These posts are for review; how these nouns decline i.e. the endings which they have, are all covered in earlier posts. This post shows how the nouns are divided into declensions, the term used in grammar to refer to which group a noun belongs, and depending on the group, the nouns will have a particular set of endings common to all of them.
A reminder that, in
dictionaries and vocabulary lists, nouns are listed with [i] their nominative
singular and [ii] their genitive singular; all the groups have a different
genitive singular and so it is the genitive singular that will
explicitly show what declension the noun belongs to, which is why it is crucial
to learn Latin nouns with both pieces of information:
There are five declensions
in Latin.
Note: the fifth
declension is not in the original text and so I have added a line
marked * so that it can be included.
Note: I have also included a
line marked ** which shows the use of the dative case which
did not appear in the previous text that covered all the other cases. That is
briefly discussed in the next post.
_____
Aenēās est vir Troiānus
quī urbem Troiam contrā Graecōs dēfendit.
Decem annōs Graecī urbem obsident. Decem annōs Troiānī Graecōs
repellunt. Tandem per dolum Graecī urbem nocte intrant.
Multōs Troiānōs capiunt, multōs necant. Nōn iam urbem dēfendere Aenēās potest. *Diēs fit nox.* Necesse est igitur ex urbe effugere et
urbem novam petere. Multī amīcī quoque ab urbe Trōiā
effugiunt. Omnēs ad Ītaliam nāvigāre parant. Aenēās, dum ex
urbe effugit, senem portat. Senex est Anchīsēs, pater Aenēae.
**Aeneās patrī auxilium praestat**. Portāre Anchīsēn
necesse est quod senex ambulāre nōn potest. Aenēās Anchīsēn
portat; portat Anchīsēs Penātēs, deōs familiārēs. Deī Aenēānet
Anchīsēn et omnēs amīcōs servant. Aenēās etiam parvum puerum dūcit.
Puer est Ascanius, fīlius Aenēae. Dum ex urbe ambulant,
Ascanius patrem spectat et manum tenet. Perterritus est
Ascanius quod magnōs clāmōrēs, magnōs fragōrēs audit.
Valdē Graecōs timet. Ubi Aenēās et Anchīsēs et Ascanius ex urbe effugiunt,
"Ubī est māter?" subitō clāmat Ascanius. Multī amīcī
adveniunt, sed nōn advenit Creūsa [i], māter Ascaniī. Aenēās sollicitus patrem et
fīlium et Penātēs relinquit et in urbem redit. Graecī ubīque sunt.
Creūsam frūstrā petit. "Ēheu!" inquit. "Troiam habent Graecī.
Fortasse tē quoque habent, Creūsa. Valdē amō Creūsam, valdē Troiam. Sed neque
urbem neque Creūsam servāre iam possum. Ad amīcōs
igitur redīre necesse est." Tum ad amīcōs redit.
Mox ad Ītaliam nāvigāre parant Aenēās et amīcī.
[i] Creūsa, wife of Aeneas
and mother of Ascanius
_____
[1] First declension: all
first declension nouns end in -a and almost all are feminine
Troia, -ae [1/f]: Troy
· Troia (nominative
singular), Troiae (genitive singular) [1/f] 1: first declension; f:
feminine
Ītalia, -ae [1/f]: Italy
[2] Second declension:
[i] almost all second
declension nouns end in either -us [masculine] or -um [neuter]
amīcus, -ī [2/m]: friend
- amīcus (nominative singular), amīcī (genitive singular) [2/m] 2: second declension; m: masculine
annus, -ī [2/m]: year
deus, -ī [2/m]: god
dolus, -ī [2/m]: trickery
fīlius, -ī [2/m]: son
Graecus, -ī [2/m]: (a) Greek
Troiānus, -ī [2/m]: (a)
Trojan
From the previous text:
baculum, -ī [2/n(euter)]:
stick
[ii] some end in –(e)r
vir, -ī [2/m]: man
- vir (nominative singular), virī (genitive singular) [2/m] 2: second declension; m: masculine
puer, -ī [2/m]: boy
[3] Third declension: the
third declension was covered extensively; it is different from all the other
declensions because [i] the nominative singular can have a variety of endings
and [ii] the genitive case ending very often involves a change of stem to
which all the other case endings are added:
clāmor, clāmōris
[3/m]: shout; cry
fragor, fragōris
[3/m]: uproar; din
māter, mātris [3/f]:
mother
nox, noctis [3/f]:
night
pater, patris [3/m]:
father
senex, senis [3 m/f]:
old man / woman
urbs, urbis [3/f]: city
The 3rd declension is a big area
of study and thousands of Latin words are in that declension.
[4] Fourth declension
manus, -ūs [4/f]:
hand
This one shows you precisely
why the genitive needs to be known:
[i] amīcus, -ī [2/m]:
friend; second declension │ [ii] manus, -ūs [4/f]: hand;
fourth declension
If you’re on “Who wants to
be a Millionaire?” and you’re asked which one it is, then go for second
declension! There are thousands of those and far fewer 4th declension ones. If
you’re into facts and figures: wiktionary lists in excess of 5,000 2nd declension
nouns in -us, and about 600 4th declension nouns.
[5] Fifth declension
I have *added a sentence*
- diēs, -ēī [5 m/f]
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