INTRODUCTION TO SECOND DECLENSION
Second Declension
 As you know, Latin groups its nouns into five families called
“declensions” and nouns in the same declension will follow the
same paradigm (pattern of endings).
o The second declension paradigm will NOT look exactly
like the first declension, however.
o You will not put 1st declension endings on a 2nd declension
noun, or vice versa.
 The masculine second declension paradigm of endings (also
printed on p. 20 of your textbook) is as follows:
Nominative:
Genitive:
Dative:
Accusative:
Ablative:
singular
plural
-us
-ī
-ō
-um
-ō
-ī
-ōrum
-īs
-ōs
-īs
 The neuter second declension paradigm of endings (also printed
on p. 28 of your textbook) is as follows:
Nominative:
Genitive:
Dative:
Accusative:
Ablative:
singular
plural
-um
-ī
-ō
-um
-ō
-a
-ōrum
-īs
-a
-īs
 Neuter rule: for neuter nouns, the nominative and accusative
endings are the same. This is true across the entire language.
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INTRODUCTION TO SECOND DECLENSION
 Now look at this masculine second declension paradigm of the
sample second declension noun nervus, sinew, tendon, muscle;
string, bowstring. The endings will appear in boldfaced blue.
Nominative:
Genitive:
Dative:
Accusative:
Ablative:
singular
plural
nervus
nervī
nervō
nervum
nervō
nervī
nervōrum
nervīs
nervōs
nervīs
 The case constructions are the same for every declension. I.e. It
does NOT matter what declension a noun belongs to as to how
it is being used in a sentence. What maters is the case of the
noun.
o Nominative case is going to be the subject or predicate no
matter what declension the noun is in.
 agricola multās fīliās habet.
 multās fīliās is a first declension phrase
meaning “many daughters” in the accusative
case.
 It is the direct object of habet (“(he)” has).
 agricola multōs fīliōs habet.
 multōs fīliōs is a second declension phrase
meaning “many sons” in the accusative case.
 It, like multās fīliās before, is the direct object
of habet.
o Accusative case is going to be the direct object or place to
which (or some other accusative construction) no matter
what declension it is in.
o The same is true for any of the constructions, for any case.
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INTRODUCTION TO SECOND DECLENSION
Declining Nouns
 To decline ANY Latin noun (or adjective), you need to follow a
few simple steps.
o STEP #1: Start with the noun in its genitive singular form
 N.B. All Latin dictionaries list the nominative
singular form and the genitive singular ending
 If a dictionary includes a dot ( · ), it does that
to show you where you can remove the
nominative ending and add the genitive ending
listed to decline the noun
 SAMPLE ENTRY: nūnti·us, -ī, f. message,
messenger
o nūntius is the nominative singular form
o the –ī next to it is the genitive singular
ending
o the ( · ) shows you that if you remove the
nominative singular ending –us, you get
nūnti-, and if you add the listed genitive
singular ending –ī, you get nūntiī
 TIP: If the nominative of a second declension noun
ends in –r (e.g. puer, vir, ager), do NOT add –us to
form the nominative singular. The nominative
singular form is simply the word as it is given to you
in a dictionary.
o STEP #2: Remove the noun’s genitive ending
 TIP: you may want to think of declining like a simple
math problem.
 EXAMPLE: (nūntiī) –– (-ī) = nūntio STEP #3: Add an ending to the base of the noun.
 Now that you have the base of the noun, you can
change the noun to whatever case and number you
want.
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INTRODUCTION TO SECOND DECLENSION
 Nagging question: “What about those nouns ending in an -r?
Do they decline differently?”
o Yes and no. For puer and vir, you simply add the
genitive singular ending to the nominative without
dropping any endings.
 puer >> puerī
 vir >> virī.
o For the noun ager, you would drop the -e- when you form
the genitive singular. Hence, the base of the noun does
NOT have the -e- that appears in the nominative singular.
 ager >> agrī
 Notice that the base does NOT have the -e- in any of
the other forms: agrō, agrum, agrō, agrī, agrōrum,
agrīs, agrōs, agrīs
o Scan the table below to see how first and second
declension fit into the overall scheme of noun declension.
Declension
Nom. sing.
Gen. sing.
Gen. ending
Base
1st (MF)
fēmina
fēminae
-ae
fēmin-
2nd (MF)
amīcus
amīcī
-ī
amīc-
gener
generī
gener-
2nd (Neuter) rēgnum
rēgnī
-ī
regn-
3rd (M & F) mīles
mīlitis
-is
mīlit-
3rd (Neuter) caput
capitis
-is
capit-
4th (MF)
exitūs
-ūs
exit-
genūs
-ūs
gen-
faciēī
-ēī
faci-
exitus
4th (Neuter) genu
5th (MF)
faciēs
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