When you learn a Latin noun, you must learn four things about
it.
You must learn its:
| 1. Nominative form
2. Genitive form 3. Gender (masculine, feminine or neuter, we'll discuss this later.) 4. Meaning. |
Take the Latin nouns puella, silva, urna,
for example. When you
learn this noun, you need to learn these four things:
| Nominative singular form | puella | silva | urna | ||
| Genitive singular form | puellae | silvae | urnae | ||
| Gender | feminine | feminine | feminine | ||
| Meaning | girl | forest | water jar |
| Latin nouns can be grouped into five classes. These classes are called declensions. Notice that the underlined last letters of the Latin words (puellae, silvae, urnae) are alike. Latin nouns are grouped into these five declensions according to what set of endings (the underlined part of the word) they have in common. If the ending of a noun in its genitive singular form is ae, the noun belongs to the 1st declension. |
Q2. What two forms of a Latin noun must you learn?
| Write the answer in this form first answer and second answer. Do not use word form . Be careful with your spelling. Do not use extra spaces or periods! |
| Q3. How many declensions are there? (one word, lower case.) |
| Q3.What is the ending of the genitive singular form of a noun in the first declension? (Just give the letters of this ending in lower case.) |
| A Masculine B Feminine
C Neuter
Just type the upper-case letter of your answer. |
| Q5. What form of a noun is used to define what declension a Latin noun belongs to? (two words, lower case.) |
| Q6. What part of a sentence is used to name a person or thing in the sentence? (one word, lower case.) |
| Q7. Another 1st declension word is terra, which means land.Based on the patterns you can see above, what is its genitive singular form? (one word, lower case.) |
| Q8. Another 1st declension word is patria, which means fatherland or country.Based on the patterns you can see above, what is its genitive singular form? (one word, lower case.) |
| Q9. Now consider the genitive singular filiae which, as we shall see later, means of/from the daughter . Based on the patterns you can see above, what is its nominative singular form? (one word, lower case.) |
| Q10. Now consider the genitive singular formae which, as we shall see later, means of/from the shape . Based on the patterns you can see above, what is its nominative singular form? (one word, lower case.) |
| Q11. What is the ending of the genitive singular form of a noun in the first declension? (Just give the letters of this ending in lower case.) |
| Q12. Looking at all the first declension nouns we have learned so far, what do you think is the usual nominative singular ending?Just type the single, lower case letter. |
| A Masculine B Feminine
C Neuter
Just type the upper-case letter of your answer. |
| Nom. sing | filia | forma | patria | terra | agricola | nauta | ||||||
| Gen. sing | filiae | formae | patria | terrae | agricolae | nautae | ||||||
| Gender | fem. | fem. | fem. | fem. | masculine | masculine | ||||||
| Meaning | daughter | shape or
form |
country or
fatherland |
land | farmer | sailor |
| Yes, I know I did not give you poeta, but if you look closely, | |||||
| you can see the 4 letter word in English that comes from it. |
| Further, many Latin names, mostly of females, but some of males,
as well as
of cities or countries (in green below) are also 1st declension : Anna, Catalina, Claudia, Cornelia, Fulvia, Germania, Italia, Livia, Maria, Marcella, Roma, Sicilia, Sophia, Sulla. |
| Q16. These names form according to exactly the same patterns as other first declension nouns. What then is the genitive singular of Anna? (Make sure you capitalize first letter of name. |
| Q17. What then is the genitive singular of Roma? |
| Q18. Above (Q10) you figured out the nominative singular of formae. Using the same method, give the nominative singular of Graeciae. |
| Q19. What modern country do you think corresponds to Italia? (Pronounce word to yourself, then give the five letter name of the modern country. |
| Q20. What is the genitive singular first declension ending? (Just give the letters in lower case.) |