1. Lesson 1: Cases and 1st Declension Nouns
Aug. 30, 2012

2. All about nouns!

3. Nouns are the names of
persons
places or
things.

4. Latin Nouns Have 4 Features
Case---how a noun works in its sentence.
Number---whether a noun is singular or plural (singular=one, plural=more than one)
Gender---whether a noun is masculine, feminine, or neuter.
Declension---each noun belongs to one of the 5 declensions: groups of nouns that share the same pattern of endings

5. 1st Declension Nouns
Let’s learn how to write a 1st declension noun on its “declension chart.”
A declension chart shows the noun in all its cases (spellings).
For example…

6. AQUAM
AQUIS
AQUA
AQUAE
AQUA
AQUAS
AQUARUM

7. one by one in the weeks ahead.
Don’t worry about all
these uses right now!
We’ll be learning them
one by one in the weeks ahead.
In Latin, the use of the noun is determined by its case ending, not its place in the sentence.
There are five cases:
Nominative - subject and predicate nominative
Genitive – possession
Dative - indirect object
Accusative - direct object
Ablative – (various)

8. 1st Declension Nouns aqua, aquae (feminine) :water
1st declension nouns end in –ae in their genitive form (the 2nd form listed in the vocab list).
Most 1st declension nouns are feminine.
aqua, aquae (feminine)
:water

9. Step 1 – Find the noun stem
The noun stem is found by dropping the genitive singular ending from the noun.
Dictionary entry of a noun:
Puella puellae, f girl
Meaning
Genitive singular
Gender
Nominative singular
Puellae – ae = puell
Noun Stem

10. Finding noun stems aqua, aquae (f.) aqu- insula, insulae (f.) insul-
silva, silvae (f.)
silv-
via, viae (f.)
vi-

11. In Latin, the endings indicate the case of the noun.
Write these down!
(Endings)
Case Singular Plural
Nominative a ae
Genitive ae arum
Dative ae is
Accusative am as
Ablative a is
Example:
insularum = plural genitive

12. Step 2: Add the case endings to the noun stem.
Singular Plural
Nominative
Genitive
Dative
Accusative
Ablative
On your whiteboard, decline the following 2 nouns:
via, viae (f.) and aqua, aquae (f.)