Latin noun
declension features six
cases:
- nominative (subject)
- genitive (possessive - of which)
- dative (indirect object - to or for which)
- accusative (object)
- ablative (expresses the means or tools by which one accomplishes something)
- vocative (used for addressing another person in direct speech, usually identical to nominative)
As in English, there are two numeri (singular and plural).
There are five declension classes:
1. a declension
- Nouns of this class usually end in -a and are of feminine grammatical gender. Example (paradigma is terra - land, earth):
Case | Singular | Plural |
nominative | terra | terrae |
genitive | terrae | terrarum |
dative | terrae | terris |
accusative | terram | terras |
ablative | terra | terris |
- The a declension has no special forms for the vocative; nominative is used instead. The genitive singular originally had the ending -as (preserved in the expression pater familias) and the dative and ablative plural had -abus (preserved in cum dis et deabus).
- Greek words ending in -es or -as (like the name Aeneas) are also declined according to this scheme. They, however, do have a vocative form (stem + -a, e.g. Aenea).
2. o declension
- Nouns of this class end in -us, -r or -um. Nouns ending in -us and -r are of masculine gender, those ending in -um of neuter gender.
- Example I, words ending in -us (paradigma hortus - garden)
Case | Singular | Plural |
nominative | hortus | horti |
genitive | horti | hortorum |
dative | horto | hortis |
accusative | hortum | hortos |
ablative | horto | hortis |
vocative | horte | horti |
- Example II, words ending in -um (paradigma verbum - word)
Case | Singular | Plural |
nominative | verbum | verba |
genitive | verbi | verborum |
dative | verbo | verbis |
accusative | verbum | verba |
ablative | verbo | verbis |
- Example III, words ending in -r (paradigma ager - field)
Case | Singular | Plural |
nominative | ager | agri |
genitive | agri | agrorum |
dative | agro | agris |
accusative | agrum | agros |
ablative | agro | agris |
- Note that the e in the nominative singular form is just an insertion to ease pronunciation and is omitted in all other forms. There are however some words, where the e belongs to the stem proper and can't be omitted. These are: gener (son-in-law), socer (father-in-law), puer (boy), vesper (evening) and liberi (children - only occurs in plural forms).
- Greek words ending in -eus are declined like regular nouns ending in -us, with the single exception that the voactive singular is formed by appending -u to the "stem" (as in Orpheus - Orpheu)
3. mixed declension
- Nouns of this class are divided into two subcategories according to the ending of their stems.
- 3.1 consonantal stems
- This class comprises nouns whose stem ends in a consonant. Some nouns of this class don't have a particular ending for nominative singular. Of these, some use the raw stem instead (as with sol - sun), and some have a special contracted form (like natio - people, tribe). Finally, some consonantal nouns have the nominative singular ending "-s" (like rex - king, which originally was regs). Examples:
Case | Singular | Plural |
nominative | sol | soles |
genitive | solis | solum |
dative | soli | solibus |
accusative | solem | soles |
ablative | sole | solibus |
Case | Singular | Plural |
nominative | natio | nationes |
genitive | nationis | nationum |
dative | nationi | nationibus |
accusative | nationem | nationes |
ablative | natione | nationibus |
Case | Singular | Plural |
nominative | rex | reges |
genitive | regis | regum |
dative | regi | regibus |
accusative | regem | reges |
ablative | rege | regibus |
- 3.2: short -i stems
- This class consists of nouns whose stem ends in a short -i. According to their nominative form, one can subdivide them into three groups: Some nouns (like nubes - cloud) have nominative forms consisting of the same number of syllables as the other forms, some have shortened nominative forms (like ars - art) and some have non-standard nominative forms ending in -e, -al or -ar (like animal - animal). Examples:
Case | Singular | Plural |
nominative | nubes | nubes |
genitive | nubis | nubium |
dative | nubi | nubibus |
accusative | nubem | nubes |
ablative | nube | nubibus |
Case: | Singular: | Plural: |
nominative | ars | artes |
genitive | artis | artium |
dative | arti | artibus |
accusative | artem | artes |
ablative | arte | artibus |
Case: | Singular: | Plural: |
nominative | animal | animalia |
genitive | animalis | animalium |
dative | animali | animalibus |
accusative | animal | animalia |
ablative | animale | animalibus |
- A small group of nouns has a declension scheme especially rich in "i"s. They are: febris - fever, puppis - quarterdeck, securis - axe, sitis - thirst, turris - tower, tussis - cough and vis - power. Example:
Case | Singular | Plural |
nominative | febris | febres |
genitive | febris | febrium |
dative | febri | febribus |
accusative | febrim | febres |
ablative | febri | febribus |
4. u declension
- Nouns of this class end in -us or -u. The former ones usually are of masculine gender, the latter ones are always neuter.
- Example I, nouns ending in -us (paradigma lacus - lake)
Case | Singular | Plural |
nominative | lacus | lacus |
genitive | lacus | lacuum |
dative | lacui | lacibus |
accusative | lacum | lacus |
ablative | lacu | lacibus |
- Originally, dative and ablative plural ended in -ubus.
- Example II, nouns ending in -u (paradigma cornu - horn)
Case | Singular | Plural |
nominative | cornu | cornua |
genitive | cornus | cornuum |
dative | cornu | cornibus |
accusative | cornu | cornua |
ablative | cornu | cornibus |
5. e declension
- Nouns of this class end in -es. Nearly all of them are of feminine grammatical gender. Example (paradigma dies - day):
Case | Singular | Plural |
nominative | dies | dies |
genitive | diei | dierum |
dative | diei | diebus |
accusative | diem | dies |
ablative | die | diebus |