Genitive Singular or Nominative Plural? By: Patrick Cheiban

In the First and Second Declensions, the genitive singular and the nominative plural endings are the same: 1st Dec. S P Nom: Puella Puellae Gen: Puallae Puellarum 2nd Dec. Nom: Lupus Lupi Gen: Lupi Luporum

How to Distinguish the Two There are a number of ways that you can distinguish them. To decide which case is used, you must look for further clues.

Example 1 Lupi in arborem currunt. Translation: The Wolves run into the tree. “Lupi” is nominative plural because it is the only noun in the sentence that could possibly be nominative and the plural, 3rd person verb “Currunt” describes what the wolves are doing.

Example 2 Pater Sexti in Asia est. Translation: The father of Sextus is in Asia. The reason why “Sexti” is genitive is because the verb “est” is singular, therefore “Pater” is the only thing it can describe. Also, if they were both part of the subject, the would be connected by a conjunction such as “et,” but they are not, so “Sexti” must be Genitive.

Example 3 In Horto domini servi saepe laborant. Translation: The master ‘s slaves often work in the garden “Servi” and “Domini” can not both be nominative because they are not connected by a conjunction like “et.” The syntax of the sentence suggests that the noun “servi” is connected to laborant. In this case, “domini” must be genitive singular and “servi” must be nominative plural.

Example 4 In agris domini servos iubent. Translation: The masters order the slaves in the fields. “Domini” is nominative plural because it’s the only word in the sentence that would make sense as a subject.

Example 5 In villa pueri sedent. Translation 1: The boys sit in the country house. Translation 2: They sit in the boy’s country house. “Pueri” could be nominative plural or genitive singular. The only way you can tell the difference is through context clues.

Exersicises Tell if the underlined word in each sentence is nominative plural or genitive singular. Celeriter redeunt servi. Lupi in arbore se celat. In villa domini servi celerrime laborant. Pila Sexti Cornelia excipet. Lupi in horto sunt.

Answers Nominative Genitive