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Lesson 2: Nouns (Part 2)

Updated: Jan 10, 2021

In this lesson, you will learn about the basic aspects of Latin nouns

Components of Latin nouns:


Latin nouns, just like English nouns, are a person, place, thing, or idea. Some key differences between Latin nouns and English nouns are that Latin nouns have gender and they also are members of a declension. In terms of gender, each Latin noun is masculine, feminine, or neuter, and this will have to be memorized when learning the vocabulary (though there are patterns which will be explained later). There are five primary declensions, and these declensions determine the endings of each noun. Noun endings change depending on how they are used in the sentence (as a subject, direct object, indirect object, etc.). You should add the ending to the stem of the noun


Declensions:


All Latin nouns, as mentioned earlier, are a member in one of five primary declensions (these declensions are aptly named first declension, second declension, third declension, fourth declension, and fifth declension). These declensions mark the possible endings a noun can have (you will have to memorize what declension the noun is in when learning it). Determining what declension the noun is in will be discussed in the 4th lesson. Noun endings change depending on their case or usage in the sentence.


Cases:


Noun cases are dependent on the role they play in the sentence. These roles are similar to the ones mentioned in the previous lesson for English nouns. A noun's ending will depend on its case. Here are the possible cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, ablative, and vocative (there is also the locative though it is rarely used). It is important to determine the declension and case of the noun to determine how to write the noun (determining how to find the case of the noun will be discussed in the next lesson).


Conclusion:


While this is a lot of information, read over this lesson multiple times and review the exercises below, and, after some time, you will become much more proficient in this.


Exercises:


What are the components of Latin nouns?


Explain the difference between declensions and cases?


What are the names of the five declensions?


What are the names of the Latin cases?






Solutions:


Latin nouns have a gender (masculine, feminine, and neuter), declension, and case.


All nouns are inherently placed in one of five declensions and it doesn't change. These declensions mark the possible endings a noun can have. A noun's case changes depending on how it is used in the sentence. The noun's case determines the ending of the noun.


The declensions are named first declension, second declension, third declension, fourth declension, and fifth declension


The cases are nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, ablative, vocative, and locative

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Read about topics that will be covered in this guide and how they will be taught Topics To Be Covered: This guide will cover Latin nouns,...

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