1. As in most languages, Latin nouns are assigned to noun-classes based on crucial similarities.
2. These noun-classes are called DECLENSIONS.
3. Here is a table we can use to tell which declension nouns belong to.
DECLENSIONS
CASES
1st
a, ae, am, ā, ārum, īs, ās
2nd
us, ī, ō, um, ōrum, īs, ōs
2nd
um, ī, ō, a, ōrum, īs, ōs
2nd
er, ī, ō, um, ōrum, īs, ōs
3rd
?, is, ī, em, e, ēs, um, ibus
3rd
is, ī, em, ī, ēs, ium, ibus, īs
3rd
?, is, ī, e, a, um, ibus
4th
us, ūs, uī, um, uum, ū, ibus
5th
ēs, eī, em, ē, ērum, ēbus
Example 1. Virōs apparently belongs to the 2nd declension, because the ending ōs is found only in the 2nd declension rows.
Example 2. Oppida apparently belongs to the 1st, 2nd or 3rd declension, because the ending a is found in those rows.
1. poētīs
2. Perseō
3. Perseus
4. fīlius
5. Iovis
6. deōrum
7. avus
8. Acrisius
9. Perseum
10. nepōtem
11. ōrāculum
12. puerum
13. infantem
14. mātre
15. arcā
16. arcam
17. mare
18. Perseī
19. māter
20. tempestās
21. sinū
22. mātris
Sunday, May 14, 2023
CHAPTER 2: PREDICT TO WHICH DECLENSION THE NOUN BELONGS
CHAPTER 1: SEPARATE CASE FROM BASE
1. Every noun can be divided into a base and a case.
2. The base is a string of letters which
indicates the DICTIONARY
CONTENT (what is denoted by the
noun). Any person (man, woman, child, policeman, doctor, lawyer, etc.),
place (lake, mountain, sky, house, etc.) or thing (telephone, computer, table,
window, etc.) can be the dictionary content of the base.
3. The case is the part that indicates additional
information about the noun, such as number.
4. Number is a quality denoting that there is
only one instance of the noun (the SINGULAR
number) or many (the PLURAL
number).
5. The letter attached to the noun to indicate
the plural number is called the plural marker.
Ex1. The plural marker of cats is -s.
Ex2. The plural marker of children is -ren.
Ex3. The plural marker of oxen is -en.
6. By contrast, in English the singular is
usually UNMARKED. A word is unmarked if it is unchanged from
its DICTIONARY FORM.
Ex1. There is no singular marker for cat, so it is
unmarked.
Ex2. The plural of deer is the same as the
singular, so it is unmarked.
Ex3. The title of the Dr. Seuss book One Fish,
Two Fish shows that the plural of fish is unmarked.
Obs. The
dictionary form of geese is goose, that of men is man, that of students is
student, that of bird’s is bird etc.
7. In Latin the situation is very different,
because there are many endings which have many other kinds of additional
information.
8. Here are most of the cases we will meet in
Latin.
|
CASES |
|
a,
ae, am,
ā,
ārum,
īs,
ās |
|
us, ī, ō, um, ōrum, īs, ōs |
|
um, ī, ō, a, ōrum, īs, ōs |
|
er,
ī, ō, um, ōrum, īs, ōs |
|
?, is, ī, em, e, ēs, um, ibus |
|
is, ī, em, ī, ēs, ium, ibus, īs |
|
?, is, ī, e, a, um, ibus |
|
us, ūs, uī, um, uum, ū, ibus |
|
ēs, eī, em, ē, ērum,
ēbus |
9. In English it is easy to divide a noun into
base and case.
Ex1. Dogs = dog + s
Ex2. Children = child + ren
Ex3. Tim’s = Tim + ’s
Ex4. boys’ = boy + s’
10. In Latin we use the CASES table.
Ex1. Divide mensam.
We divide mensam into two
parts: the base (mēns-) and the case (-am). We
know that -am is the case because when we refer to the table from we find -am,
not -sam, -nsam, etc.
Ex2. Divide puerorum.
In this chapter we cannot tell
that the correct division is puer + orum.
The rule of selecting the longer case will tell us not to divide as
pueror + um.
Exercise
Divide each of the following
words into base and case.
2. fīliī
3. deō
4. terram
5. rēgibus
6. diem
7. deōrum
8. deum
9. manū
10. domuī
11. nominis
12. populum
13. verba
14. virīs
15. hominēs
16. faciem
17. cōnspectūs
18. tempore
19. fratribus
20. principem
21. animās
22. corde
23. viam
24. gentium
25. vōcem