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The Vocative Case

This case is used only for direct address.

Son, put down that hammer.

Son would take the vocative case.

Latin also retains the vestiges of another case, the locative, used, as its name suggests, to express location. It is found only for nouns denoting the names of cities, towns, islands, and for the expressions `àt home'' and `ìn the country.'

As stated before, these are merely introductory descriptions. Case usages will be explained in the sections dealing with noun syntax.

Exercise

1. Identify which case each noun in the following sentence would take in Latin.

Mom, I gave the goat's milk to Douglas with my own hands.

1. Mom

_____________

2. I

_____________

3. goat's

_____________

4. milk

_____________

5. Douglas

_____________

6. hands

_____________

Declension

A declension is a system of endings used to express the different cases described above.

There are ®ve different declensions of Latin nouns, though any given noun belongs to only one.

THE FIRST DECLENSION

Here are some sample nouns of the ®rst declension:

puella, puellae, f.

girl

agricola, agricolae, m.

farmer

meÅnsa, meÅnsae, f.

table

CHAPTER 1 The Noun

5

Given above (in order) are the nominative singular, the genitive singular, the gender, and the meaning. This is the standard format found in dictionaries and textbooks.

The genitive form tells you what declension a noun belongs to and provides the stem for generating all the other case forms. As stated above, a declension is a system of endings for a noun to express case.

All ®rst-declension nouns have the ending -ae in the genitive singular. The endings for the rest of the declension are as follows: Singular

Plural

Nominative

-a

-aÅe

Genitive

-ae

-aÅrum

Dative

-ae

-õÅs

Accusative

-am

-aÅs

Ablative

-aÅ

-õÅs

Vocative

-a

-ae

To decline a noun of the ®rst declension, that is, to generate all of its possible case forms, these endings are added to the noun's stem. The stem is obtained by removing the ending -ae from the noun's genitive singular form.

For the noun agricola, agricolae, m., therefore, the stem is agricol-. It declines as follows:

Singular

Translation

Nominative=vocative2

agricola

a farmer (subject)

Genitive

agricolae

of a farmer, a farmer's

Dative

agricolae

to=for a farmer

Accusative

agricolam

a farmer (direct object)

Ablative

agricolaÅ

from=with=in=by a farmer

Plural

Translation

Nominative=vocative

agricolae

farmers (subject)

Genitive

agricolaÅrum

of farmers, farmers'

Dative

agricolõÅs

to=for farmers

Accusative

agricolaÅs

farmers (direct object)

Ablative

agricolõÅs

from=with=in=by farmers

Nouns of the ®rst declension are predominantly feminine. The exceptions are those nouns that denote masculine agents. There are no neuter nouns in the ®rst declension.

2 With the exception of certain second-declension nouns, the nominative and vocative cases are identical and will be listed together. The locative singular for the ®rst declension ends in -ae; the plural ends in -õÅs: RoÅmae, at Rome; AtheÅnõÅs, at Athens.

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CHAPTER 1 The Noun

Some more sample ®rst-declension nouns:

aqua, aquae, f.

water

poeÅta, poeÅta, m.

poet

terra, terrae, f.

land

fõÅlia, fõÅliae, f.

daughter

luÅna, luÅnae, f.

moon

nauta, nautae, m.

sailor

luxuria, luxuriae, f.

luxury

feÅmina, feÅminae, f.

woman

amõÅcitia, amõÅcitiae, f.

friendship

pecuÅnia, pecuÅniae, f.

money

avaÅritia, avaÅritiae, f.

avarice

õÅnsula, õÅnsulae, f.

island

Exercises

2. Fully decline the noun aqua, aquae, f.

Singular

Plural

Nominative=vocative

_____________

_____________

Genitive

_____________

_____________

Dative

_____________

_____________

Accusative

_____________

_____________

Ablative

_____________

_____________

3. Change the following from singular to plural. (If there are two possibilities, give both.)

1. puellam

_____________

2. meÅnsae

_____________

3. poeÅta

_____________

4. terraÅ

_____________