Noun Review: 1 st and 2 nd Declensions Magister Henderson Latin II

About Latin Nouns Latin nouns are divided into five groups, called declensions. Of the first three declensions: the first is mostly feminine, the second mostly masculine, and the third a mix of all three genders. The last two declensions are significantly smaller than the first three. Of these the fourth is mostly masculine and the fifth is mostly feminine.

About Latin Nouns Latin nouns have three qualities: number, gender, and case Number refers to distinction of singular or plural. Gender refers to a distinction of masculine, feminine, or neuter. Case is a quality that shows how a noun functions in its sentence. There are five main cases and two auxiliary cases.

Noun Cases in Latin Nominative- used for the subject and subject compliments in the predicate. Genitive- used for possession and to show material, value, or partition. Often translated with the preposition “of”. Dative- used for the indirect object and to show reference and purpose. Accusative- shows the direct object, certain expression of time, exclamations, and used for the object of some prepositions. Ablative- used for the object of many common prepositions, as well as manner, means, certain expressions of time, cause and other functions.

Auxillary Cases Vocative- used for direct address. Used mainly with proper names, titles, and words that describe people. Occasionally used poetically with other nouns. Locative- used to show place. Used only with names of cities, towns, countries, and islands as well as the words for “home”, “hearth”, “ground”, and “outside”. These last two cases are usually excluded from the noun case charts.

The First Declension The first declension in mostly feminine, though some words such as poēta (“poet”), agricola (“farmer”), nauta (“sailor”), and pīrata (“pirate”) are masculine. The theme vowel of the first declension is ‘a’.

The Second Declension The first declension in mostly masculine, though there are some neuter nouns as well. There is a subclass of second declension masculine nouns that end in –r in the nominative case instead of –us. We will review these as well as the neuter nouns soon.

About Declension Declension is a term for a noun group, it is also a name given to the full paradigm of a given noun. To decline a noun means to list all its forms in order. The declension of a noun is determined by its genitive singular ending. First declension nouns have –ae as their genitive singular ending. Second declension nouns have -ī.