12/31/92

                              CHAPTER 7

                      "Third Declension: Nouns"

     The third declension is generally considered to be a "pons
asinorum" of Latin grammar.  But I disagree.  The third
declension, aside for presenting you a new list of case endings
to memorize, really involves no new grammatical principles you've
haven't already been working with.  I'll take you through it
slowly, but most of this guide is actually going to be review.


CASE ENDINGS

The third declension has nouns of all three genders in it.
Unlike the first and second declensions, where the majority of
nouns are either feminine or masculine, the genders of the third
declension are equally divided.  So you really must pay attention
to the gender markings in the dictionary entries for third
declension nouns.  The case endings for masculine and feminine
nouns are identical.  The case endings for neuter nouns are also
of the same type as the feminine and masculine nouns, except for
where neuter nouns follow their peculiar rules:

     (1)   the nominative and the accusative forms are always the
           same, and
     (2)   the nominative and accusative plural case endings are
           short "-a-".

You may remember that the second declension neuter nouns have
forms that are almost the same as the masculine nouns -- except
for these two rules.  In other words, there is really only one
pattern of endings for third declension nouns, whether the nouns
are masculine, feminine, or neuter.  It's just that neuter nouns
have a peculiarity about them.  So here are the third declension
case endings.  Notice that the separate column for neuter nouns
is not really necessary, if you remember the rules of neuter
nouns.

                       Masculine/Feminine    Neuter

                N/V.       ----------      ----------
                Gen.          -is              -is
                Dat.          -i               -i
                Acc.          -em              (same as nom.)
                Abl.          -e               -e

                N\V.          -es              -a
                Gen.          -um              -um
                Dat.          -ibus            -ibus
                Acc.          -es              -a
                Abl.          -ibus            -ibus

Now let's go over some of the "hot spots" on this list.  The
nominative singular is left blank because there are so many
different possible nominative forms for third declension nouns
that it would take half a page to list them all.  You needn't
fret over this though, because the dictionary's first entry for a
noun is the nominative singular.  You'll have to do a little more
memorization with third declension nouns because you simply can't
assume that it'll have a certain form in the nominative just
because it's third declension -- as you could with first
declension nouns, where they all end in "-a" in the nominative.

     The same is true for neuter nouns in the nominative singular
-- although the possible forms for neuter nominative singulars is
much more limited.  It's just not worth the effort to memorize
them.  And remember, the accusative form of neuter nouns will be
exactly the form of the nominative, so there's a blank in the
accusative slot for neuter nouns.  It'll be whatever the
nominative is.



STEMS OF THIRD DECLENSION NOUNS

One very distinctive characteristic of nouns of the third
declension is that nearly all of them are stem-changing nouns.
But the concept of stem-changing nouns is not new for you.
You've already worked with it in the second declension with nouns
ending in "-er" in the nominative.  Look at this entry for a
second declension noun:  "ager, agri (m)".  The first entry for a
noun is the nominative singular, the second is the genitive where
you learn two things: (1) the declension of the noun (by looking
at the genitive ending), and (2) whether there is a stem change
from the nominative to the other cases.  In this instance we
learn that "ager" is a second declension noun -- because the
genitive ending is "-i" -- and that there is a stem change.  The
stem of noun is "agr-", so it'll decline like this:

           N/V.      ager                 N/V.       agri
           Gen.      agri                 Gen.       agrorum
           Dat.      agro                 Dat.       agris
           Acc.      agrum                Acc.       agros
           Abl.      agro                 Abl.       agris

Now look at an example entry for a third declension noun: "rex,
regis (m)".  Use your experience with second declension "-er"
type masculine nouns to draw out all the important information
you need about this noun.  What's its stem?  Now decline it.

N/V.       rex     +         --         =           rex

Gen.   __________        __________        ____________________

Dat.   __________        __________        ____________________

Acc.   __________        __________        ____________________

Abl.   __________        __________        ____________________


N/V.   __________        __________        ____________________

Gen.   __________        __________        ____________________

Dat.   __________        __________        ____________________

Acc.   __________        __________        ____________________

Abl.   __________        __________        ____________________


How did you do?  Check your answers against page 31 in Wheelock.
The nominative form is just what's listed in the dictionary --
there is no ending in the nominative singular to add.  Next, the
stem of "rex" is "reg-", which you get by dropping off the "-is"
genitive ending of the third declension from the form "regis"
which the dictionary gives.  Now decline this noun: "corpus,
corporis (n)".

N/V.   __________  +     __________     =  ____________________

Gen.   __________        __________        ____________________

Dat.   __________        __________        ____________________

Acc.   __________        __________        ____________________

Abl.   __________        __________        ____________________


N/V.   __________        __________        ____________________

Gen.   __________        __________        ____________________

Dat.   __________        __________        ____________________

Acc.   __________        __________        ____________________

Abl.   __________        __________        ____________________


Did you remember the two rules of neuter nouns?  Check your
answers on page 31.  How are you doing?  Try to decline a couple
more for some more practice.

      pax, pacis (f)     virtus, virtutis (f)    labor, laboris (m)

N/V.    __________          _______________        _______________

Gen.    __________          _______________        _______________

Dat.    __________          _______________        _______________

Acc.    __________          _______________        _______________

Abl.    __________          _______________        _______________


N/V.    __________          _______________        _______________

Gen.    __________          _______________        _______________

Dat.    __________          _______________        _______________

Acc.    __________          _______________        _______________

Abl.    __________          _______________        _______________


     One of the difficulties beginning students have with third
declension nouns is that dictionaries only abbreviate the second
entry, where you're given the stem of the noun, and it's often
puzzling to see just what the stem is.  Look over this list of
typical abbreviations.  After a very short time, they'll cause
you no problem.

   ENTRY                STEM            ENTRY             STEM

veritas, -tatis (f)     veritat-     oratio, -onis (f)  oration-
homo, -inis (m)         homin-       finis, -is (f)     fin-
labor, -oris (m)        labor-       libertas, -tatis (f)
libertat-
tempus, -oris (n)       tempor-      senectus, -tutis (f)
senectut-
virgo, -inis (m)        virgin-      amor, -oris (m)    amor-

       ENTRY                 STEM

   corpus, -oris (n)  ____________________

   honor, -oris (m)   ____________________

   humanitas, -tatis (f)____________________

   frater, -tris (m)  ____________________

   mutatio, -onis (f) ____________________

   pater, -tris (m)   ____________________

   pestis, -is (f)    ____________________

   scriptor, -oris (m)____________________

   valetudo, -inis (f)____________________

   cupiditas, -tatis (f)____________________


MODIFYING THIRD DECLENSION NOUNS

Modifying a third declension noun is nothing to cause any alarm.
It's done the same way you modify first and second declension
nouns: put the adjective in the same number, gender, and case as
the target noun, and away you go.  What causes beginners in Latin
some discomfort is that they can't quite bring themselves around
to modifying a third declension noun with an adjective which uses
first and second declension endings.

     Let's go through this step by step.  Suppose you want to
modify the noun "virtus, -tutis (f)" with the adjective "verus,
-a, -um".  You want to say "true virtue".  You know that "virtus"
is nominative, feminine and singular, so for the adjective
"verus, -a, -um" to agree with it, it must also be feminine,
nominative and singular.  So look at the adjective's listing
closely:  how does "verus, -a, -um" become feminine?  From the
second entry, you see that it uses endings from the first
declension to modify a feminine noun.  Since "virtus" is
feminine, verus" will use first declension endings.  You now
select the nominative singular ending from the first declension
-- "-a" -- and add it to the stem of the adjective.  The result:
"vera virtus".  Try some more.  Decline the following
expressions.

          evil          time             small         city

N/V. ______________ _____________   ____________________________

Gen. ______________ _____________   ____________________________

Dat. ______________ _____________   ____________________________

Acc. ______________ _____________   ____________________________

Abl. ______________ _____________   ____________________________


N/V. ______________ _____________   ____________________________

Gen. ______________ _____________   ____________________________

Dat. ______________ _____________   ____________________________

Acc. ______________ _____________   ____________________________

Abl. ______________ _____________   ____________________________



VOCABULARY PUZZLES

mos, moris (m)  In the plural, "mos" takes on a new meaning: in
                the singular in means "habit", in the plural
                "character".  This isn't hard to understand.  What
                a person does regularly to the point of being a
                habit eventually becomes what he is: it becomes
                his character.

littera, -ae (f)     Like "mos, moris", in the plural "littera"
                     takes on an extended meaning.  In the
                     singular it means "a letter of the alphabet";
                     in the plural it means either "a letter
                     (something you mail to someone)" or
                     "literature".  To say "letters",  -- as in,
                     "He used to send her many letters" -- Latin
                     used another word.  "Litterae" is one letter.

post + acc.     Means "after", but it is only a preposition in
                Latin, and cannot be used as a conjunction.  For
                the English "after" in this sentence, "post" is
                not a correct translation: "After I went to the
                zoo, I went to the movies".

sub + acc./abl.      This preposition, like a few others you'll
                     see, can be followed by the accusative or the
                     ablative case.  When it takes the accusative
                     it means motion to and under something; when
                     it takes the ablative it means "position
                     under". "She walked under the tree" -- in the
                     sense that she was not beneath the tree at
                     first but then walked there -- would be "sub"
                     + accusative in Latin; "She sat under the
                     tree" would be "sub" + ablative.  Similarly,
                     if you say "She walked under the tree" in the
                     sense that she was walking around under the
                     tree, that would be "sub" + ablative because
                     no motion toward was involved.

