Recognising Latin Declensions

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Latin Nouns – Declensions Overview

Why Declension Matters

Knowing the declension of a noun is critically important to understanding a sentence in Latin. Several endings are identical in form, but they serve different functions in different declensions. If you do not know the declension of the nouns you are looking at, your translation will often be little better than guesswork.

Take this sentence:

Saxum corpora frēgit

Does this mean “the stone broke the bodies” or “the body broke the stone”? Or does it mean something else? You may be able to guess by common sense, but that is not good enough. In Latin, guessing is not the same as knowing.

If you know that saxum is a second declension neuter noun, you will know at once that saxum can only be nominative singular or accusative singular. If you know that corpus is a third declension neuter noun, you will know that corpora can only be nominative plural or accusative plural.

Now add the verb. frēgit is third person singular, which means that its subject must be singular, not plural. Therefore saxum must be the subject, and corpora must be the object. The sentence can now be translated accurately:

The stone broke the bodies.

There is no need for guessing. Once you know the declensions, the grammar tells you what the sentence means.

At a minimum, you must know the declension of every noun. Its gender is also helpful, because that allows you to match adjectives correctly to nouns.

Therefore, when you learn a new Latin noun, you must learn these principal parts:

corpus (nom. sing.), corporis (gen. sing.), n. — body

This may sound a good deal to ask, but two thousand years of experience have shown that it is the most efficient way to learn nouns. You learn the parts together. Unless you forget something, you do not need to go back and relearn the noun from the beginning.

Rule: Never learn a Latin noun as a single word. Learn its nominative, genitive, and gender together.
How to use these tables:
Learn each noun by its principal parts: nominative, genitive, and gender.
Then notice the stem and the endings.

1st Declension

Nouns 1st declension
Ancilla (f)
Slave girl
Singular Nom ancill-a
Acc ancill-am
Gen ancill-ae
Dat ancill-ae
Abl ancill-ā
Plural Nom ancill-ae
Acc ancill-ās
Gen ancill-ārum
Dat ancill-īs
Abl ancill-īs

2nd Declension

Nouns 2nd declension
Dominus (m)
Master		 2nd declension
Bellum (n)
War
Singular Nom domin-us bell-um
Acc domin-um bell-um
Gen domin-ī bell-ī
Dat domin-ō bell-ō
Abl domin-ō bell-ō
Plural Nom domin-ī bell-a
Acc domin-ōs bell-a
Gen domin-ōrum bell-ōrum
Dat domin-īs bell-īs
Abl domin-īs bell-īs

3rd Declension

Nouns 3rd
Mīles (m)
Soldier		 3rd
Māter (f)
Mother		 3rd
Opus (n)
Work		 3rd
Iter (n)
Journey
Singular Nom mīles māter opus iter
Acc mīlit-em mātr-em opus iter
Gen mīlit-is mātr-is oper-is itiner-is
Dat mīlit-ī mātr-ī oper-ī itiner-ī
Abl mīlit-e mātr-e oper-e itiner-e
Plural Nom mīlit-ēs mātr-ēs oper-a itiner-a
Acc mīlit-ēs mātr-ēs oper-a itiner-a
Gen mīlit-um mātr-um oper-um itiner-um
Dat mīlit-ibus mātr-ibus oper-ibus itiner-ibus
Abl mīlit-ibus mātr-ibus oper-ibus itiner-ibus
What to notice:
1st declension nouns usually go -a, -ae.
2nd declension masculine nouns often go -us, -ī.
2nd declension neuter nouns follow the rule that nominative and accusative are always the same.
3rd declension nouns are more varied, so the genitive is especially important because it shows the stem.
Latin nouns are modular:
mīlit-is
Stem – gives the basic meaning
Ending – tells you case, number, and often declension