CHAPTER 3: PREDICT THE FIRST PRINCIPAL PART (1)

1.  Most nouns have ten officially different forms and five to eight unique forms. 

Ex1.  Nauta, nautae, nautae, nautam, nautā, nautae, nautārum, nautīs, nautās, nautīs.

2.  All nouns have a dictionary form. 

Ex2.  Nauta is the DF of Ex1.

3.  The remaining forms (nautae, nautae, nautam, nautā, nautae, nautārum, nautīs, nautās, nautīs) are the oblique forms.

4.  How we interpret a noun in a text depends on the declension to which it belongs.  If we use the following table, we can make fairly accurate guesses about the DF (dictionary form) of any given noun.

Declension	DICTIONARY FORM	Oblique cases
1st	a	ae, am, ā, ārum, īs, ās
2nd (us)	us	ī, ō, um, ōrum, īs, ōs
2nd (um)	um	ī, ō, um, a, ōrum, īs, ōs
2nd (r)	er	ī, ō, um, ōrum, īs, ōs
3rd consonant-stem	?	is, ī, em, e, ēs, um, ibus
3rd i-stem	is, ēs, es	is, ī, em, e, ēs, ium, ibus, īs
3rd neuter	?	is, ī, ?, e, a, um, ibus
4th (m/f)	us	ūs, uī, um, uum, ū, ibus
5th	ēs	eī, em, ē, ēs, ērum, ēbus

5.  Examples

Example 1.  What is the DF of rosam?
Step 1.  Separate the case from the base:  -am.
Step 2.  Indicate to which declension(s) each word can belong:  -am  

occurs only in the 1st declension row.
Step 3.  Predict the first principal part by applying the DF ending from each applicable to the base (ros-):  rosa. 

Step 4.  Check the dictionary.  Rosa wins.

Example 2.  What is the DF of cibōrum?

1.  Separate the case from the base:  -ōrum.

2.   Locate -ōrum in the noun table: it occurs in 2nd (us), 2nd (um), 2^nd (r).

3.  Predict the first principal part by applying the DF endings to the base cib-:  according to the table, the DF might take the forms cibus, cibum or ciber.

Step 4.  Check the dictionary.  Cibus wins.

Declension	Nominative singular	Oblique cases
1st	a	ae, am, ā, ārum, īs, ās
2nd (us)	us	ī, ō, um, ōrum, īs, ōs
2nd (um)	um	ī, ō, um, a, ōrum, īs, ōs
2nd (r)	er	ī, ō, um, ōrum, īs, ōs
3rd consonant-stem	?	is, ī, em, e, ēs, um, ibus
3rd i-stem	is, ēs, es, e, ?	is, ī, em, ī, ēs, ium, ibus, īs
3rd neuter	?	is, ī, ?, e, a, um, ibus
4th (m/f)	us	ūs, uī, um, uum, ū, ibus
5th	ēs	eī, em, ē, ēs, ērum, ēbus

6.  Exercise 1.  Predict the DF of the following nouns.  Follow in detail the following four steps:

1.  Separate the case from the base.

2.  Locate -ōrum in the noun table.

3.  Predict the first principal part by applying the DF endings to the base.

4.  Check the dictionary. 

1.  poētīs

2.  poētārum

3.  Perseō

4.  Perseus

5.  sinuum

6.  sinū

7.  deōrum

8.  deum

9.  seriēs

10.  seriērum

11.  ōrāculum

12.  ōrācula

13.  fīliōs

14.  fīliī

15.  arcā

16.  arcam

17.  Perseum

18.  Perseī

 

Exercise 2

What is the DF?

1.  aciem                        

2.  Aetna                        

3.  āgminum                  

4.  alārum                      

5.  āmentiam                 

6.  Acrisiī                       

7.  adituī                        

8.  adulēscentēs             

9.  aedem

10.  agrōs

11.  adventuum

12.  adulēscentiā

13.  amphorās

14.  aerī

15.  amīcīs

16.  amōribus

17.  aestāte

18.  Cācum                                         

19.  carminum                                    

20.  caedēs                      

21.  caela                        

22.  causīs                      

23.  calamitātēs              

24.  cancrīs                     

25.  calōrī                        

26.  campōs                    

27.  calceī                        

28.  canis                        

29.  cantūs                      

30.  capite                       

31.  catēnās          

32.  cadāveris                  

33.  carnibus                  

34.  Castore

35.  cāsubus

36.  carcerem

37.  caudārum

 

Declension	Nominative singular	Oblique cases
1st	a	ae, am, ā, ārum, īs, ās
2nd (us)	us	ī, ō, um, ōrum, īs, ōs
2nd (um)	um	ī, ō, um, a, ōrum, īs, ōs
2nd (r)	er	ī, ō, um, ōrum, īs, ōs
3rd consonant-stem	?	is, ī, em, e, ēs, um, ibus
3rd i-stem	is, ēs, es, e, ?	is, ī, em, ī, ēs, ium, ibus, īs
3rd neuter	?	is, ī, ?, e, a, um, ibus
4th (m/f)	us	ūs, uī, um, uum, ū, ibus
5th	ēs	eī, em, ē, ēs, ērum, ēbus