Download Declensions Nouns come in groups called declensions. There are

Declensions
Nouns come in groups called declensions. There are five declensions, but we are only
working with the first three declensions now.
In order to understand these declensions a little better, we must first explore how these
word are found in your vocabulary list.
Dictionary Entries
In your vocabulary list, nouns will be listed with two forms (the Nominative and the
Genitive), the gender - masculine, feminine and neuter, and finally, the meaning.
Your vocabulary list will show nouns in a dictionary entry like this:
Nominative form, Genitive form, gender, meaning.
You will learn about the nominative and genitive cases soon. The gender will tell you
whether the noun is masculine (m.), feminine (f.), or neuter (n.). These genders are
often unpredictable. You simply must memorize them or look them up.
Importance of the Genitive Case
The genitive form in the dictionary entry will give you a great deal of information.
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The ending on the genitive case will tell you what declension
a noun is in. If the genitive form ends in an –ae, the noun is in the first
declension. An –i ending in the genitive form tells you that the word is in the
second declension. Finally, genitives of the third declension will end in –is.
•
In order to find the base of a noun, go to the genitive, singular
and drop the case ending. This will be important to you as you begin putting
these nouns into different cases. For example: insula, insulae, f, island. When
you go to the genitive form (the second form in the dictionary entry), drop the
case ending (-ae). The base of the noun is what remains. In this case, the base
of the noun is insul-.
A Closer Look at Declensions
FIRST declension nouns will look like this:
insula, -insulae, f. island
They all end in the letter –a in the nominative. From the genitive ending -ae, the noun
insula is identified as a first declension noun. Dropping the genitive ending gives the
base insul- to which endings are added.
SECOND declension nouns will look like this:
amicus, amici, m., friend - the 'i' indicates 2nd declension
The base would be amic-.
THIRD declension nouns will look like this:
mater, matris, f. mother - the 'is' indicates 3rd declension.
The base would be matr-. Notice that the genitive form drops the “e” that is present in
the nominative. This is why it is so important to look to the genitive for the base. The
nominative is an unreliable source!
Exercise 1 - What declension are the words from Chapters 1 and 2? N.B. Be careful
when dealing with words that end in -er. Remember, the rule is: Look at the genitive,
the second form, to determine the declension.
Match to 1st, 2nd, or 3rd:
canis, canis, m/f, dog
familia, familiae, f., family
patronus, patroni, m. patron
amica, amicae, f. friend
feles, felis, m/f., cat
puer, pueri, m., boy
mater, matris, f. mother
puella, puellae, f. girl
The Nominative Case
Use of the Nominative Case
In order to indicate how a noun is used in a sentence, Romans used CASES. There are
five of them, but we are only looking at two in Chapter 1 - the Nominative and the
Ablative.
The Nominative Case is used for SUBJECTS and PREDICATE NOMINATIVES.
e.g. Italy is a country in Europe. - 'Italy' is the subject
‘country’ is the predicate nominative (it renames the subject).
Both of those words have a nominative singular ending in Latin.
Italia est patria in Europā.
The verb, est (is), is a linking verb.
Forming the Nominative
The Nominative forms of the three declensions, both singular and plural, are listed
below.
The Nominative forms of the three declensions, both singular and plural, are listed below.
Number
First declension Second Declension Third Declension
Singular
vill-a
amic-us
can-is
Plural
vill-ae
amic-ī
canes
So, in English, villa means ‘a/the house’.
villae means ‘the houses’.
amicus means ‘a/the friend’.
amici means ‘the friends’.
canis means ‘a/the dog’.
canes means ‘the dogs’.
Remember: To get the base of a word, i.e. the stem that you will add the endings to, go
to the second form in the vocabulary list (what we will later call the Genitive case), and
take off the ending. Then you will add the endings listed above.
Consider these examples from your reading:
Lucius est meus pater.
Lucius is in the nominative case because it is the subject.
Pater is in the nominative case because it is the predicate nominative.
Marcia est mea mater.
Marcia is in the nominative case because it is the subject.
Mater is in the nominative case because it is the predicate nominative.
The Linking verb
The verb used most often in Chapter 1 is ‘est’ which means ‘is’.
Est is a linking verb.
A linking verb can only be followed by two things . . .
1. It can be followed by a word (either a noun or an adjective) that describes,
renames, or refers to the subject.
e.g.: Marcia est mea mater. Mater is a predicate nominative.
(Marcia is my mother.)
Marcia est pulchra.
Pulchra is a predicate adjective.
(Marcia is beautiful.)
2. It can be followed by prepositional phrases.
e.g.: Italia est in Europā.
In Europā is called a prepositional phrase.
The plural of ‘est’ is ‘sunt’, which means are. Sunt is also a linking verb.
In Latin, as in English, subjects and verbs must agree. This means that if the subject is
singular, the verb is est. For example, you would not say, “The children is in the
classroom.” You would say, “The children ARE in the classroom.”
Similarly, subjects and verbs must also agree in Latin.
e.g. Rufus est meus frater.
Rufus is singular . . . .so the verb is est.
Ītalia et Graecia in Eurōpā sunt.
Italy and Greece are plural . . . . .so the verb is sunt.
The Ablative Case
In order to indicate how a noun is used in a sentence, Romans used CASES. We have
already looked at the Nominative case. Now let’s look at the Ablative case.
The Ablative case is used after the preposition ‘in’, which can mean in or on.
After any preposition, there will always be a noun.
e.g. in the house, in Italy, in my family
The noun after a preposition is called the object of the preposition.
The object of the preposition in goes into the Ablative case.
The Ablative forms of the three declensions, both singular and plural, are listed below.
Number
First declension Second Declension Third Declension
Singular
vill-ā
amic-ō
can-e
Plural
vill-īs
amic-īs
can-ibus
In Chapter 1, you only saw the first declension ablative singular used after ‘in’.
e.g. Italia est in Europā.
Europā ends in the ā because it is Ablative. It is Ablative because it
the object of the preposition in.
Mea familia in villā habitat.
villa ends in the ā because it is Ablative. It is Ablative because
it is the object of the preposition in.
Abbreviations - Do you know what they mean?
In this Chapter you have seen three abbreviations that stand for Latin words. Learn
these because we used them often in English.
Abbreviation
e.g
i.e.
words)
N.B.
Latin
exempli gratia
Meaning
for example
id est
nota bene
that is (in other
note well
Many people (who don’t know Latin) get the abbreviations e.g. and i.e. mixed up.
After the abbreviation e.g. an example or examples will be given.
e.g. Rufus est meus frater.
After the abbreviation i.e., what was said previously is reworded.
the base of a word, i.e. the stem that you will add the endings to
Here are some other Latin abbreviations that we use often in English.
Abbreviation
A.D.
Latin
Anno Domini
Meaning
In the year of our Lord
A.M.
ante meridiem
before noon
P.M.
post meridiem
after noon
etc.
et cetera
and the rest