Nouns Cases
In English word order tells you what is happening in a sentence.
Caesar sees the dog.
The dog sees Caesar.
Subject comes before the verb.
Direct Object comes after the verb.
Subject + Verb + Direct Object
In Latin word endings tell us what is happening in a sentence.
Caesar canem videt.
Canem Caesar videt.
The word order is not so important.
Cases
Different word forms are called cases. The cases determine a noun’s role in the sentence.
Latin has six different cases.
Nominative – subject – A bird has wings.
Accusative – direct object – I see the girl.
Ablative – many different uses – The girl runs in the field.
Declensions
A declension is a group of nouns which have the same case endings. Latin has 5 different declensions.
1st Declension
These are the “a” nouns. Almost all of them are feminine.
Case
Nominative
Accusative
Ablative
Singular
puella
puellam
puellā
Plural
puellae
puellās
puellīs
2nd Declension
These are the “us” and some “r” nouns. These nouns are masculine. (We will learn about neuter nouns
at a later date.)
Case
Nominative
Accusative
Ablative
Singular
servus
servum
servō
Plural
servī
servōs
servīs
3rd Declension
These are nouns whose genitive singular ends in “is”. Often the nominative singular form looks different
than the noun stem which is used for all the other declensions. These nouns can be tricky to find in a
dictionary. 3rd declension nouns can be either masculine, feminine, or neuter. You must memorize the
gender.
Case
Nominative
Accusative
Ablative
Singular
arbor
arborem
arbore
Plural
arborēs
arborēs
arboribus
The preposition “in”
in + accusative = into
Puella in piscīnam cadit. The girl falls into the fishpond.
in + ablative = in/on
Puer in agrīs currit. The boy runs in the fields.