), 'inhabitant' (incola, incolae ma… Latin has five declensions; this article looks at the first two. The first declension in most cases applies to nouns and adjectives that end in -a. The predominant letter in the ending forms of this declension is a. The same endings are used for the feminine gender of Latin adjectives. There is a small category of masculine exceptions, which generally refer to occupations. ), and 'poet' (poēta, poētae masc). The first declension is a category of declension that consists of mostly feminine nouns in Latin and Ancient Greek with the defining feature of a long ā (analysed as either a part of the stem or a case-ending). They are declined irregularly in the singular. Declension of Bona Puella (Good Girl) in Latin ), 'charioteer' (aurīga, aurīgae masc. But its lack of a Proto-Indo-European thematic vowel (o or e) and of any nominative singular ending (ordinarily -s or -os) doesn't neatly place it within either of the Proto-Indo-European nominal categories, thematic and athematic. All the nouns in the first declension use the endings shown in Table 1 to indicate case in a sentence. nominative athlēta may be used instead of the original athlētēs. The feminine of first- and second-declension adjectives uses the -ā class of the first declension: First- and third-declension adjectives, including participles in -nt-, use the -(y)ă class. The word "girl" is puella in Latin, a 1st declension noun, and like most 1st declension nouns, it's feminine. In Latin and Greek grammar, the first declension is analyzed as a thematic declension. The stem of the noun can be identified by the form of the genitive singular as well. Gender: Nouns of the first declension are overwhelmingly feminine. 1st and 2nd Declension Adjectives: stems ending in -ro 1st and 2nd Declension Adjectives: Gen. in -īus, Dat. In Greek grammar, it is also called the alpha declension, since its forms have the letter α, at least in the plural. First-declension nouns. In the Attic dialect, an ā-ē split divides each class into two subclasses: nouns with ᾱ and nouns with η. in -ī 3rd Declension Adjectives: Classification and Paradigms The nominative singular form consists of the stem and the suffix -a, and the genitive singular form is the stem plus -ae. First declension. The plural and dative singular forms equal the forms of pure Latin words. ), 'sailor' (nauta, nautae masc. 2) Some personal or family names: Catilīna, Mūrēna, Dolābella, Scaevola. In the Latin language, declension refers to the method of inflecting nouns and adjectives to produce the 6 grammatical cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, ablative and vocative. But besides the nominative and accusative singular of feminines, and nominative, genitive, and vocative singular of masculines, forms are the same between subclasses. Therefore, it is assumed to be a newer formation: a suffix based on the neuter plural ending *-(e)h₂, forming a collective noun. Latin words of the first declension have an invariable stem and are generally of feminine gender. Each declension can be unequivocally identified by the ending of the genitive singular (-ae, -i, -is, -ūs, -ei). ), 'inhabitant' (incola, incolae masc. Lesson 2 - Introduction to nouns, first declension nouns, cases ... - … Here are examples of this class, which is complex because of sound changes involving the y (see Ancient Greek nouns: short a): https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=First_declension&oldid=953324122, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, For specific information on the first declension as it appears in Latin and Greek, see the appropriate sections in, This page was last edited on 26 April 2020, at 20:37. latin grammar exercises, first declension. This page was last edited on 13 September 2020, at 21:18. The first declension is a category of declension that consists of mostly feminine nouns in Latin and Ancient Greek with the defining feature of a long ā (analysed as either a part of the stem or a case-ending). In Greek grammar, it is also called the alpha declension, since its forms have the letter α, at least in the plural. The first declension also holds three types of Greek nouns, derived from Ancient Greek's Alpha Declension. Latin words of the first declension have an invariable stem and are generally of feminine gender. The very small native masculine group includes only a few occupation nouns and nouns imported from the Greek masculine first declension. There are two principal parts for Latin nouns: the nominative singular and the genitive singular. Because Latin has no article (the or an), silva may mean the forest, a forest, or simply forest. ), 'writer' (scrība, scrībae masc. The first noun group that uses the same suffixes to form case is, not surprisingly, called first declension. A very few nouns in the first declension are masculine: 1) Some natural genders such as agricola (farmer), nauta (sailor), pīrāta (pirate), poēta (poet), scrība (scribe or clerk). By contrast, other dialects tend to generalize the vowel one way or the other — Ionic has only ē, and Doric and Aeolic have only ā. Occasionally, these Greek nouns may be declined as if they were native Latin nouns, e.g. Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Appendix:Latin_first_declension&oldid=60393500, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, The older genitive singular termination is an, Because first declension nouns and second declension nouns display an. These include 'farmer' (agricola, agricolae masc. Latin first declension has only one set of endings for both feminine and masculine nouns. These include 'farmer' (agricola, agricolae masc. The adjectival form corresponding with puella— a noun in the nominative singular—is bona. There is a small category of masculine exceptions, which generally refer to occupations. ), 'charioteer' (aurīga, aurīgae masc. Greek first declension has two basic classes of feminine endings and one basic class of masculine endings, distinguished by their original nominative singular: long -ā, short -(y)ă, long -ās. These nouns are masculine or feminine because the first declension has no neuter nouns. The predominant letter in the ending forms of this declension is a. The nominative singular form consists of the stem and the suffix -a, and the genitive singular form is the stem plus -ae. from The Beginner's Latin Exercise Book, C.Sherwill Dawe. ), 'sailor' (nauta, nautae masc. ), 'pirate' (pīrāta, pīrātae masc.