Latin/Lesson 5-Declensions

3rd, 4th, and 5th Declension Nouns We have already seen the first two declensions: 1st declension 2nd declension -a -us -um (neuter) SINGULAR PLURAL SINGULAR PLURAL SINGULAR PLURAL nominative puell-a puell-ae serv-us/ puer serv-ī bell-um bell-a accusative puell-am puell-ās serv-um serv-ōs bell-um bell-a genitive puell-ae puell-ārum serv-ī serv-ōrum bell-ī bell-ōrum dative puell-ae puell-īs serv-ō serv-īs bell-ō bell-īs ablative puell-ā puell-īs serv-ō serv-īs bell-ō bell-īs We will now complete the table of nouns with the 3rd, 4th, and 5th declensions. These declensions are more difficult to work with because their nominative and accusative plural forms are identical, as are their dative and ablative plural forms. To distinguish the cases, you must use a very simple key: context. Context will tell you the meaning. 3rd Declension Nouns 3rd declension nouns have two stems: The nominative and vocative singular stem and the stem used for all other cases. Both stems have to be memorized for each noun. Feminine and masculine forms are indistinguishable. 3rd Declension Masculine or Feminine, no i-stem: (each word has a set gender): rēx, m. 3rd Declension Singular Plural nominative rēx rēg-ēs accusative rēg-em rēg-ēs genitive rēg-is rēg-um dative rēg-ī rēg-ibus ablative rēg-e rēg-ibus 3rd Declension Neuter, no i-stem: litus 3rd Declension Neuter Singular Plural nominative* litus litor-a accusative litus litor-a genitive litor-is litor-um dative litor-ī litor-ibus ablative litor-ī litor-ibus 3rd Declension Masculine or Feminine, 2-consonant base i-stem: (each word has a set gender): ars, artis, f. i-stem nouns differ from other 3rd declension nouns in that some of the forms have endings changed to include is. There are two main kinds of masculine/feminine i-stem nouns. The first kind has its usual stem end in two consonants; the example here, for instance, has its base art- end in -rt-. The last consonant of the nominative singular form always ends in either -s or -x. 3rd Declension Singular Plural nominative ars art-ēs accusative art-em art-ēs genitive art-is art-ium dative art-ī art-ibus ablative art-e art-ibus 3rd Declension Masculine or Feminine, parisyllabic i-stem: (each word has a set gender): nūbēs, f. The other kind of masculine/feminine i-stem noun has the property that its nominative and genitive singular forms have the same number of syllables. They are therefore called parisyllabic. All nouns of this form have their nominative singular form end in either -ēs or -is. 3rd Declension Singular Plural nominative nūb-ēs nūb-ēs accusative nūb-em nūb-ēs genitive nūb-is nūb-ium dative nūb-ī nūb-ibus ablative nūb-e nūb-ibus 3rd Declension Neuter i-stem: mare Neuter i-stem nouns have their nominative singular forms end with -al, -ar, or -e. 3rd Declension Neuter Singular Plural nominative* mare mar-ia accusative mare mar-ia genitive mar-is mar-ium dative mar-ī mar-ibus ablative mar-ī mar-ibus List of common 3rd declension stem change patterns Singular Nominative Main stem Main gender Examples -is -is masc/fem canis, navis, hostis -s -is masc/fem urbs, rex*, matrix* -s -tis masc/fem nox*, mons, pons -o -onis masc/fem legio, auditio, statio -en -inis neuter carmen, flumen, examen -or -oris masc/fem amor, timor -us -oris neuter litus, corpus -us -eris neuter genus, vulnus regs and matrics, respectively, but the gs and cs both compound into x. The c and g stay in the other cases, hence regis and matricis as their genitives. Nox (gen. noctis) works similarly. 4th Declension Nouns 4th Declension Masculine/Feminine (each word has a set gender) gradus, m. 4th Declension Singular Plural nominative grad-us grad-ūs accusative grad-um grad-ūs genitive grad-ūs grad-uum dative grad-uī grad-ibus ablative grad-ū grad-ibus 4th Declension Neuter: cornū 4th Declension Neuter Singular Plural nominative corn-ū corn-ua accusative corn-ū corn-ua genitive corn-ūs corn-uum dative corn-ū corn-ibus ablative corn-ū corn-ibus 5th Declension Nouns The 5th declension has no neuter nouns. The masculine and feminine forms are again indistinguishable. 5th Declension Masculine/Feminine (each word has a set gender; most are feminine): rēs, f. 5th Declension Feminine/Masculine Singular Plural nominative r-ēs r-ēs accusative r-ēm r-ēs genitive r-ēī r-ērum dative r-ēī r-ēbus ablative r-ē r-ēbus Exercises Exercise 1 Latin English Notes villa, -ae farmhouse 1st declension feminine mittō, -ere, mīsī, missum send 3rd conjugation nomen, nominis name 3rd declension neuter maledicō, -dicere, -dīxī, -dictum insult 3rd conjugation placeō, -ere, placui, placitum + dat please Can be used as an impersonal verb, eg. mihi placet + inf = it pleases me to... quā rē on account of which iste, ista, istud that man/woman/thing Declines like ille, illa, illud (that) interficiō, -ficere, -fēci, -fectum kill Mixed conjugation volō, velle, voluī want, be willing The present forms are: volo, vis, vult, volumus, vultis, volunt mandō, mandere, mansī, mansum chew on 3rd conjugation Translate the following sentence. Hodiē militēs ad villam meī amīcī mittō. Meō amicō, Marcō Tulliō nomine, mē in Senatū maledicere placet, quā rē istum interficere volō. to be translated in English Extra credit about previous sentence. Who in the late Republic might have said such a thing? Catiline. Exercise 2 Translate the following sentence. Eheu! Mūs meum pānem mandit. Nunc nihil habeō. Me miserum! Alas! The mouse eats my bread. Now I have nothing. Wretched me!