NOUNS
Every noun belongs to a declension (a group which all have the same endings).
There are 5 main declensions!
When you look up a noun, it will give you the nominative singular followed by the genitive singular and also its gender. The genitive singular ending and its gender are important to know what declension the noun follows!
Remember:
- The vocative is the same as the nominative in all declensions except the 2nd declension singular.
- The nominative and accusative endings are the same in each number in all neuter nouns – this makes it easier to remember but harder to work out which case it is!
- The ablative and dative plural endings are the same in all declensions
1st Declension
Nouns in the 1st declension end in -a in the nominative singular and -ae in the genitive singular.
E.g. puella, puellae = 1st declension
Almost all nouns in the 1st declension are feminine, the only exception to know is nauta, nautae (sailor), which is masculine.
Note the similarities in some of the endings!
2nd Declension
The 2nd Declension has 2 groups
- Nouns that end in -us in the nominative singular
- Nouns that end in -um in the nominative singular
Nouns ending in -us:
Nouns that end in -us in the second declension are almost all masculine.
e.g. servus, servi = slave
Again, note the similarities of some cases!
Nouns in this declension ending in -ius drop the -e in the vocative e.g. filius —> fili
There are 3 nouns in this declension which don’t end in -us to know:
- Ager, agri = field
- Puer, pueri = boy
- Vir, viri = man
- Liber, libri = book
These words all have the same endings as servus (the only exception is the nominative/vocative singular)
Nouns ending in -um:
Nouns ending in -um in the second declension are all neuter!
E.g. bellum, belli (war)
3rd Declension
The third declension also has 2 groups!
- Masculine and Feminine nouns
- Neuter nouns
Nouns in the 3rd declension end in -is in the genitive singular, so are easy to spot in vocab lists!
But, unfortunately, the nominative singular can end in anything.
Masculine and Feminine Nouns:
E.g. rex, regis (stem is, therefore, reg-) = king
Be careful, regi and regum look like 2nd declension endings, but they are different cases here – this is why it is important to know the declension of a noun so that you can accurately know their case!
Neuter Nouns:
E.g. nomen, nominis (stem is nomin-) = name
The endings are the same as rex, except the nominative and accusatives.
IMPORTANT:
There are some nouns in the 3rd declension which have slightly different endings
- The genitive plural is sometimes -ium instead of -um
- Ablative singular ending in -i instead of -e. These are the ones to know:
o mare, maris (sea)
o navis, navis (ship)
o lux, lucis (light
- Accusative plural for masculine/feminine nouns can be -is instead of -es (e.g. urbis)
- Neuter i-stem nouns have a nominative and accusative plural ending in -ia instead of -a (e.g. maria)
Fourth Declension:
Nouns in the 4th declension end in -us in both the nominative and genitive singular.
For GCSE, you only need to recognise 3 nouns in this declension:
- manus, manus (f) = hand, group of people
- domus, domus (f) = home
- exercitus, exercitus (m) = army
IMPORTANT:
- For domus, the form domi means ‘at home’
- domus can also be declined as a second declension noun
- Some neuter nouns in the 4th declension have a -u as ending for the entire singular except the genitive (which is -us) and a nominative/vocative and accusative plural ending in -ua.
5th Declension:
Nouns in the 5th declension end in -es in the nominative singular and -ei in the genitive singular.
There are only 3 nouns in this declension to know:
- res, rei (f) = thing, matter
- spes, spei (f) = hope
- dies, diei (m) = day
Normally they are feminine nouns!
IRREGULAR NOUNS:
There are a couple of irregular nouns that you need to know:
nemo, nullius (no one, nobody)
nihil (nothing)
- This noun is indeclinable and occurs only in the nominative and accusative (nihil in both)
