Latin Nouns 2: The First Declension Noun, Part I

When you learn a Latin noun, you must learn four things about it.
You must learn its:
1. Nominative form
2. Genitive form
3. Gender (masculine, feminine or neuter, we'll discuss this later.) 
4. Meaning.

Take the Latin nouns puella, silva, urna,   for example.   When you
learn this noun, you need to learn these four things:
 
Nominative singular form puella
silva
urna
Genitive singular form puellae
silvae
urnae
Gender feminine
feminine
feminine
Meaning girl
forest
water jar
 
Latin nouns can be grouped into five classes. These classes are called declensions. Notice that the underlined last letters of the Latin words (puellae, silvae, urnae) are alike. Latin nouns are grouped into these five declensions according to what set of endings (the underlined part of the word) they have in common. If the ending of a noun in its genitive singular form is ae, the noun belongs to the 1st declension.
 

Q1. All Latin nouns are grouped into five _____________ (one word, lower case.)  

Q2. What two forms of a Latin noun must you learn?
Write the answer in this form first answer and second answer. Do not use word form. Be careful with your spelling. Do not use extra spaces or periods!   

Q3. How many declensions are there? (one word, lower case.)  
Q3. What is the ending of the genitive singular form of a noun in the first declension? (Just give the letters of this ending in lower case.)  
Q4. From looking at the three words I have given you above, you can see that
the gender of nearly all the words of the first declension is:
A Masculine      B Feminine      C Neuter
Just type the upper-case letter of your answer. 		 
Q5. What form of a noun is used to define what declension a Latin noun belongs to? (two words, lower case.)  
Q6. What part of a sentence is used to name a person or thing in the sentence? (one word, lower case.)  
Q7. Another 1st declension word is terra, which means land.Based on the patterns you can see above, what is its genitive singular form? (one word, lower case.)  

Q8.  Another 1st declension word is patria, which means fatherland or country.Based on the patterns you can see above, what is its genitive singular form? (one word, lower case.)  
Q9. Now consider the genitive singular filiae which, as we shall see later, means of/from the daughter . Based on the patterns you can see above, what is its nominative singular form? (one word, lower case.)  
Q10.  Now consider the genitive singular formae which, as we shall see later, means of/from the shape . Based on the patterns you can see above, what is its nominative singular form? (one word, lower case.)  
Q11. What is the ending of the genitive singular form of a noun in the first declension? (Just give the letters of this ending in lower case.)  
Q12. Looking at all the first declension nouns we have learned so far, what do you think is the usual nominative singular ending?Just type the single, lower case letter.   
Q13. The gender of nearly all the words of the first declension is:
A Masculine     B Feminine     C Neuter 
Just type the upper-case letter of your answer.  		 

Below are the four first declension nouns I introduced in the
questions above, plus  two new ones.
 
Nom. sing
 filia
forma
patria
terra
agricola
nauta
Gen. sing
filiae
formae
patria
terrae
agricolae
nautae
Gender
fem.
fem.
fem.
fem.
masculine
masculine
Meaning
daughter
shape or 
form
country or 
fatherland
land
farmer
sailor
Q14. Looking at the chart above, can you see that there are some first declension
words (although only a few few) that can be masculine in gender?
Write yes or no. (one word, lower case.) 

Q15. Now here is a little vocabulary drill. Click on the button and then
type in a one definition for it. Use the definitions I have given you.
Use only lower case letters. Good luck!
 
Yes, I know I did not give you poeta, but if you look closely,
  you can see the 4 letter word in English that comes from it.
 Further, many Latin names, mostly of females, but some of males, as well as
of cities or countries (in green below) are also 1st declension : 
Anna,  Catalina, Claudia, Cornelia, Fulvia,Germania, Italia, Livia,  Maria, Marcella, Roma, Sicilia, Sophia,  Sulla.
Q16. These names form according to exactly the same patterns as other first declension nouns. What then is the genitive singular of Anna? (Make sure you capitalize first letter of name. 
Q17. What then is the genitive singular of Roma? 
Q18. Above (Q10) you figured  out the nominative singular of  formae. Using the same method, give the nominative singular of Graeciae.
Q19.What modern country do you think corresponds to Italia? (Pronounce word to yourself, then give the five letter name of the modern country. 
Q20. What is the genitive singular first declension ending? (Just give the letters in lower case.) 
 
 


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