The majority of Latin nouns belong to the first three declensions, which you have already learned. There are, however, two more declensions of Latin nouns, the fourth and the fifth declensions. These two declension contain some very common Latin words, including the words for home, army, thing, and day. The following chart contains all of the noun endings you've encountered so far, with the fourth and the fifth added.
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|
1st f |
2nd m |
2nd n |
3rd m/f |
3rd n |
4th m |
4th n |
5th f |
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|
|
|
|
Sing. |
|
|
|
|
|
Nom |
a |
us or r |
um |
-- |
-- |
us |
ū |
ēs |
|
Gen |
ae |
ī |
ī |
is |
is |
ūs |
ūs |
ēī |
|
Dat |
ae |
ō |
ō |
ī |
ī |
uī |
ū |
ēī |
|
Acc |
am |
um |
um |
em |
-- |
um |
ū |
em |
|
Abl |
ā |
ō |
ō |
e |
e |
ū |
ū |
e |
|
|
Pl. |
|||||||
|
Nom |
ae |
ī |
a |
ēs |
a |
ūs |
ua |
ēs |
|
Gen |
ārum |
ōrum |
ōrum |
um |
um |
uum |
uum |
ērum |
|
Dat |
īs |
īs |
īs |
ibus |
ibus |
ibus |
ibus |
ēbus |
|
Acc |
ās |
ōs |
a |
ēs |
a |
ūs |
ua |
ēs |
|
Abl |
īs |
īs |
īs |
ibus |
ibus |
ibus |
ibus |
ēbus |
Notes:
1. The 4th declension, like the 2nd, contain mostly masculine and neuter nouns. The words domus ("home, house") and manus ("hand") are two common 4th declension words that happen to be feminine. They follow the same pattern as the masculine.
2. The 5th declension, like the 1st, contains mostly feminine nouns. The most common 5th declension noun is diēs ("day"), which is often masculine when it refers to a non-specific day. It is often feminine when it refers to a specific day.
3. The 4th declension neuter pattern follows the neuter law, but it also has some other changes. There are not very many 4th declension neuter nouns, but cornū ("horn") and genū ("knee") are common.
4. Domus ("house, home") is heteroclitic, meaning that it has forms from both the 2nd and 4th declension:
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|
Sing. |
Pl. |
|
Nom |
domus |
domūs |
|
Gen |
domūs domī |
domum domōrum |
|
Dat |
domuī domō domū (rare) |
domibus |
|
Acc |
domum |
domūs domōs |
|
Abl |
domū domō |
domibus |