Lesson 9 · Review
Read through the vocabulary and the rules, then test yourself below. Answer in your head before you click.
Thirteen new nouns and two new verbs. Most nouns belong to the new second declension — masculine in -us, neuter in -um; cōnstantia is a first-declension feminine. Say each aloud; the English derivatives in parentheses help fix the meaning.
How the genitive singular fixes a noun's declension, why -um nouns are neuter and -us nouns masculine, the one vocative that breaks the rule, and how a predicate noun takes its case from the subject. Two models carry the paradigm: dominus, "master," and pīlum, "spear."
Latin has five declensions, and a noun's declension is shown by the ending of its genitive singular — not its nominative. So always learn a noun's genitive (and its gender) alongside the nominative. The second declension's genitive singular ends in -ī.
dominus, dominī, m. (gen. -ī → 2nd decl.); domina, dominae, f. (gen. -ae → 1st decl.).
The nominative singular of an O-declension noun ends in -us (or -er, -ir) or in -um; the genitive singular ends in -ī. The base is found by dropping that -ī: dominī → domin-, pīlī → pīl-.
Singular: dominus · dominī · dominō · dominum · dominō (voc. domine). Plural: dominī · dominōrum · dominīs · dominōs · dominīs.
Nouns in -um are neuter; the others are regularly masculine. For every neuter noun the nominative and accusative are alike, and in the plural they end in -a.
pīlum (n.): nom.=acc. sg. pīlum; nom.=acc. pl. pīla. So is oppidum → oppida, bellum → bella.
The vocative is normally just like the nominative. The great exception: the vocative singular of an -us noun ends in -e. (Neuters in -um keep the nominative form.)
dominus → domine, "O master"; servus → serve, "O slave"; Mārcus → Mārce, "Marcus!"
A noun joined to the subject by the copula (est, sunt) to define it is a predicate noun, and it agrees in case with the subject — so it stands in the nominative, never the accusative, even though English puts it after "is."
Sextus est lēgātus, "Sextus is a lieutenant" — both Sextus and lēgātus are nominative.
Pick an answer; wrong picks turn red and you may try again. Six out of six before you start the exercises.
Question 1
What tells you which declension a noun belongs to?
Right. Rule 1 — a noun's declension is shown by the genitive singular ending, which is why you learn the genitive (and gender) with the nominative. The second declension's genitive ends in -ī (dominī, pīlī); the first declension's in -ae (dominae).
Not quite — the nominative alone can mislead. Which form does Rule 1 call the giveaway?
Question 2
A second-declension noun whose nominative singular ends in -um is what gender?
Right. Nouns in -um are neuter (bellum, pīlum, oppidum, frūmentum); those in -us are regularly masculine (Rule 3).
Not quite — look at Rule 3. The ending -um always marks one particular gender.
Question 3
You call out to your master. What is the vocative singular of dominus?
Right. The vocative singular of an -us noun ends in -e: dominus → domine, servus → serve, Mārcus → Mārce. This is the one great exception to "the vocative is like the nominative" (Rule 4).
Not quite — calling out to a -us noun changes its ending. Recall the vocative exception in Rule 4.
Question 4
Pīlum ("spear") is neuter. What is its nominative and accusative plural?
Right. In a neuter noun the nominative and accusative are alike, and in the plural they end in -a: pīlum → pīla (Rule 3). The forms pīlī and pīlōs belong to masculine -us nouns.
Not quite — pīlum is neuter, and neuter plurals share one special ending. Which one?
Question 5
In Sextus est lēgātus ("Sextus is a lieutenant"), why is lēgātus nominative rather than accusative?
Right. Joined to the subject by est, lēgātus is a predicate noun and agrees in case with the subject (Rule 5). Sextus is nominative, so lēgātus is too — the copula takes no object.
Not quite — est doesn't take an object. What case must a word linked to the subject share? See Rule 5.
Question 6
Which statement about a neuter noun like oppidum is true?
Right. For every neuter noun the nominative and accusative are identical, and in the plural they end in -a: oppidum → oppida (Rule 3). The -e vocative and the -us nominative belong only to masculine -us nouns.
Not quite — two of these describe masculine -us nouns. Which one is the neuter rule?
Answered correctly: 0 / 6