certain properties. Aleph (alpha or “a”) was associated with women, bet (beta or “b”) was
associated with men. In Latin, nouns that are characterized by –a in the endings are called
“feminine” nouns.
Once we started categorizing –a nouns as “feminine”, it made sense to categorize other nouns as
“masculine”, right? Well, it turns out that our “mystical letters” don’t apply to all cases, but they at
least help us understand how the categories started. There are two other genders in Latin:
masculine and neuter nouns. “Neuter” in Latin means “neither”, btw.
As it turns out, we are able to draw some rough generalizations about gender and declenions. 1st
declension nouns are feminine about 99% of the time. 2nd declension nouns are either masculine
or neuter 100%. The third declension is a “mixed” declension. The nouns look like each other,
but they can be any of the three genders. 4th declension nouns are usually masculine and 5th
declension nouns are usually feminine. For 3rd declension nouns, you just have to memorize the
gender!
NUMBER
When we talk about number, we are talking about whether a noun is singular (just one) or plural
(more than one).
CASE
The case of the noun tells us how the noun functions in a sentence, clause, or phrase. There are
six cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, ablative, and vocative). We will discuss the
uses of each of these cases in detail throughout this chapter.
NOTES:
Most of the nouns in the 1st declension are Masculine Feminine Neuter (circle one).
99% of nouns that end in –a in the nominative sing belong to the 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th (circle
one) declension.
The lexical form, i.e., forms that are listed in dictionaries, of 1st declension nouns is
______________________ (nom sg form, genitive sg ending, first letter of gender).
To find the stem of any 1st declension noun, drop the ________________ (gender and number)
ending. For example,
puella  puell-
femina  femin-
2
N D
DECLENSION
NOTES:
All of the nouns in the 2nd declension are Masculine Feminine Neuter (circle two).
Refer to the chart above to answer this question. Which forms are always identical for neuter
nouns?
Nominative and Genitive
Genitive and Accusative
Nominative and Accusative
Genitive and Dative
The lexical form, i.e., forms that are listed in dictionaries, of 2nd declension nouns is
______________________ (nom sg form, genitive sg ending, first letter of gender).
To find the stem of any 2nd declension noun, drop the ________________ (gender and number)
ending. For example,
servi  serv-
pueri  puer-
agri  agr-
Syncopation means ‘shortening’. A syncopated noun is a noun in which the vowel drops out of
the stem (e.g., ager to agri) in all cases but the nominative singular.
3rd Declension
NOTES:
The nouns in the 3rd declension are Masculine Feminine Neuter (circle all that apply).
The lexical form, i.e., forms that are listed in dictionaries, of 3rd declension nouns is
______________________ (nom sg form, genitive sg form, first letter of gender).
When the genitive plural form is given in the lexical form, the 3rd declension noun is called an
“i-stem” noun. Example:
mare, maris, gen. pl., marium, n.
For i-stem nouns, which of the following forms differ from regular 3rd declension nouns? (consult
the charts above; circle all that apply)
Masculine/Feminine
nom sg
gen sg
dat sg
acc sg
abl sg
nom pl
gen pl
dat pl
acc pl
abl pl
nom sg
gen sg
dat sg
acc sg
abl sg
nom pl
gen pl
dat pl
acc pl
abl pl
Neuter
Refer to the chart above to answer this question. Which forms are always identical for neuter
nouns?
Nominative and Genitive
Genitive and Accusative
Nominative and Accusative
Genitive and Dative
To find the stem of any 3rd declension noun, drop the ________________ (gender and number)
ending. For example,
canis  can-
maris  mar-
A quick review of nominative endings:
1st Decl
2nd Decl
3rd Decl
singular
plural
There are only two uses of the nominative. They are:
Function
Example
4th Decl
5th Decl
Canis puerum petit.
Subject
The dog looks for the boy.
Puella bella est.
Subject complement
The girl is beautiful.
NOTES:
The subject of sentence comes before the verb in an English sentence.
Only sentences containing the verb ___________ (hint: the linking verb) can have a subject
complement.
U S E S
O F
T H E
G E N I T I V E
A quick review of genitive endings:
1st Decl
2nd Decl
3rd Decl
4th Decl
singular
plural
The uses of the genitive include:
Function
Possession
NOTES:
Example
cistae pueri
the boy’s trunks
5th Decl
In English, genitive nouns are generally preceded by the preposition _____ (two letters).
Clue words for the use of the partitive genitive include (list others as you find them):
Superlative adjectives
nihil (nothing)
aliquid (something)
A quick review of accusative endings:
1st Decl
2nd Decl
3rd Decl
4th Decl
5th Decl
singular
plural
The uses of the accusative include:
Function
Example
See the Reference Grammar section of your textbook for
explanations and examples.
Direct object
Object of Prepositions
ad
prope
in
per
A quick review of ablative endings:
1st Decl
singular
2nd Decl
3rd Decl
4th Decl
5th Decl
plural
The uses of the ablative include:
Function
Example
See the Reference Grammar section of your textbook for
explanations and examples.
Object of prepositions
sub
e/ex
in
ab
cum
A quick review of vocative endings:
1st Decl
2nd Decl
3rd Decl
4th Decl
singular
plural
There is only one use of the vocative. It is:
Function
Example
Direct address
Quid legitis, senatores?
NOTES:
The subject of any sentence containing a vocative noun is (circle one):
1st person
2nd person
3rd person.
5th Decl
S U M M A R Y
A quick review of cases in English:
Case
English Translation
Nominative
noun
Genitive
of noun
Dative
to/for noun
Accusative
noun (follows verb or preposition)
Ablative
by noun, with noun, because of noun, at noun, under
noun, in noun
Vocative
noun