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The Latin It has up to five different forms or models of declension, which govern the way in which suffixes are added to the roots of nouns and adjectives so that they agree grammatically according to their gender, number and case. In this short article you will find a summary of what are the latin declensions.
First declension
In the first declension the theme is en -to. It contains mostly feminine nouns, and none neuter. It is characterized because the ending of the genitive is ae, ending that in turn takes the dative in the singular, as well as the nominative and vocative in the plural.
Second declension
Theme in -o. The phonetic evolution of Latin turned the o sound into u. In this declension there are three types of nouns: with nominative in -us, with nominative in -er and with nominative in -um. They all do the genitive in i.
Nouns in -us and -er are usually masculine, while those finished in -um they are neutral.
Third declension
Characterized by the genitive in -is. Nouns can be of any gender (masculine, feminine or neuter) and we find three types:
- Consonant theme. In this case, the theme in the genitive ends in a consonant and has a different number of syllables in nominative and genitive. Neutral nouns behave differently from masculine and feminine nouns: in nominative, vocative and accusative they have the same form in the singular, while for the plural they acquire the ending -to.
- Topic in i. In this case the genitive theme ends in a vowel and the number of syllables is the same in nominative and genitive. The declension is almost the same as in the consonant theme, except in the nominative, accusative and vocative plural (ending -ia) and in the genitive plural (-ium).
- Mixed theme. In the singular it takes the endings as in the subject in consonant, while in the plural it does so as in the subject in i.
Fourth declension
Topic in or. Nouns can have two endings, depending on the gender. In masculine and feminine they end in -us, while in neutral they do it in -or.
Fifth declension
Topic in and. All nouns are feminine, with one exception: dies-diei and its derivations. Many of these nouns have only singular forms.
Summary table of declensions
In this summary table you will be able to see the endings of the five declensions according to the cases, the number and the gender. This type of diagram is a must when studying Latin.
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