![]() ![]() All we have to find about a new noun is this: What declension does it belong to? This we can tell from the Latin case called the GENITIVE. In this instance, it is cenae.Īll Latin nouns are divided into five main groups called declensions, and in these groups we have a model which shows us the proper endings to use. The second form is the lemma declined in the genitive case, singular number. This is the form you use when looking up words in a dictionary or lexicon. The first form, e.g., cena, is the lemma or lexical form. For example, the nominative plural of rēmex is rēmigēs, while the nominative plural of caudex is caudicēs. (See this related question that mentions a story about declining one of these nouns incorrectly: A story of a king who wanted to simplify Latin grammar)Īnd knowledge of the genitive form is frequently necessary to be able to inflect nouns of the third declension, where nominative singular forms often don't contain enough information to determine the other forms. and a number of other neuter third-declension nouns from Greek ending in -ma, matis. But there are certain Greek loanwords that end in "-a" in the nominative singular and belong to other declension classes and/or genders, such as problēma, problēmatis n. (Some nouns have irregularities in their inflection that require more description, like the irregular first-declension noun dea "goddess" which has the ablative plural deābus.)īeing given the genitive may seem a bit useless for nouns that end in "a" in the nominative singular, since nearly all of these are regularly inflected according to the first declension. These are the " principal parts" of a regular Latin noun. The use is that if you know the nominative singular form, genitive singular form, and the gender of a regularly inflected Latin noun, you can predict all of its other forms. When I see aries, -etis, though, I realize it is 3rd declension Aries: It is unclear if this is a 5th declension noun or not.senatus, -us to realize it is 4th declension. Senatus: Alone, I might be tempted to think this was a 2nd declension noun declined like senatus, senati, etc.Here are two examples where this second entry is necessary: Here is a chart of the genitive singular for each declension:Ĭombined with knowledge of the gender of the noun and the nominative singular (necessary for 3rd declension nouns), I can form all the inflections of (almost) any Latin noun. This is why dictionaries and learning textbooks include this second form. ![]() ![]() This means that if I know the genitive singular, I know the declension of a word. (The dative singular is almost uniform, except for cases like cornu.and maybe others.) Uniform: Every noun within the declension has the same ending.Unique: No other declension has the same genitive singular ending.The above answers address the substance of your question, but I wanted to add as a supplementary answer something that doesn't appear to be explicitly stated elsewhere: The genitive singular is the only form that is unique and uniform for each declension. The second form is the genitive singular. ![]()
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