Noun Declension Notes
Terms
Noun – a person, place, or thing
Declension – a category of a Latin noun; the words of a particular declension all have
similar endings
Declining – adding the case endings to a noun base
Stem of a Noun – the part of a word minus its genitive (NOT nominative!) singular
ending
Case – form of a noun that indicates its function in a sentence
Nominative – the subject of a sentence, predicate nominative (must be with a “be” verb)
Genitive – possession (of, ’s), partitive/whole (esp. with satis, nimium, plus),
characteristic, source or origin
Dative – indirect object (to, for), object of intransitive verbs (credo, faveo, persuadeo,
impero, appropinquo, parco, confido, pareo, noceo), and object of compound verb
forms of sum (praesum), possession (must be with a “be” verb)
Accusative – direct object, object of certain prepositions, place to which, duration of time
or extent of space, subject of oportet / taedet / decet , subject of indirect statement
Ablative – object of SEDCAP (sine, ex, de, cum, ab, pro) prepositions, place where,
place from which, time when, time within which, means or instrument, personal
agent, separation, accompaniment, ablative absolute
Vocative – direct address
Locative – shows place where with cities, towns, small islands, domus, humus, rus
CASE I (f) II (m) II (n) III (mf) III (n) IV (m) IV (n) V (f)
nominative a us, er, ir um, ium -- -- us ū ēs
genitive ae ī ī is is ūs ūs eī, ēī
dative ae ō ō ī ī uī ū eī, ēī
accusative am um um, ium em -- um ū em
ablative ā ō ō e, ī e, ī ū ū ē
nominative ae ī a, ia ēs (i)a ūs ua ēs
genitive ārum ōrum ōrum (i)um (i)um uum uum ērum
dative īs īs īs ibus ibus ibus ibus ēbus
accusative ās ōs a, ia ēs (i)a ūs ua ēs
ablative īs īs īs ibus ibus ibus ibus ēbus
Notes:
• 1st declension is feminine except for: Athleta, Conviva, Auriga, Pirata, Poeta,
Agricola, Incola, Nauta, Scriba (ACAPPAINS)
• 2nd declension is masculine or neuter except for names of trees
• neuter nouns have this fame: their nominatives and accusatives are the same
• neuter nouns: you must remember every day, nominative and accusative plurals
end with –a
• 3rd declension i-stems→ genitive plural will be -ium if a masc. or fem. noun ends
with:
a) -ēs or -is in nominative and has same number of syllables as genitive
b) –ns or –rs in the nominative singular
c) double consonants
d) –x (but only if one syllable, and only if 2 consonants before genitive
ending; e.g., nox, noctis → noctium; BUT dux, ducis → ducum)
• 3rd declension i-stems → genitive plural will be –ium if a neuter noun ends with:
-al , –e , or –ar in the nominative singular (will also have –i in the ablative
singular and –ia in the nominative and accusative plural)
• 4th declension is mostly masculine or neuter, although domus, manus, and names
of trees are feminine
• domus is a 4th declension noun with two alternate endings:
domus domūs
domūs domuum
domuī domibus
domum domōs
domō domibus
• 5th declension genitive singular ends with:
a) -eī if following a consonant (e.g., reī, speī)
b) –ēī if following a vowel (e.g., diēī, aciēī)
Noun Declension
Terms
Noun – a person, place, or thing
Declension – a category of a Latin noun; the words of a particular declension all have
similar endings
Declining – adding the case endings to a noun base
Stem of a Noun – the part of a word minus its genitive (NOT nominative!) singular
ending
Case – form of a noun that indicates its function in a sentence
Nominative – the subject of a sentence, predicate nominative (must be with a “be” verb)
Genitive – of, ’s, possession, partitive/whole (esp. with satis, nimium, plus),
characteristic, source or origin
Dative – indirect object (to, for), object of intransitive verbs (credo, faveo, persuadeo,
impero, appropinquo, parco, confido, pareo, noceo), and object of compound verb
forms of sum (praesum), possession (must be with a “be” verb)
Accusative – direct object, object of certain prepositions, place to which, duration of time
or extent of space, subject of oportet / taedet / decet , subject of indirect statement
Ablative – object of SEDCAP (sine, ex, de, cum, ab, pro) prepositions, place where,
place from which, time when, time within which, means or instrument, personal
agent, separation, accompaniment, ablative absolute
Vocative – direct address
Locative – shows place where with cities, towns, small islands, domus, humus, rus
CASE I (f) II (m) II (n) III (mf) III (n) IV (m) IV (n) V (f)
nominative
genitive
dative
accusative
ablative
nominative
genitive
dative
accusative
ablative
Notes:
• 1st declension is feminine except for: Athleta, Conviva, Auriga, Pirata, Poeta,
Agricola, Incola, Nauta, Scriba (ACAPPAINS)
• 2nd declension is masculine or neuter except for names of trees
• neuter nouns have this fame: their nominatives and accusatives are the same
• neuter nouns: you must remember every day, nominative and accusative plurals
end with –a
• 3rd declension i-stems→ genitive plural will be -ium if a masc. or fem. noun ends
with:
e) -ēs or -is in nominative and has same number of syllables as genitive
f) –ns or –rs in the nominative singular
g) double consonants
h) –x (but only if one syllable, and only if 2 consonants before genitive
ending; e.g., nox, noctis → noctium; BUT dux, ducis → ducum)
• 3rd declension i-stems → genitive plural will be –ium if a neuter noun ends with:
-al , –e , or –ar in the nominative singular (will also have –i in the ablative
singular and –ia in the nominative and accusative plural)
• 4th declension is mostly masculine or neuter, although domus, manus, and names
of trees are feminine
• domus is a 4th declension noun with two alternate endings:
domus domūs
domūs domuum
domuī domibus
domum domōs
domō domibus
• 5th declension genitive singular ends with:
c) -eī if following a consonant (e.g., reī, speī)
d) –ēī if following a vowel (e.g., diēī, aciēī)
