35 Nominative, Genitive, and Accusative Plural
“Today we will switch from singular to Plural Noun Forms. These are distinguished from singular forms by special endings, just as plural forms are in English. English plurals often end with ‘s’, but other small changes can occur (for example: life, lives).”
“Latin plurals for the Nominative, Genitive, and Accusative are also formed by adding different endings to the stem.” In the air she sketched this chart for me:
Plural Endings, Nominative, Genitive, Accusative (A)
1st2nd3rd3rd I-Stem4th5th Nominative (subj./pred.)aeīēsēsūsēs Genitive (‘of’)ārumōrumumiumuumērum Dative (‘to/for’)
Accusative (obj.)āsōsēsīs/ēsūsēs Ablative
“Note the following about these endings:”
“4th, 5th, and regular 3rd declension nouns have the same nominative and accusative plurals.” What’s the difference between regular 3rd declension nouns and I-Stem ones?
“There are some 3rd declension nouns that display a letter ī in the accusative plural and add an i to the genitive plural. These are called I-Stem nouns. Of the nouns you have learned so far, the following are I-Stems. What do they have in common? Look at the letters in the stems:”
3rd declension I-Stem Nouns, Examples (B)
mors, mort-isf.death
urbs, urb-isf.city
gēns, gent-isf.family line; nation mēns, ment-isf.mind, will
ars, art-isf.art
pars, part-isf.part
fīnis, fīn-ism.end; goal; plural, territory
“Notice how most have rt, nt, or rb at the end of the stem. Having those consonants together there marks an I-Stem. As for fīnis, notice that it has the SAME FORM in the nominative and the genitive singular. That is another feature that tells you have an I-Stem 3rd declension noun.”
“For each noun you now know eight forms.”
1st declension
viaviaeroad (subj./pred.)roads (subj./pred.)
viaeviārumof the roadof the roads
viaeto/for the road
viamviāsroad (obj.)roads (obj.)
viāprep. + road
2nd declension
deusdīgod (subj./pred.)gods (subj./pred.)
deīdeōrumof the godof the gods
deōto/for the god
deumdeōsgod (obj.)gods (obj.)
deōprep. + god
“dī is irregular.”
3rd declension
vōxvōcēsvoice (subj./pred.)voices (subj/pred.)
vōcisvōcumof the voiceof the voices
vōcīto/for the voice
vōcemvōcēsvoice (obj.)voices (obj.)
vōceprep. + voice
3rd declension I-Stem
morsmortēsdeath (subj./pred.)deaths (subj/pred.) mortismortiumof deathof deaths
mortīto/for death
mortemmortīs/ēsdeath (obj.)deaths (obj.) morteprep. + voice
4th declension
manusmanūshand (subj./pred.)hands (subj./pred.) manūsmanuumof the handof the hands manuīto/for the hand
manummanūshand (obj.)hands (obj.)
manūprep. + hand
5th declension
diēsdiēsday (subj/pred.)days (subj./pred.)
diēīdiērumof the dayof the days
diēīto/for the day
diemdiēsday (obj.)days (obj.)
diēprep. + day
“Complete your declensions and translations of these five nouns, which you started yesterday, and add ‘art’ too, an I-Stem.”
lifefriendkingartSenatehope (C)
“Now try these sentences.”
“TODAY, WRITE THE MARKED-UP AND FINAL VERSION OF EACH SENTENCE.”
The nature of things is a mother: you, father, teach thus. (1)
You will be strong when the end of the night will remove (re-moveō) the pains of love. (2)
The arts of love see the causes of the passions. (3). “Animus in the plural means ‘passions’.”
Without reason or (aut) cause the kings were ordering them to prepare the men for (ad) death. (4)
Mūtā iam tuam mentem, Catilīna. Vōcēs cōnsulum tē iubent. (5)
Tē ratiō ā furōre revocābit. (6)“The prefix re added to vocō means ‘back’: ‘call back’.”
Nīl mors est ad nōs. (7)
Tū, pater, es rērum inventor. (8)
Epicūrus nōs hominēs bene cōgitāre dē vītae fīne docēbat. (9)