Lesson 43 · Review
Fourteen nouns, every one of them an i-stem. The -ium printed after each entry is the genitive plural, and it is there to mark the word as belonging to this family.
The genitive plural of mare is not in use — the word has the whole rest of its plural, but not that one form.
hostis is an enemy in war. Keep it apart from inimīcus, which is a personal enemy, someone who simply dislikes you.
An urbs is larger than an oppidum. And fīnis in the singular is an end or limit; in the plural, fīnēs is a people's territory — the land inside its boundaries.
The English word in parentheses is a derivative: avis gives aviation, ignis ignite, nāvis naval, urbs suburb.
You cannot decline a third-declension noun correctly until you know which half of the declension it belongs to. Three tests settle the masculines and feminines; one settles the neuters.
A noun in -ēs or -īs is an i-stem if its genitive has the same number of syllables as its nominative.
caedēs, caedis — two syllables and two, so an i-stem. But mīles, mīlitis — two syllables and three, so a consonant stem, and its genitive plural is mīlitum, not mīlitium.
Any noun whose nominative ends in these two letters is an i-stem.
cliēns, clientis is the lesson's example: genitive plural clientium.
A monosyllable qualifies only if a consonant stands before that final -s or -x.
urbs is one syllable and its -s follows the consonant b: an i-stem, genitive plural urbium.
A third-declension neuter is an i-stem if its nominative ends in -e, -al, or -ar.
mare, īnsigne; animal; calcar. Compare the consonant-stem neuters of the last lesson — flūmen, tempus, opus, caput — none of which ends in any of those three ways.
Almost everything is the same. The differences are few enough to count on the fingers of one hand — and they are exactly where the i of the stem survives.
The genitive plural is -ium, and the accusative plural is -īs or -ēs, either being good Latin.
hostium and hostīs (or hostēs) against the consonant-stem mīlitum and mīlitēs. Everywhere else the two halves of the declension run letter for letter together.
The ablative singular ends in -ī, not -e; and an -i- appears in every form of the plural.
animālī, and then animālia, animālium, animālibus, animālia, animālibus — the i is in all five.
Four nominatives shaped four different ways — -ēs, -is, a monosyllable, an -ns — and below them one identical set of endings.
| caedēs, f. slaughter | hostis, m. enemy | urbs, f. city | cliēns, m. retainer | Terminations M. and F. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stem | caedi- | hosti- | urbi- | clienti- | |
| Base | caed- | host- | urb- | client- | |
| Nom. sg. | caedēs | hostis | urbs | cliēns | -s, -is, -ēs |
| Gen. | caedis | hostis | urbis | clientis | -is |
| Dat. | caedī | hostī | urbī | clientī | -ī |
| Acc. | caedem | hostem | urbem | clientem | -em (-im) |
| Abl. | caede | hoste | urbe | cliente | -e (-ī) |
| Nom. pl. | caedēs | hostēs | urbēs | clientēs | -ēs |
| Gen. | caedium | hostium | urbium | clientium | -ium |
| Dat. | caedibus | hostibus | urbibus | clientibus | -ibus |
| Acc. | caedīs, -ēs | hostīs, -ēs | urbīs, -ēs | clientīs, -ēs | -īs, -ēs |
| Abl. | caedibus | hostibus | urbibus | clientibus | -ibus |
The vowel before -ns is long, but it is shortened before -nt. Hence the nominative cliēns with a long ē, and the genitive clientis with a short one — the same vowel, in the same word.
avis, cīvis, fīnis, ignis and nāvis may take the ablative singular in -ī as well as in -e. That is the parenthesis (-ī) in the last column.
turris goes further still: accusative singular turrim, ablative singular turrī or turre. That is the parenthesis (-im).
Three nominative shapes — -e, -al, -ar — and one declension. The old neuter law still holds: nominative and accusative are alike, and in the plural both end in -a.
| īnsigne, n. decoration | animal, n. animal | calcar, n. spur | Terminations Neuter | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stem | īnsigni- | animāli- | calcāri- | |
| Base | īnsign- | animāl- | calcār- | |
| Nom. sg. | īnsigne | animal | calcar | -e or — |
| Gen. | īnsignis | animālis | calcāris | -is |
| Dat. | īnsignī | animālī | calcārī | -ī |
| Acc. | īnsigne | animal | calcar | -e or — |
| Abl. | īnsignī | animālī | calcārī | -ī |
| Nom. pl. | īnsignia | animālia | calcāria | -ia |
| Gen. | īnsignium | animālium | calcārium | -ium |
| Dat. | īnsignibus | animālibus | calcāribus | -ibus |
| Acc. | īnsignia | animālia | calcāria | -ia |
| Abl. | īnsignibus | animālibus | calcāribus | -ibus |
The final -i- of the stem is usually dropped in the nominative; if it is not dropped, it is changed to -e. So animāli- and calcāri- drop it, while īnsigni- turns it into īnsigne.
A long vowel is shortened before a final -l or -r. That is why the stem animāli- gives the nominative animal with a short a, and calcāri- gives calcar — while the long vowel returns the moment an ending follows: animālis, calcāris.
Every neuter plural above has its i back in all five forms: -ia, -ium, -ibus, -ia, -ibus.
Six out of six before you start the exercises.
Question 1
caedēs, caedis is an i-stem; mīles, mīlitis is not. What separates them?
Right. Count them: cae-dēs, cae-dis — two and two, so an i-stem, genitive plural caedium. But mī-les, mī-li-tis — two and three, so a consonant stem, genitive plural mīlitum. Gender has nothing to do with it: hostis is masculine and feminine both, and is an i-stem all the same.
Not quite — the test for nouns in -ēs and -īs is not about gender or vowel length. Say each nominative and its genitive aloud and count something.
Question 2
urbs has one syllable and urbis has two — the syllable test fails. Why is urbs an i-stem anyway?
Right. There are three tests for masculines and feminines, and a noun needs to satisfy only one. urbs is a monosyllable whose final -s stands after the consonant b, so it belongs to the family: genitive plural urbium. The same rule catches monosyllables in -x after a consonant. Option a names a real test, but urbs ends in -bs, not -rs; cliēns is the noun that passes by that route.
Not quite — the syllable test is only the first of three. Look at what kind of letter stands immediately before the final -s of this one-syllable word.
Question 3
Of mare, flūmen and tempus, which is a neuter i-stem?
Right. The neuter test is read straight off the nominative, and only three endings qualify: -e (mare, īnsigne), -al (animal), -ar (calcar). flūmen and tempus are the consonant-stem neuters of the last lesson, with genitive plurals flūminum and temporum — no i anywhere. The i in the base flūmin- is part of the base, not the mark of an i-stem.
Not quite — the neuter test needs nothing but the nominative singular, and it admits exactly three endings. Which of these three words ends in one of them?
Question 4
What are the ablative singular and the nominative plural of animal?
Right. These are precisely the two places a neuter i-stem parts company with a consonant stem: the ablative singular is -ī where flūmine has -e, and an -i- runs through every form of the plural — animālia, animālium, animālibus, animālia, animālibus. Option c forgets that this is a neuter: a neuter nominative plural always ends in -a, never -ēs.
Not quite — a neuter i-stem differs from a consonant stem in exactly two places. One is the ablative singular; the other runs through the whole plural. And remember what every neuter plural nominative must end in.
Question 5
Why is the nominative cliēns written with a long ē, but the genitive clientis with a short e?
Right. It is a rule about the letters that follow, not about the case. In the nominative the vowel stands before -ns and is long: cliēns. In every other form it stands before -nt and is short: clientis, clientem, clientium. Learn the pair together and the quantity looks after itself.
Not quite — compare the letters standing immediately after that vowel in the two forms. The nominative has -ns; what does the genitive have?
Question 6
Which pair of plural forms marks hostis as an i-stem rather than a consonant stem?
Right. A masculine or feminine i-stem betrays itself in two forms only: the genitive plural in -ium and the accusative plural in -īs or -ēs — either is correct Latin. Option c names forms that are identical in both halves of the declension (mīlitēs, mīlitibus) and so prove nothing. This is why the vocabulary prints (-ium) after each entry: it is the single form that tells you which paradigm to follow.
Not quite — pick the forms where an i-stem and a consonant stem actually disagree. Set hostis beside mīles and read down the plural.
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