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Latin is an inflected language, and as such its nouns, pronouns, and adjectives must be declined (i.e. their endings alter to show grammatical case). A set of declined forms of the same word pattern is called a declension. There are five declensions, which are numbered and grouped by ending and grammatical gender. For simple declension paradigms, visit the Wiktionary appendices: First declension, Second declension, Third declension, Fourth declension, Fifth declension. Each noun follows one of these five declensions.
A complete Latin noun declension consists of up to seven grammatical cases: nominative, vocative, accusative, genitive, dative, ablative and locative.
They are often abbreviated to the first three letters.
The sequence NOM-VOC-ACC-GEN-DAT-ABL has been the usual order taught in Britain and many Commonwealth countries since the publication of Hall Kennedy's Latin Primer (1866). It reflects the tendencies of different cases to share similar endings (see Syncretic trends below). For a discussion of other sequences taught elsewhere, see Instruction in Latin. However, some schools teach it in the order NOM-GEN-DAT-ACC-ABL-VOC, as first given.[1]
Syncretism, where one form in a paradigm shares the ending of another form in the paradigm, is common in Latin. The following are the most notable patterns of syncretism:
Old Latin had essentially two patterns of endings. One pattern was shared by the first and second declensions, with a clear similarity to the first and second declensions of Ancient Greek. The other pattern was used by the third, fourth and fifth declensions, and has similarities with the Greek third declension.
There are five declensions for Latin nouns:
Nouns of this declension usually end in –a in the nominative singular and are mostly feminine, e.g. 'road' (via, viae fem.) and 'water' (aqua, aquae fem.). There is a small class of masculine exceptions generally referring to occupations, e.g. 'farmer' (agricola, agricolae masc.) and 'sailor' (nauta, nautae masc.).
The predominant letter in the ending forms of this declension is a. The nominative singular form consists of the stem and the ending –a, and the genitive singular form is the stem plus –ae.
The first declension also includes three types of Greek loanwords, derived from Ancient Greek's Alpha Declension. They are declined irregularly in the singular, but are sometimes treated as if they were native Latin nouns, e.g. nominative athlēta instead of the original athlētēs. Interestingly, archaic (Homeric) first declension Greek nouns and adjectives had been formed in exactly the same way as in Latin: nephelēgeréta Zeus (Zeus the cloud-gatherer) had in classical Greek become nephelēgerétēs.
For full paradigm tables and more detailed information, see the Wiktionary appendix First declension.
The second declension is a large group of nouns consisting of mostly masculine nouns like equus, equī ("horse") and puer, puerī ("boy") and neuter nouns like castellum, castellī ("fort"). There are several small groups of feminine exceptions, including names of gemstones, plants, trees, and some towns and cities.
In the nominative singular, most masculine nouns consist of the stem and the ending –us, although some end in –er, which is not necessarily attached to the complete stem. Neuter nouns generally have a nominative singular consisting of the stem and the ending –um. However, every second-declension noun has the ending –ī attached as a suffix to the root of the noun in the genitive singular form. The predominant letter in the ending forms of this declension is o.
Masculine:
Neuter:
Nouns ending in –ius and –ium have a genitive singular in –ī in earlier Latin, which was regularized to –iī in the later language. Masculine nouns in –ius have a vocative singular in –ī at all stages. These forms in –ī are stressed on the same syllable as the nominative singular, sometimes in violation of the usual Latin stress rule. For example, the genitive and vocative singular Vergilī (from Vergilius) is pronounced [werˈɡiliː], with stress on the penult, even though it is short.[3]
There is no contraction of –iī(s) in plural forms.
In the older language, nouns ending with –vus, –quus and –vum take o rather than u in the nominative and accusative singular. For example, servus, –ī ("slave") could be servos, accusative servom.
Some masculine nouns of the second declension end in an –er or an –ir in the nominative singular. For such nouns, the genitive singular must be learned to see if the E is dropped. For example, socer, –erī keeps its E. However, the noun magister, –trī ("teacher") drops its E in the genitive singular. Nouns with –ir in the nominative singular never drop the I.
The declension of second declension R nouns is identical to that of the regular second declension, with the exception of the vocative singular, which is identical to the nominative rather than ending in an –e.
For declension tables of second declension nouns, see the corresponding Wiktionary appendix.
The second declension contains two types of masculine Greek nouns and one form of neuter Greek noun. These nouns are irregular only in the singular, as are their first declension counterparts. Greek nouns in the second declension are derived from the Omicron Declension.
Some Greek nouns may also be declined as normal Latin nouns. For example, theātron can appear as theātrum.
The plural of deus (god, deity) is irregular.
The vocative singular of Deus is not attested in Classical Latin. In Ecclesiastical Latin the vocative is Deus.
In poetry, –um may be substituted for –ōrum as the genitive plural ending.
1 The nominative singular is formed in one of four ways: with –s, with no ending, or by one of these two with a different stem from the oblique cases. The same is true of other forms that are the same as the nominative singular: the vocative singular and the neuter accusative singular.
2 The nominative and accusative of neuter nouns are always identical. It should not be assumed that –en is always the appropriate ending, as it might appear above.
The third declension also has a set of nouns that are declined differently. They are called i-stems. I-stems are broken into two subcategories: pure and mixed. Pure i-stems are indicated by the parisyllabic rule or special neuter endings. Mixed i-stems are indicated by the double consonant rule.
Pure i-stems may exhibit peculiar endings in both singular and plural. Mixed i-stems employ normal (consonant) 3rd declension endings in the singular but i-stem endings in the plural. Note the alternative i-stem endings indicated in parentheses.
The rules for determining i-stems from non-i-stems and "mixed" i-stems should be thought of more as "guidelines" than "rules": even among the Romans themselves, the categorization of a 3rd declension word as an i-stem or non-i-stem was quite fluid. The result is that many words that should be i-stems according to the parisyllabic and consonant stem rules actually are not, such as canis or iuvenis. By the parisyllabic rule, "canis" should be a masculine i-stem and thus differ from the non-i-stems by having an extra –i– in the plural genitive form: "canium". In reality, the plural genitive of "canis" is "canum", the form of a non-i-stem. This fluidity even in Roman times results in much more uncertainty in Medieval Latin, as scholars were trying to imitate what was fluid to begin with.
The fourth declension is a group of nouns consisting of mostly masculine words such as fluctus, fluctūs (masc.) ("a wave")' and portus, portūs (masc.)("a port") with a few feminine exceptions, including manus, manūs (fem.) ("hand"). The fourth declension also includes several neuter nouns including genu, genūs (neut.) ("knee"). Each noun has the ending –ūs as a suffix attached to the root of the noun in the genitive singular form. The predominant letter in the ending forms of this declension is u.
In the dative and ablative plural, –ibus is sometimes replaced with –ubus. This is so for only a few nouns, such as artūs (plurale tantum), "the limbs".
The declension of domus is irregular:
The fifth declension is a small group of nouns consisting of mostly feminine words like 'affair, matter, thing' (rēs, reī fem.) and 'day' (diēs, diēī usually masculine, except on notable days when it is feminine). Each noun has either the ending –ēī or –eī as a suffix attached to the root of the noun in the genitive singular form
Note that nouns ending in iēs have long ēī in the dative and genitive, while nouns ending in a consonant + ēs have short eī in these cases.
Relative and demonstrative pronouns are generally declined like first and second declension adjectives, with the following differences:
These differences identify the "pronominal" declension, and a few adjectives follow this pattern. The vocative, where not shown, is the same as the nominative.
The first and second persons are irregular. They may be only masculine or feminine.
The third person reflexive pronouns always refer back to the subject, whether it be singular or plural.
The genitive forms meī, tuī, nostrī, vestrī, suī are used as complements in certain grammatical constructions, whereas nostrum, vestrum are used in the partitive meaning. To express possession, the possessive pronouns (essentially adjectives) meus, tuus, noster, vester, suus are used, declined in the 1st and 2nd declensions to agree in number and case with the thing possessed. The vocative singular masculine of meus is mī.
First and second declension are inflected in the masculine, the feminine and the neuter; the masculine form typically ends in –us (although some end in –er, see below), the feminine form ends in –a, and the neuter form ends in –um. Therefore, some adjectives are given like altus, alta, altum
Nine first and second declension adjectives are irregular in the genitive and the dative in all genders. They can be remembered by using the mnemonic acronym UNUS NAUTA. They are:
ūllus, –a, –um; any nūllus, –a, –um; no, none (of any) uter, –tra, –trum; which (of two) sōlus, –a, –um; sole, alone neuter, –tra, –trum; neither (of two) alius, –a, –ud; (gen. sing. alīus, often replaced by alterīus; another) ūnus, –a, –um; one tōtus, –a, –um; whole
Third declension adjectives are normally declined like third declension i-stem nouns, except for the fact they always have a –ī rather than an –e in the ablative singular (unlike i-stem nouns, in which only neuters have –ī). Some adjectives, however, like the one-ending vetus, veteris (old, aged), have an –e in the ablative singular (all genders), a –um in the genitive plural (all genders), and an –a in the nominative and accusative plural (neuter only).
These have a single nominative ending for all genders, although as usual the endings for the other cases vary. As with nouns, a genitive is given for the purpose of inflection.
1—may end in –īs ²—may end in –e
1—may end in –īs
As in English, adjectives have superlative and comparative forms. For regular first and second declension and third declension adjectives with one or two endings, the comparative is formed by adding an –ior for the masculine and feminine, and an –ius for the neuter to the base. The genitive for both are formed by adding an –iōris. Therefore, they are declined like the third declension. However, they are not declined as i-stems are. Superlatives formed by adding an –issimus, –a, –um to the base. Now, we find that superlatives are declined like first and second declension adjectives.
Adjectives (in the third and first and second declensions) that have masculine nominative singular forms ending in –er have different forms. If the feminine and neuter forms drop the E, use that for the comparative form. The superlative is formed by adding a –rimus onto the masculine form.
Some third declension adjectives with two endings in –lis in the sexed nominative singular have irregular superlative forms. The following are the only adjectives that have this unique form.
As in most languages, Latin has adjectives that have irregular comparatives and superlatives.
The adjective īdem, eadem, idem means 'same.' It is a variant of the third person pronouns that were declined earlier. Generally, they are formed by adding –dem to a declined third person pronouns. However, some forms have been assimilated.
See also: Roman numerals for symbology.
There are several different kinds of numeral words in Latin: the two most common are cardinal numerals, and ordinal numerals. There are also several more rare numerals such as distributive numerals and adverbial numerals
As stated before, the rest of the numbers are indeclinable adjectives. They are also indeclinable as substantives.
Ordinal numerals all decline like normal 1st and 2nd declension adjectives. When declining the two-word ordinals (thirteenth through twenty-second, with the exception of twentieth), both words decline to match in gender, number and case.
Note: "secundus" only means "second" in the sense of "following". The adjective alter, –ra, –rum meaning "the other (of two)" was more frequently used in many instances that English would use "second".
Ordinal numbers, not cardinal numbers, are commonly used to represent dates, because they are in the format of "in the tenth year of Caesar", etc. which also carried over into the Anno Domini system and Christian dating, i.e. "anno post Christum natum centesimo"(also "centensimo") = AD 100.
A rare numeral construction denoting an equal number distributed among several objects, e.g. "How many each?" "Two by two." They decline like normal 1st and 2nd declension adjectives, and are logically always plural. Bis, Bina = "twice two". A classical example would be "Uxores habent deni duo deniqui inter se communes" = "groups of ten or twelve men had wives in common" –Gallic Wars, Julius Caesar
Adverbial numerals are (as the name states) indeclinable adverbs, but because all of the other numeral constructions are adjectives, they are listed here with them. Adverbial numerals give how many times a thing happened. Semel = once, Bis = twice, Ter = thrice (three times), Quater = four times, etc.
Adverbs are not declined. However, adverbs must be formed if one wants to make an adjective into an adverb.
Typically, third declension adjectives' adverbs are formed by adding an –iter onto their bases. However, most third declension adjectives with one ending simply add an –er to their bases.
Adverbs' comparative forms are their neuter adjectives' comparative forms. Adverbs' superlative forms are made in the same way in which first and second declension adjectives' adverbs are made.
As so with adjectives, there are irregular adverbs with peculiar comparative and superlative forms.
Some nouns are only used in the singular, such as:
Some nouns are only used in the plural (plurale tantum) such as:
Indeclinable nouns are neuter nouns which occur only in the nominative and the accusative singular. There are only six such nouns:
Heterogeneous nouns are nouns which vary in respect to gender.
Nouns whose plural meaning is different from the singular meaning are called plūrālia tantum.
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