Latin 201

Review Topics

I. Dictionary forms, declensions, and conjugations

Nouns:

All nouns give the same information in their dictionary form: nominative, genitive, and gender.  From this you know what declension (i.e. spelling group) the word is, and therefore what forms it will take.

First declension nouns all have genitives ending in -ae. 

• puella, -ae  f

Second declension nouns all have genitives ending in -i.  Any time you see this -i, you know you have a second declension noun with second declension forms!

• populus, -i  m  (the people) 

Adjectives:

First and second declension adjectives have a three part form that gives you the masculine, feminine, and neuter forms of the word.

• bonus, -a, -um (good)

Verbs

Verbs have a two-part dictionary form.

• ago, -ere (I do, I drive)

The combination of the first and second form give you the conjugation (spelling category) of the verb.  The chart gives the conjugation  and a sample of the dictionary form.  Note the changes in the endings that are unique to each conjugation.  (All conjugations are good for is telling you what vowel to use before the personal endings; see Verbs.

Other words do not have an extended form.  They don't go through the kinds of changes nouns, adjectives and verbs do.  Thank god!  ;-)

Nouns

All nouns give the same information in their dictionary form: nominative, genitive, and gender.  From this you know what declension (i.e. spelling group) the word is, and therefore what forms it will take.

First declension nouns all have genitives ending in -ae.  Any time you see this -ae genitive, you know you're dealing with a first declension noun that has first declension forms!!!

• terra, -ae  f  (land, earth)

• forma, -ae f (shape, form, beauty)

• familia, -ae f  (family, household)

Second declension nouns all have genitives ending in -i.  Any time you see this -i, you know you have a second declension noun with second declension forms!

• populus, -i  m  (the people)   

• locus, -i  m  (place)

• puer, pueri, m  (boy)

• liber, libri,  m  (book)

• templum, -i  n  (temple)

• caelum, -i  n  (sky)

Some second declension nouns end in -er, and sometimes the e stays in the stem (as with puer) and other times it doesn't (as in liber) -- that's why those forms are written out.

Also, with second declension nouns, you still have to determine if the word is masculine or neuter, because these forms are different in two cases (nom. & acc.).  To do this, just look at the first (nominative) form -- or the gender notation . . .

Third declension nouns all have genitives ending in -is. When you see the -is, you know your word is third declension and has third declension forms.  This stability is a good thing, because 3rd declension nominatives are so varied.

• civis, civis  c  (citizen)   

• miles, militis, m  (soldier)

• arbor, arboris  f  (tree)   

• flumen, fluminis  n  (river)

Since third declension nouns are so varied, there is no real pattern to show you which words are masculine, feminine, and neuter.  Only the gender notation shows you that. 

Practice: Sort the following words into first, second or third declension, based on their dictionary form.

Adjectives

There are two kinds of adjectives: (a) first-and-second declension adjectives, and (b) third declension adjectives. 1&2's are easy, but 3's are complex. 

First and second declension adjectives have a three part form that gives you the masculine, feminine, and neuter forms of the word.

• bonus, -a, -um (good)

• altus, -a, -um  (high, deep)

• pulcher, pulchra, pulchrum  (beautiful)

• miser, misera, miserum  (miserable, unfortunate)

Note that some 1&2 adjectives, (e.g. pulcher), have the -er ending for masculine, so you have to know whether the (e) stays (as in miser) or goes (as in pulcher) in the feminine & neuter forms --that's why those forms are written out.

Third declension adjectives have two main types.  Both have only two forms.

In the first type, the first form is masculine and feminine, the second in neuter.

• omnis, omne  (all)

• difficilis, difficile (difficult)

Since the first form is masculine and feminine, you would say (in the nominative)  puer fortis and puella fortis, and since the second form is neuter, you would say iter difficile.

In the second type, the first form is masculine, feminine, and neuter.  The second form is genitive.

• felix, felicis  (lucky)

• ingens, ingentis  (huge)

You can tell this form from the other one because the second form ends in -is -- just like a noun.  That makes you think you've got a nominative plus genitive form.  So for this one, you'd say vir ingens, femina ingens, and templum ingens.

You can tell it's not a noun because . . . no gender marker.  That's your only clue.

Practice: Sort the following adjectives into first-and-second, or third declension, by their dictionary form.

Verbs

Verbs have a two-part dictionary form.

Ex. ago, -ere (I do, I drive)

• ago means "I do" (present tense, first person singular)

• agere means "to do"  (present tense, infinitive)

• egi means "I did" (perfect tense, first person singular)

The combination of the first and second form give you the conjugation (spelling category) of the verb. 

Conjugations:

There are four (and a half) conjugations in Latin, plus some irregular verbs.  The four conjugations have easy-to-recognize clues in their dictionary forms which identify their conjugation.

• First: ambulo, -are (just a plain -o in the first person, and an -are in the infinitive)

• Second: habeo, -ere (an -eo in the first person, and an -ere in the infinitive -- if we were doing macrons, there would be a macron over the e.)

• Third: duco, -ere  (just a plain -o in the first person, and an -ere in the infinitive -- -- if we were doing macrons, there would be no macron over the e.)

• Third -io: facio, -ere (an -io in the first person, and an -ere in the infinitive -- -- if we were doing macrons, there would be no macron over the e.)

• Fourth: dormio, -ire (an -io in the first person, and an -ire in the infinitive)

The same information in chart form:

Practice: divide these verbs into their conjugations based on their dictionary forms.

Other Words

Other words do not have an extended dictionary form.  They do not go through the kinds of changes that nouns, adjectives and verbs do, so they don't need it.  You get all the information you need from one form, or (with prepositions) from the word itself and the case it goes with.

Ex:

• lente    (adverb; does not change)

• sed   (conjunction; does not change)

• ad + acc.  (preposition; does not change, but it's nice to know it takes the accusative case.)