The first declension in most cases applies to nouns and adjectives that end in -a.Nouns that are declined this way will be refered to as nouns of the first declension. Stems indicated by the parisyllabic rule are usually mixed, occasionally pure. As with normal adjectives, the comparative is formed by adding -ior to the stem, but for the superlative, -rimus is added to the nominative masculine singular. The word mīlle 'thousand' is a singular indeclinable adjective. All cardinal numerals are indeclinable, except ūnus ('one'), duo ('two'), trēs ('three'), plural hundreds ducentī ('two hundred'), trecentī ('three hundred') etc., and mīlle ('thousand'), which have cases and genders like adjectives. The following are the most notable patterns of syncretism: Old Latin had essentially two patterns of endings. classics@osu.edu, Designed and built by ASCTech Web Services, The Phaedon John Kozyris and Litsa Kozyris Travel Award, The Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Greek and Latin, Graduate Interdisciplinary Specialization: Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean, Graduate Program on Classical Antiquity and the Near East, Honoring the memory of Phaedon J. Kozyris, Visual Resources in the Teaching of Modern Greece, Subordinate Clauses in Indirect Discourse, See how the possessive case and the preposition "of" work in English, Genitive with Verbs of Remembering and Forgetting, If you have a disability and experience difficulty accessing this site, please contact us for assistance via email at. See how the possessive case and the preposition "of" work in English.

For example, the genitive and vocative singular Vergilī (from Vergilius) is pronounced Vergílī, with stress on the penult, even though it is short. Each noun follows one of the five declensions, but some irregular nouns have exceptions. Verbs of remembering and forgetting take either the accusative or the genitive of the object.. a. Meminī takes the accusative when it has the literal sense of retaining in the mind what one has seen, heard, or learned. The most common are verbs of convicting, accusing and punishing. There are only five regular declensions of nouns in Latin; there is a sixth for some pronouns and adjectives that end in -iusin the genitive case form. It is also used in France[3] and Belgium.[4]. piget me tui = (literally) "It disgusts me of you" = (idiomatically) "I am disgusted with you. The genitive is the same as the nominative feminine singular. suos parvi fecit = "he considered his [own men] to be of little [value]. When the genitive case is found with the verb "to be" (or equivalent expresssion), apparently NOT modifying a noun but followed by an infinitive, we have a genitive of characteristic. There are two principal parts for Latin nouns: the nominative singular and the genitive singular. In the third declension, there are four irregular nouns. The case names are often abbreviated to the first three letters. As in English, adjectives have superlative and comparative forms. However, there are norms. All demonstrative, relative, and indefinite pronouns in Latin can also be used adjectivally, with some small differences; for example in the interrogative pronoun, quis 'who?' The locative endings for the second declension are -ī (singular) and -īs (plural); Corinthī "at Corinth", Mediolānī "at Milan", and Philippīs "at Philippi".[6]. The genitives for both are formed by adding -iōris. Therefore, they are declined in the third declension, but they are not declined as i-stems. The mixed declension is distinguished from the consonant type only by having -ium in the genitive plural (and occasionally -īs in the accusative plural). This is only a guide, however, since word order may always be changed for emphasis. Some nouns in -tāt-, such as cīvitās, cīvitātis 'city, community' can have either consonant-stem or i-stem genitive plural: cīvitātum or cīvitātium 'of the cities'.[18]. Gill is a Latinist, writer, and teacher of ancient history and Latin. Sē, suī has a possessive adjective: suus, sua, suum, meaning 'his/her/its/their own': When 'his' or 'her' refers to someone else, not the subject, the genitive pronoun eius (as well as eōrum and eārum) 'of him' is used instead of suus: When one sentence is embedded inside another with a different subject, sē and suus can refer to either subject: For the third-person pronoun is 'he', see below. For regular first and second declension and third declension adjectives with one or two endings, the comparative is formed by adding -ior for the masculine and feminine, and -ius for the neuter to the stem. The genitive ending is used in the dictionary because each of the five declensions has its own genitive form. However, in Britain and countries influenced by Britain, the Latin cases are usually given in the following order: nominative, vocative, accusative, genitive, dative, ablative. for the adjectival form. accuso te maiestatis = "I accuse you of treason."
In the dative and ablative plural, -ibus is sometimes replaced with -ubus. Genitive of Indefinite Value. How do we do that in English? Usually, to show the ablative of accompaniment, cum would be added to the ablative form. Adjectives ending -ius use the vocative -ie (ēbrie, "[O] drunk man", vocative of ēbrius), just as in Old Latin all -ius nouns did (fīlie, "[O] son", archaic vocative of fīlius). This category specifies that the genitive is used for the larger whole of which something is a part. The last example shows the "genetic" relationship that gives the genitive case its name. The nominative and accusative of neuter nouns are always identical. The genitive case in Latin is also used adverbially with certain verbs.

in ignī or in igne 'in the fire'. [16], The accusative singular ending -im is found only in a few words: always in tussis 'cough', sitis 'thirst', Tiberis 'River Tiber'; usually in secūris 'axe', turris 'tower'; occasionally in nāvis 'ship'. (Genitive of Measure). The genitive (cāsus patricus 'paternal case' in Latin) is the name for this second form ("-ae" for the first declension) and is easy to remember as the equivalent of a possessive or apostrophe-s case in English.

One pattern was shared by the first and second declensions, which derived from the Proto-Indo-European thematic declension. This categorymay serve as a useful reminder that the English expression "all of the state" is not partitive, since "all" is not a "part"; consequently, you cannot use the genitive in Latin; you just use an adjective: omnis civitas. ", The genitive case is used with three classes of verbs in Latin that have analogies in English with the use of the preposition "of. nostri oblivisceris? Adjectives are of two kinds: those like bonus, bona, bonum 'good' use first-declension endings for the feminine, and second-declension for masculine and neuter. As with adjectives, there are irregular adverbs with peculiar comparative and superlative forms.

See how the possessive case and the preposition \"of\" work in English. pl. These nouns are irregular only in the singular, as are their first-declension counterparts. There is no difference in form between the subjective and the objective genitive.
In re militari, [et] in administranda rep. Suetonij Tranquilli de Claris Grammaticis, [et] Rhetoribus. When used precisely as a technical term of standard grammar, the Genitive of Description has the further rule that it must be composed of a noun + adjective.

Consider even the English: "my love for you." Ūnus, ūna, ūnum is declined like a first- and second-declension pronoun with -īus or -ius in the genitive, and -ī in the dative. Mixed i-stems are indicated by the double consonant rule. The vocative puere is found but only in Plautus. Consider: severitatis invidiae = "hatred that arises from your severeness" or, more obviously an objective genitive: "hatred of your severeness."

The rules for determining i-stems from non-i-stems and mixed i-stems are guidelines rather than rules: many words that might be expected to be i-stems according to the parisyllabic rule actually are not, such as canis ('dog') or iuvenis ('youth'), which have genitive plural canum 'of dogs' and iuvenum 'of young men'. poēta, poētae m. ('poet'), agricola, agricolae m. ('farmer') and nauta, nautae m. ('sailor'). Here the possessive pronoun, "my," indicates who is the subject of the (hidden) verb "love": "I love you." As with nouns, a genitive is given for the purpose of showing the inflection. However, the locative is limited to few nouns: generally names of cities, small islands and a few other words. Genitive of Material: this term identifies the use of the genitive to specify the material out of which something is made: a statue of marble, rivers of milk and honey, books of examples, and so on. The numeral centum ('one hundred') is indeclinable, but all the other hundred numerals are declinable. It is derived from is with the suffix -dem. That is: mēcum 'with me', nōbīscum 'with us', tēcum 'with you', vōbīscum, sēcum and quōcum (sometimes quīcum). This fluidity even in Roman times resulted in much more uncertainty in Medieval Latin. To write the phrase "four thousand horses" in Latin, the genitive is used: quattuor mīlia equōrum, literally, "four thousands of horses". The genitive case in Latin is also used adverbially with certain verbs. However, in practice, it is generally declined as a regular -us stem fourth declension noun (except by the ablative singular and accusative plural, using -ō and -ōs instead).[19]. A complete Latin noun declension consists of up to seven grammatical cases: nominative, vocative, accusative, genitive, dative, ablative and locative. The plural interrogative pronouns are the same as the plural relative pronouns. [10], Since vīrus in antiquity denoted something uncountable, it was a mass noun. Both declensions derive from the Indo-European dual number, otherwise defunct in Latin, rather than the plural. It gets tricky when the English idiom does not use "of"; for example: capitis te damno = "I condemn you to death" or literally "I condemn you "of your life (head). The predominant letter in the ending forms of this declension is u, but the declension is otherwise very similar to the third-declension i stems.

The fourth declension is a group of nouns consisting of mostly masculine words such as fluctus, fluctūs m. ('wave') and portus, portūs m. ('port') with a few feminine exceptions, including manus, manūs f. ('hand'). ThoughtCo uses cookies to provide you with a great user experience.