While nouns serve the same functions in Latin, they appear in different forms because Latin is a highly inflected language. Remember the video on Latin sentence structure: this means that the endings of Latin nouns and verbs (not their position in the sentence) indicate what their functions are.
The set of endings for a noun is called a declension. In Latin, every noun (or accompanying adjective) is defined by its gender, case, and declension. Gender is used to match nouns with adjectives, and the case of a noun determines its function in the sentence. There are five
declensions, plus:
three genders: masculine, feminine, neuter; and
six cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, ablative, and vocative.
You'll gain a sense for how these different parts of nouns work together. For now, let's start with..
Gender
Gender is something that you pick up as you learn vocabulary. At first, it's a nice trick to think that most 1st Declension nouns are feminine and most 2nd Declension nouns are masculine - but before long, you'll notice that not all the endings look the same for the same gender. This means that a feminine adjective and the feminine noun that it modifies will often have mis-matched endings. For this reason, you have to know the gender of the nouns to know which adjectives they're paired with.
For this reason, gender requires a lot of memorization. As you learn new words, you'll probably have to keep looking up the words before you really remember the gender. But like I said, this is something you'll gain over time as you practice your reading comprehension in Lingua Latina. For now, we're building a foundation for memorizing tables: note the patterns that you see within genders as you learn your tables. Often, this will be enough to keep you from having to look it up.
Alright, so now that we know all about gender, it's time to tackle...
Case
Case is what tells you the function of a noun. You remember the Direct Object and the Indirect Object: there are Latin cases that perform the same functions. Watch this video for an introduction:
Case is something that you become familiar with as you practice tables and that you master as you practice reading comprehension. It can be difficult to remember what each means, though, especially at first. Keep this handout as a reference:
summary of cases. I also recommend looking over Chapter 2 of
Wheelock's Latin if you're unclear on cases or need a review. For now, here's a brief summary of the cases and their functions:
Nominative: Mostly used to indicate the subject of the verb, or to rename/modify the subject (for example, "Canis est fessus," from the video).
Genitive: Mostly used to indicate possession.
Dative: Mostly used to indicate the indirect object of a verb.
Accusative: Mostly used to indicate the direct object of a verb, or as the object of a preposition in some cases.
Ablative: Used to modify the verb, typically by:
- Means ("by what")
- Agent ("by whom")
- Accompaniment ("with whom")
- Manner ("how")
- Place ("where;" "from which")
- Time ("when;" "within which")
The ablative is also often accompanied by a preposition, which can make this case easier to differentiate from the dative.
Vocative: Used to directly address a person or thing. You'll notice that this case is mostly excluded from the tables that you'll be memorizing. This is because the vocative almost always takes the form of the nominative - except when the second declension singular is used.
These endings are what you'll be memorizing with the tables in Dowling's Wheel. Because Wheelock uses the American ordering for the cases, the Wheel program does as well. This is important to remember when using
Lingua Latina, since the tables in its index use the English ordering. I'll be using the American ordering, like the Wheel does (N-G-D-A-A).
Now, the other half of the equation is...
Declension
You'll notice he only mentions the first three declensions in this video. Remember that we're introductory right now; this information is plenty for starting your memorization. As you memorize your tables, you'll become more familiar with the different declensions. That's when you should tackle the more detailed information that I've listed below.
Remember, it's important not to overload yourself with too much information at once! Take it slow, spend a week or more on this post if you need to, and come back later to pick up the details.
So, when you want more information on patterns and irregularities within declensions, check out these handouts: 1st Declension | 2nd Declension | 3rd Declension | 4th Declension | 5th Declension.
If you like the videos from Latin Tutorial, be sure to check these out as well: 1st Declension | 2nd Declension | 2nd Declension Neuter | 3rd Declension | 3rd Declension Neuter | 4th Declension | 5th Declension.
Wrapping Up
This may sound like a lot to take in at once, but take a look the table below (it's from Wheelock's). Almost all Latin nouns will use the endings on this table, and as you study them, you'll start to see patterns that make the system even simpler. It's true that there are irregularities, but for the most part Latin follows its rules. For now, all we need to do for nouns is memorize the endings shown here.
Don't be discouraged if you're having difficulties taking in all this information. Nouns are considered to be one of the most difficult aspects of learning Latin: it can be difficult to know a noun's gender based on its ending, and it's often difficult to determine the exact function of a noun in a complex sentence. Just keep at your repetitions. The more familiar you become with the forms, the easier it will be to understand and remember the details. And just think, you're mastering one of the most difficult parts of the Latin language!
Further Reading: If you'd like to read about nouns in Wheelock's, see Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 7, Chapter 14, Chapter 20, and Chapter 22. Ignore all of the extra topics beyond the basic information; we'll cover everything eventually with Lingua Latina, so there's no point overloading at this point. If you'd like to download the whole book as a PDF (with bookmarks), go to the "Wheelock's Latin" link listed under "Tools" above.
UP NEXT: Adjectives and Pronouns.
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