Nouns

The Five Declensions

Noun Review

Latin nouns -- and the adjectives that modify them -- always appear in one of six cases, usually listed in this order:
Nominative, Genitive, Dative, Accusative, Ablative, Vocative

In some charts the vocative is left out because it's used less frequently and is so simple to remember. As you will see in the declension table below, the vocative looks just like the nominative case form in all declensions EXCEPT for singular, 2nd declension masculines.

Case represents the way a noun is employed in a particular phrase or sentence, so a noun's case is constantly changing. In tables the cases are usually listed in this order:

All nouns are divided among five families of forms called declensions. The declension of a noun NEVER changes and the declension can always be recognized from the genitive singular form. That's why it's essential to memorize both the nominative and genitive singular forms of a new noun. Look carefully at the genitive singular endings in the table below and soon you will be able instantly to tell which ending belongs to which declension.

A note on the vowel marks: macrons are the little accent symbols -- ^-- used to indicate a long vowel.These are given in the table here because you should be aware that a long vowel can make the difference between a nominative or vocative singular form, such as femina, ending in a short vowel and an ablative singular like feminâ that ends in a long vowel. The 'length' of the vowel also affects pronunciation and poetic meter, so it is worth noting the lengths of the vowels in the case endings.

• â sounds like English 'farm'
• ê sounds like English 'gate'
• î sounds like English 'sheep'
• ô sounds like English 'go'
• û sounds like English 'tooth'

You can visit Latin sounds in the Grammatica section of Latin I to refresh your memory in the sound of spoken Latin.

In the declension table below, an asterisk by the gender means that most nouns of that declension are of that gender with a few exceptions.

Try to assign the words below to their proper declension. Many of them have English cognates -- can you guess their meanings?
Answer Key (Opens in a new window)

Based on the form of the endings, what is the declension of each noun and what is the case -- or cases, in some instances -- that its form displays? Answer Key (Opens in a new window)

-- J. Jahnige, February 1999

^ Grammatica