Chapter 2- First Declension Nouns and Adjectives; Prepositions, Conjunctions and

Interjections

Jacqueline DiBiasie

What is a noun?A person, place or thing

Latin is an INFLECTED language

VERBS are CONJUGATED and have special endings to signify who was doing the action

NOUNS are DECLINED in CASES to show whether it functions as a subject, object, etc.

Nominative

Nominative case is used for the SUBJECT of a verb

“The poet is giving the girl a rose”“The girls are giving roses to the poet”

The nominative is also used with the verb ‘to be’ as a PREDICATE NOMINATIVE“The poet is a boy”

Genitive

• The Genitive case is used for POSSESSION• Translate this with ‘s or of

The girls are giving the roses of the poet/poet’s to me.The mouse of the girl is cute.

Dative

• Dative is used to mark out a person or thing INDIRECTLY affected by the verb

• Translate with ‘to’ or ‘for’

• I gave the rose to the sailor.• The mouse gave the rose to me.

Accusative

The accusative case indicates the DIRECT OBJECT of the verb (the thing/person DIRECTLY affected by the verb).The accusative is also used with certain prepositions.

I gave a carrot to the horse. I gave homework to the students.

Ablative

The ablative is used to modify a verb with prepositions.For now, translate with ‘by’, ‘with’, or ‘from

I am going with the horse to the store.I am going to Rome from Pompeii.

Vocative

• The vocative case is used for direct address• Will almost always be separated with commas• Often employed with ‘o’

• Davidus, please get me the paper.• Bacchia, please stand up.

Practice

• Label all the cases in this English sentence.

Margarita, give the book to Hadrianus with Jason’s pencil.

Margarita, give the book to Hadrianus with Jason’s pencil.

The First Declension!• Declension= the listing of all

the cases of a noun or adjective

• To decline a noun–1. Find the base• take the 2nd dictionary

ending and drop the genitive ending

–2. add the endings

The First Declension!

• Example- In the dictionary ‘porta, portae’• The base is found by taking portae, dropping

the ‘ae’ ending and we get ‘port’• Then we add the first declension endings to

‘port’

So what are the first declension endings?

Nominative- A AeGenitive- Ae ĀrumDative- Ae ĪsAccusative- Am ĀsAblative- Ā ĪsVocative- A Ae

Declension of porta

Nominative- Porta (port)Genitive- Portae (of the port) Dative- Portae (to/for the port)Accusative- Portam (port)Ablative- Portā (b/w/f the port)Vocative- Porta (port!)

Portae PortārumPortīsPortāsPortīsPortae

You try!

Decline fāma, fāmae f. ‘rumor’

Nominative- Fama (port)Genitive- Famae (of the port)Dative- Famae (to/for the port)Accusative- Famam (port)Ablative- Famā (b/w/f the port)

Vocative- Fama (port!)

FamaeFamārumFamīsFamāsFamīsFamae

Genders

• Every noun has a GENDERThey aren’t intuitive and must be learned when you learn your vocab.

• There are three genders: masculine, feminine and neuter• Almost all 1st declension nouns are FEMININE (because

ladies first!)

Adjectives• An adjective adds information about a noun or pronouns• Examples: great, blue, striped• Adjectives agree with the noun they modify:

CASE (nom. gen.)NUMBER (sg. or pl.) and GENDER (m.f. or n.)

• Most adjectives will be placed next to the noun they go with, usually right after it

• Since adjectives must agree with nouns of all three genders they will have THREE parts in the dictionary– Ex. Magnus (masculine), magna (feminine), and magnum (neuter)

Noun and Adjective Matching

Nominative- Mea Puella Meae PuellaeGenitive- Meae Puellae Meārum PuellārumDative- Meae Puellae Meīs PuellīsAccusative- Meam Puellam Meās PuellāsAblative- Meā Puellā Meīs PuellīsVocative- Mea Puella Meae Puellae