The author makes a little more use of 3rd declension nouns in this text. This declension has been discussed a lot in the group and involves a considerable amount of learning. Below are 3rd declension nouns used here with a few general points made.
Most often, the gender of a 3rd declension noun cannot be worked out from its ending; although the four examples of the declension in the text end in -s, 3rd declension nouns have a range of endings in the nominative case. There are a few patterns which, over time, you’ll become familiar with but, at the beginning, there are two key pieces of information you need about nouns in this declension:
[i] the gender and, crucial for this declension, [ii] the genitive singular
Below are the nouns used in the text listed with [i] the gender and [ii] the genitive singular which ends in -is. You’ll see immediately that, for a very large number of 3rd declension nouns, the noun undergoes a change in its stem before the -is is added:
- flōs, flōr¦is [3/m]: flower
- pater, patr¦is [3/m]: father
- aestās, aestāt¦is [3/f]: summer
- hiems, hiemis [3/f]: winter
- quiēs, quiēt¦is [3/f]: peace; quiet; calm
This is important because, once you have that stem from the
genitive singular, it applies to any endings added to the noun:
[i] flōs, flōr¦is [3/m] > stem: flōr¦-
- In hortō sunt multī … flōrēs [nominative plural]. │ In the garden there are many … flowers.
[ii] pater, patr¦is [3/m]
- Pater [nominative singular] meus ad oppidum it. │ (My) father is going to town.
- Ego quoque cum patre [ablative singular] … īre cupiō.” │ I also want to go with (my) father.
[iii]
- quiēs, quiēt¦is [3/f]
- aestās, aestāt¦is [3/f]
Est aestās [nominative singular] et in hortō est quiēs [nominative singular]. Fēmina quiētem [accusative singular] amat. │ It’s summer and there’s peace and quiet in the garden.
The woman loves the peace and quiet.
- Aestāte [ablative singular] hortum cūrat. │ In the summer he looks after the garden.
Links to previous posts on the 3rd declension are here:
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