ECA
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Study Notes

Unit 2: 1st and 2nd Declension

What Is a Declension?

A declension is a pattern of endings that a noun follows. Latin nouns belong to one of five declensions. In Lingua Latina Chapters Iโ€“VIII, we focus on the 1st and 2nd declensions, which contain the majority of nouns in the early text.

1st Declension (mostly feminine)

Pattern noun: puella, puellae (girl)

Case endings:

Nominative sg: puella | pl: puellae

Genitive sg: puellae | pl: puellarum

Dative sg: puellae | pl: puellis

Accusative sg: puellam | pl: puellas

Ablative sg: puellฤ | pl: puellis

Vocative sg: puella | pl: puellae

Key facts: Most 1st declension nouns are feminine. The genitive singular -ae is the signal ending for 1st declension. Note that the dative singular, genitive singular, and nominative plural are all -ae.

  • Common 1st declension nouns: puella (girl), femina (woman), villa (country house), via (road), aqua (water)
  • Silva (forest), ancilla (maidservant), rosa (rose), insula (island), terra (land)
  • Memory aid: "a ae ae am a a" for the singular endings โ€” notice -ae appears three times
  • The genitive singular ending -ae identifies a noun as 1st declension

2nd Declension Masculine (-us)

Pattern noun: servus, servi (slave/servant)

Case endings:

Nominative sg: servus | pl: servi

Genitive sg: servi | pl: servorum

Dative sg: servo | pl: servis

Accusative sg: servum | pl: servos

Ablative sg: servo | pl: servis

Vocative sg: serve | pl: servi

Key facts: 2nd declension masculine nouns typically end in -us in the nominative. The vocative singular changes -us to -e (serve, not servus). The genitive singular -i signals 2nd declension.

Common 2nd declension masculine nouns: servus (slave), dominus (master), puer (boy โ€” irregular, no -us), hortus (garden), numerus (number), filius (son), locus (place), animus (mind/spirit), oculus (eye)

2nd Declension Neuter (-um)

Pattern noun: oppidum, oppidi (town)

Case endings:

Nominative sg: oppidum | pl: oppida

Genitive sg: oppidi | pl: oppidorum

Dative sg: oppido | pl: oppidis

Accusative sg: oppidum | pl: oppida

Ablative sg: oppido | pl: oppidis

Vocative sg: oppidum | pl: oppida

Key rule for ALL neuter nouns: the nominative, accusative, and vocative are always identical. The plural neuter nominative/accusative always ends in -a.

Common 2nd declension neuter nouns: oppidum (town), verbum (word), atrium (main hall), cubiculum (bedroom), triclinium (dining room), vinum (wine)

  • The neuter rule: Nom = Acc = Voc (all three identical โ€” always, in all declensions)
  • Neuter plural Nom/Acc/Voc always end in -a (oppida, verba, atria)
  • Dative and ablative are always identical in 2nd declension (both -o sg, -is pl)

1st/2nd Declension Adjectives

Adjectives agree with their noun in case, number, and gender. 1st/2nd declension adjectives use 1st declension endings for feminine nouns and 2nd declension endings for masculine/neuter nouns.

Pattern: bonus, bona, bonum (good)

Masculine: follows the servus pattern โ†’ bonus, boni, bono, bonum, bono, bone

Feminine: follows the puella pattern โ†’ bona, bonae, bonae, bonam, bona, bona

Neuter: follows the oppidum pattern โ†’ bonum, boni, bono, bonum, bono, bonum

  • magnus, magna, magnum = large, great
  • parvus, parva, parvum = small, little
  • malus, mala, malum = bad, wicked, evil
  • multus, multa, multum = much (sg), many (pl)
  • pulcher, pulchra, pulchrum = beautiful, handsome (note: pulcher loses the e in most forms)
  • laetus, laeta, laetum = happy, glad, joyful
  • iratus, irata, iratum = angry
  • An adjective does NOT have to look like its noun โ€” it matches in case/number/gender, not spelling
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