Nouns

What is a Declension?

Latin nouns are divided into five declensions, groups or families. Each declension as a set of different endings which reflect the case of a noun. Go to cases for more information about this. Latin Adjectives are divided into three of the five declensions.

One knows the declension of a noun by the 2^nd principal part which is also called the genitive case. When you learn a new word that is either a noun or adjective, you also recognize the declension to which it belongs.

Exempli Gratia - Nouns

• puella, puellae f. - the 'ae' indicates 1st declension
• puer, pueri m. - the 'i' indicates 2nd declension
• nomen, nominis n. - the 'is' indicates 3rd declension
• portus, portûs m - the 'ûs' indicates 4th declension
• res, rei f. - the 'ei' indicates 5th declension

Adjectives

• clarus - clara - clarum = 1st and 2nd declensions
• fortis, forte = 3rd declension

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