Latin Nouns

Nouns, from the Latin nōmen or 'name,' are one of the fundamental parts of speech and give a 'name' to identify common nouns, proper nouns, and abstract and concrete nouns. In English, nouns are fairly straightforward; for most nouns, to make them plural, you simply have to add an 's' to the end.

Since Latin is a highly inflected language, nouns do a lot more 'work' than English nouns, and they are inflected to give the reader different clues as to the noun's gender, number, and role in the sentence. Thus, Latin nouns decline into different forms to show this information, and the different forms that the noun takes are called cases.

When working with Latin documents, it is essential to have a basic understanding of noun declensions and cases; otherwise, it is very easy to misinterpret documents and get lost in sentences. This page is designed to be a basic guide to noun cases, different kinds of noun declensions, and pronouns. Please note, however, that this is a brief introduction and may not cover all the different uses for the cases. For a more in-depth explanation of Latin grammar, Wheelock's Latin by Frederic M. Wheelock and Richard A. LaFleur is an excellent resource. For further help and paradigms, you can also visit Cactus 2000: Latin Nouns.

Noun Gender

In Latin, all nouns have a grammatical gender and are classified as masculine, feminine, or neuter.

Noun Cases

In Latin, nouns can take six different cases, and some proper nouns can take a seventh. These are called nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, ablative, vocative, and locative. Each case gives the noun a specific role in the sentence.

Nominative: this is the most commonly used case and shows the subject of the sentence; in other words, it shows who is doing the action. It is also used in equative sentences, which describe attributes of a given noun (see the last two examples).

• “Discipulus legit librum.” The student is reading a book.
• “Marcus et Albertus librōs antīquōs legent.” Mark and Albert read old books.
• “Ego sum lætus.” I am happy.
• “Matthæus et Iohannes sunt apostolī.” Matthew and John are apostles.

Genitive: the genitive case shows possession. English still has a form of this when we add the /'s/ or /s'/ at the end of a noun, like in "Mike's shoes." However, in Latin, this is best translated as "the shoes of Mike."

• “Discipulus legit librum puerī.” The student reads the boy’s book.
• "Diē ūndecimā iānuāriī." On the eleventh day of January.

Dative: this case marks the indirect object of a sentence; in other words, it often references what the action was done to or for. Notice that word order for dative case is quite different in Latin than it usually is in English.

• “Puer puellæ rosam dat.” The boy gives a rose to the girl.
• “Poēta carminum urbī cantat.” The poet sings a song for the city.

Accusative: the accusative case shows the direct object of the verb or the person or thing being acted upon.

• “Discipulus legit librum.” The student is reading a book.
• "Puer puellæ rosam dat.” The boy gives a rose to the girl.

Ablative: this case tends to be the 'catch-all case,' expressing many ideas. In general, it is used to limit or modify the verb with concepts like means (by or with), agent (whom), company (with whom), manner (with what or how), place (where or from where), and time (when). The ablative is often preceded by a preposition like 'by' or 'with' that helps clarify what its function is in that instance.

• "Diē ūndecimā iānuāriī." On the eleventh day of January.

Vocative: This case is used to call (vocāre or 'to call') or address someone or something directly. This is often combined with an interjection like 'hey,' 'oh,' or 'ugh.' It is not used as frequently as other cases.

• “О̄ puella! tu valdē bella es!” Oh girl! You are very beautiful!
• “О̄ Domine, quī in cælī habitās...” Oh Lord, who dwellest in the heavens...

Locative: the locative case is not used with all nouns, and only specific nouns have it; nearly all are place names or tangible locations like Roma (Rome) or Domus (house). The locative looks just like the genitive case, but it is used to show the 'place where' or the location of an action. The locative case causes some other changes to the nouns that allow them to show the 'place to which' and the 'place from which' without using a preposition.

• “Puer librōs domī legit.” The boy reads books at home.
• “Fēmina Novī Eborācī habitat.” The woman lives in New York.

Declensions

Along with the aforementioned cases, nouns belong to different classes or declensions, which determine the endings used to make the noun reflect different cases. It is important to be aware of these declensions as they affect the gender of the nouns and the way the cases look. In Latin, there are five declensions.

First Declension

An example of a first declension noun is the word aqua (genitive: aquæ). In the dictionary, they will always end with -a, -æ and are always feminine, the only exceptions being occupations like nauta 'sailor,' agricola 'farmer,' and poēta 'poet.' Below is the paradigm for this declension and the noun aqua as an example for reference:

Second Declension

Second declension nouns are also very regular and are either masculine or neuter. There are two main kinds of masculine constructions: -us, -ī like in fīlius, fīlī ('son'), and -er, -rī like in liber, librī ('book'). The second declension also has a neuter construction: -um, -ī like in dōnum, dōnī ('gift'). Here are the paradigms for a few second declension nouns:

Third Declension

Third declension nouns are the most common type of nouns in the Latin language and are, unfortunately, a bit tricky tp identify and decline, since the nominative form can take any shape. Nouns in this declension can also be any gender. Fortunately, while the nominative form can be unpredictable, the other cases are quite regular. This is one of the reasons that it is important for dictionaries to include both the nominative and genitive cases in the entry of a noun; having both as a reference can make the noun easier to identify. Below are the paradigms for several examples of the third declension:

Fourth and Fifth Declensions

There are not many words that use the fourth or fifth declensions. However, this does not mean that they are not important, as they contain some commonly used words such as manus ('hand'), domus ('house'), diēs ('day'), and rēs ('thing'). Fourth declension nouns tend to be masculine but can also be feminine—ending in -us or -ūs—and neuter, ending in -ū, -ūs. Fifth declension nouns are always feminine, with the singular exception of diēs ('day').
Below are the paradigms for fourth and fifth declension examples:

Prepositions

Another important aspect of Latin nouns is how prepositions interact with them. Many prepositions are selective about what noun case they will pair with. For example, the preposition dē (from, of) will only take a noun in the ablative case.

There are some prepositions that can take more than one kind of case. If a preposition does, then the meaning will change depending on the case it pairs with. A good example is the preposition in which can take the accusative or the ablative case. For example:

When in takes the accusative case, it gives the meaning of 'into,' 'towards,' or of moving from one domain the another. For example, in hōram means from one hour moving into the next hour.

On the other hand, when in takes the ablative case, it gives the meaning of being 'in,' or 'during.' For example, in hōrā means within the same hour.

With this in mind, pay attention to what cases prepositions attach to, as it can change the meaning of the sentence you are attempting to translate. Cactus 2000 has a handy chart that lists common prepositions and what cases they take on their Preposition page.

• Illumiation 1: Master of the Codex Manesse, Codex Manesse 362r, Rudolf der Schreiber, 1305-1315, in Codex Manesse (Zürich, 1305-1315). Cod. Pal. germ. 848, fol. 362r. This image is in the public domain.
• Illumination 2: Limbourg brothers, Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry Folio 9v September, 1412-1440, in Limbourg brothers, Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry, Ms.65, f.9v.