Latin declension

Latin grammar
Declension Uses of the ablative Uses of the dative Conjugation Syntax Word order Subjunctive by attraction Clausula (rhetoric) Hyperbaton
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Latin declension is the set of patterns according to which Latin words are declined, or have their endings altered to show grammatical case and gender. Nouns, pronouns, and adjectives are declined (verbs are conjugated), and a given pattern is called a declension. There are five declensions, which are numbered and grouped by ending and grammatical gender, for simple declension paradigms, visit the Wiktionary appendices: first declension, second declension, third declension, fourth declension, fifth declension. Each noun follows one of the five declensions, but some irregular nouns have exceptions.

Adjectives are of two kinds: those like bonus, bona, bonum 'good' belong to the first and second declensions, using first-declension endings for the feminine, and second-declension for masculine and neuter. Other adjectives such as celer, celeris, celere belong to the third declension. There are no fourth- or fifth-declension adjectives.

Pronouns are also of two kinds, the personal pronouns such as ego 'I' and tū 'you (sg.)', which have their own irregular declension, and the third-person pronouns such as hic 'this' and ille 'that' which can generally be used either as pronouns or adjectivally. These latter decline in a similar way to the first and second noun declensions, but there are differences; for example the genitive singular ends in -īus or -ius instead of -ī or -ae.

The cardinal numbers ūnus 'one', duo 'two', and trēs 'three' also have their own declensions (ūnus has genitive -īus like a pronoun), and there are also numeral adjectives such as bīnī 'a pair, two each', which decline like ordinary adjectives.

Grammatical cases[edit]

A complete Latin noun declension consists of up to seven grammatical cases: nominative, vocative, accusative, genitive, dative, ablative and locative. However, the locative is limited to few nouns: generally names of cities, small islands and a few other words.

They are often abbreviated to the first three letters.

The Latin cases have usually been given in the order Nom–Voc–Acc–Gen–Dat–Abl(–Loc) in Britain and many Commonwealth countries since the publication of Benjamin Hall Kennedy's Latin Primer (1866). This order reflects the tendencies of different cases to share similar endings (see below), for a discussion of other sequences taught elsewhere, see below.

However, some didactic approaches or schools teach it in the order Nom–Acc–Gen–Dat–Voc–Abl or Nom–Acc–Gen–Dat–Abl–Voc, the order also used before the Latin Primer by Benjamin Hall Kennedy. This order is used in The School and University Eton Latin Grammar (1861),^[1] with the ablative case always cited last, and a similar one is used in grammars of Ancient Greek (except without the ablative case, which does not occur in Greek), and has been retained by some modern didactic approaches to allow comparison of Latin and Greek.^[2]

Meanings and functions of the various cases[edit]

• The nominative case marks the subject of a statement and denotes the person or object that performs the action of the verb in the sentence. For example, "Mary is going to the store" or "Mary is my sister", it is also used for the predicate: "Mary is my sister". The nominative singular (for adjectives, masculine nominative singular) is used as the reference form of the word.
• The vocative case is used to address someone or something in direct speech. In English, this function is expressed by intonation or punctuation: "Mary, are you going to the store?" or "Mary!" In most declensions, the vocative singular form is identical to the nominative singular form; for example, to say "sailor!" the noun nauta has the vocative form nauta. There are a few exceptions, for the masculine singular second declension nouns, -us and -ius become -e and -ī, respectively. For example, Brutus becomes Brute (English "Brutus!"). Similarly, Vergilius becomes Vergilī (English "Virgil!"). Finally, in Greek masculine first declension names Aenēās becomes Aenēā (English "Aeneas!"). In the plural the vocative is always identical to the nominative.
• The accusative case marks the direct object of a verb. It also has various other functions, e.g., it is governed by some prepositions. It can be used to express motion towards something, with or without a preposition.
• The genitive case expresses possession, measurement, or source. Many of its uses correspond in English to uses of the preposition 'of', and in some situations to the English possessive.
• The dative case marks the recipient of an action, the indirect object of a verb. In English, the prepositions to and for frequently correspond to this case, though there are also many uses of these prepositions which do not correspond to the dative case.
• The ablative case expresses separation, indirection, or the means by which an action is performed. In English, the prepositions by, with, from, in, and on are most commonly used to indicate these meanings.
• The locative case expresses the place where an action is performed. In early Latin the locative case had extensive use, but in Classical Latin the locative case was very rarely used, applying only to the names of cities and small islands and to a few other isolated words, for this purpose, the Romans considered all Mediterranean islands to be small except for Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Crete, and Cyprus. Much of the case's function had been absorbed into the ablative; in the first and second declension singular, the locative is identical to the genitive singular, and in the third declension singular it is identical to the dative singular. For plural nouns of all declensions, the locative is also identical to the ablative, the few fourth- and fifth-declension place names would also use the ablative form for the locative case. However, a few nouns use the locative instead of a preposition: bellum → bellī 'at war'; domus → domī 'at home'; rūs → rūrī 'in the country'; humus → humī 'on the ground'; mīlitia → mīlitiae 'in military service, in the field'; focus → focī 'at the hearth', 'at the center of the community'. In archaic times, the locative singular of third declension nouns was interchangeable between the ablative and dative but, in the Augustan period, the use of the dative became fixed.

Syncretism[edit]

Syncretism, where one form in a paradigm shares the ending of another form in the paradigm, is common in Latin. The following are the most notable patterns of syncretism:

Gender-specific[edit]

• For pure Latin neuter nouns, the nominative singular, vocative singular, and accusative singular are identical; and the nominative plural, vocative plural, and accusative plural all end in -a (both of these features are inherited from Proto-Indo-European, and so are not true syncretism as the case endings were never separate in the first place).

Case-specific[edit]

• The vocative form is always the same as the nominative in the plural, and usually the same as the nominative in the singular except for second-declension masculine nouns ending in -us and a few nouns of Greek origin. For example, the vocative of the first-declension Aenēās is Aenēā.
• The genitive singular is the same as the nominative plural in first-, second-, and fourth-declension masculine and feminine pure Latin nouns.
• The dative singular is the same as the genitive singular in first- and fifth-declension pure Latin nouns.
• The dative is always the same as the ablative in the plural, and in the singular in the second declension, the third-declension full i-stems (i.e. neuter i-stems, adjectives), and fourth-declension neuters.
• The dative, ablative, and locative are always identical in the plural.
• The locative is identical to the ablative in the fourth and fifth declensions.^{[citation needed]}

History of cases[edit]

Old Latin had essentially two patterns of endings. One pattern was shared by the first and second declensions, which derived from the Proto-Indo-European thematic declension, the other pattern was used by the third, fourth and fifth declensions, and derived from the athematic PIE declension.

Nouns[edit]

There are five declensions for Latin nouns:

First declension (a stems)[edit]

Nouns of this declension usually end in -a in the nominative singular and are mostly feminine, e.g. via, viae f. ('road') and aqua, aquae f. ('water'). There is a small class of masculine exceptions generally referring to occupations, e.g. poēta, poētae m. ('poet'), agricola, agricolae m. ('farmer') and nauta, nautae m. ('sailor').

The predominant letter in the ending forms of this declension is a, the nominative singular form consists of the stem and the ending -a, and the genitive singular form is the stem plus -ae.

	aqua, aquae water f.				poēta, poētae poet m.
	Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural
Nominative	aqua	-a	aquae	-ae	poēta	-a	poētae	-ae
Vocative
Accusative	aquam	-am	aquās	-ās	poētam	-am	poētās	-ās
Genitive	aquae[i]	-ae	aquārum	-ārum	poētae	-ae	poētārum	-ārum
Dative			aquīs	-īs			poētīs	-īs
Ablative	aquā	-ā			poētā	-ā

The locative endings for the first declension are -ae (singular) and -īs (plural), similar to the genitive singular and ablative plural, as in mīlitiae 'in war' and Athēnīs 'at Athens'.^[3]

First declension Greek nouns[edit]

The first declension also includes three types of Greek loanwords, derived from Ancient Greek's Alpha Declension, they are declined irregularly in the singular, but are sometimes treated as if they were native Latin nouns, e.g. nominative athlēta ('athlete') instead of the original athlētēs. Interestingly, archaic (Homeric) first declension Greek nouns and adjectives had been formed in exactly the same way as in Latin: nephelēgeréta Zeus ('Zeus the cloud-gatherer') had in classical Greek become nephelēgerétēs.

For full paradigm tables and more detailed information, see the Wiktionary appendix First declension.

Second declension (o stems)[edit]

The second declension is a large group of nouns consisting of mostly masculine nouns like equus, equī ('horse') and puer, puerī ('boy') and neuter nouns like castellum, castellī ('fort'). There are several small groups of feminine exceptions, including names of gemstones, plants, trees, and some towns and cities.

In the nominative singular, most masculine nouns consist of the stem and the ending -us, although some end in -er, which is not necessarily attached to the complete stem. Neuter nouns generally have a nominative singular consisting of the stem and the ending -um. However, every second-declension noun has the ending -ī attached as a suffix to the root of the noun in the genitive singular form, the predominant letter in the ending forms of this declension is o.

Masculine

	dominus, dominī master m.
	Singular		Plural
Nominative	dominus	-us	dominī	-ī
Vocative	domine	-e
Accusative	dominum	-um	dominōs	-ōs
Genitive	dominī	-ī	dominōrum	-ōrum
Dative	dominō	-ō	dominīs	-īs
Ablative

Neuter

	bellum, bellī war n.
	Singular		Plural
Nominative	bellum	-um	bella	-a
Vocative
Accusative
Genitive	bellī	-ī	bellōrum	-ōrum
Dative	bellō	-ō	bellīs	-īs
Ablative

The locative singular ending for the second declension was -ī, like the genitive singular, as in Corinthī "at Corinth", the locative plural ending for the second declension was -īs, like the ablative plural, as in Philippīs "at Philippi".^[4]

Nouns ending in -ius and -ium have a genitive singular in -ī in earlier Latin, which was regularized to -iī in the later language. Masculine nouns in -ius have a vocative singular in -ī at all stages, these forms in -ī are stressed on the same syllable as the nominative singular, sometimes in violation of the usual Latin stress rule. For example, the genitive and vocative singular Vergilī (from Vergilius) is pronounced [werˈɡiliː], with stress on the penult, even though it is short.^[5]

There is no contraction of -iī(s) in plural forms and in the locative.^[6]

	fīlius, filiī son m.				auxilium, auxiliī aid, help n.
	Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural
Nominative	fīlius	-ius	fīliī	-iī	auxilium	-ium	auxilia	-ia
Vocative	fīlī	-ī
Accusative	fīlium	-ium	fīliōs	-iōs
Genitive	fīliī (earlier) fīlī	-iī (earlier) -ī	fīliōrum	-iōrum	auxiliī (earlier) auxilī	-iī (earlier) -ī	auxiliōrum	-iōrum
Dative	fīliō	-iō	fīliīs	-iīs	auxiliō	-iō	auxiliīs	-iīs
Ablative

In the older language, nouns ending with -vus, -quus and -vum take o rather than u in the nominative and accusative singular. For example, servus, servī ('slave') could be servos, accusative servom.

Second-declension -r nouns[edit]

Some masculine nouns of the second declension end in -er or -ir in the nominative singular, for such nouns, the genitive singular must be learned to see if the e is dropped. For example, socer, socerī ('father-in-law') keeps its e. However, the noun magister, magistrī ('teacher') drops its e in the genitive singular. Nouns with -ir in the nominative singular, such as triumvir, never drop the i.

The declension of second-declension -r nouns is identical to that of the regular second declension, with the exception of the vocative singular, which is identical to the nominative rather than ending in -e.

For declension tables of second-declension nouns, see the corresponding Wiktionary appendix.

	puer, puerī boy m.				ager, agrī field m.				vir, virī man m.
	Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural
Nominative	puer	—	puerī	-ī	ager	—	agrī	-ī	vir	—	virī	-ī
Vocative
Accusative	puerum	-um	puerōs	-ōs	agrum	-um	agrōs	-ōs	virum	-um	virōs	-ōs
Genitive	puerī	-ī	puerōrum	-ōrum	agrī	-ī	agrōrum	-ōrum	virī	-ī	virōrum	-ōrum
Dative	puerō	ō	puerīs	-īs	agrō	ō	agrīs	-īs	virō	ō	virīs	-īs
Ablative

Second-declension Greek nouns[edit]

The second declension contains two types of masculine Greek nouns and one form of neuter Greek noun, these nouns are irregular only in the singular, as are their first-declension counterparts. Greek nouns in the second declension are derived from the Omicron declension.

Some Greek nouns may also be declined as normal Latin nouns, for example, theātron can appear as theātrum.

Irregular forms[edit]

The inflection of deus, deī ('god') is irregular, the vocative singular of deus is not attested in Classical Latin. In Ecclesiastical Latin the vocative of Deus ('God') is Deus.

In poetry, -um may be substituted for -ōrum as the genitive plural ending.

	deus, –ī god m.
	Singular		Plural
Nominative	deus	-us	deī diī dī	-eī -iī -ī
Vocative	deus dee	-us -e
Accusative	deum	-um	deōs	-ōs
Genitive	deī	-ī	deōrum deum	-ōrum -um
Dative	deō	-ō	deīs diīs dīs	-eīs -iīs -īs
Ablative

Third declension (i and consonant stems)[edit]

The third declension is the largest group of nouns, the nominative singular of these nouns may end in -a,-e, -ī, -ō, -y, -c, -l, -n, -r, -s, -t, or -x. This group of nouns includes masculine, neuter, and feminine nouns. Examples are flūmen, flūminis n. ('river'), flōs, flōris m. ('flower'), and pāx, pācis f. ('peace'). Each noun has the ending -is as a suffix attached to the root of the noun in the genitive singular form. Masculine, feminine and neuter nouns each have their own special nominative singular endings, for instance, many masculine nouns end in -or (amor, amōris, 'love'). Many feminine nouns end in -īx (phoenīx, phoenīcis, 'phoenix'), and many neuter nouns end in -us with an r stem in the oblique cases (onus, oneris 'burden'; tempus, temporis 'time').

	dux, ducis leader m.				virtūs, virtūtis virtue f.				nōmen, nōminis name n.
	Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural
Nominative	dux	-s[i]	ducēs	-ēs	virtūs	-s[i]	virtūtēs	-ēs	nōmen	—[i][ii]	nōmina	-a
Vocative
Accusative	ducem	-em			virtūtem	-em
Genitive	ducis	-is	ducum	-um	virtūtis	-is	virtūtum	-um	nōminis	-is	nōminum	-um
Dative	ducī	-ī	ducibus	-ibus	virtūtī	-ī	virtūtibus	-ibus	nōminī	-ī	nōminibus	-ibus
Ablative	duce	-e			virtūte	-e			nōmine	-e

The locative endings for the third declension were -ī or -e (singular) and -ibus (plural), as in rūrī 'in the country' and Trallibus 'at Tralles'.^[7]

Third declension i-stem nouns[edit]

The third declension also has a set of nouns that are declined differently, they are called i-stems. i-stems are broken into two subcategories: pure and mixed. Pure i-stems are indicated by the parisyllabic rule or special neuter endings. Mixed i-stems are indicated by the double consonant rule.

Masculine and feminine

Parisyllabic rule: Some masculine and feminine third-declension i-stem nouns have the same number of syllables in the genitive as they do in the nominative. For example: amnis, amnis ('stream'), the nominative ends in -is.

Double consonant rule: The rest of the masculine and feminine third-declension i-stem nouns have two consonants before the -is in the genitive singular. For example: pars, partis ('part').

Neuter

Special neuter ending: Neuter third-declension i-stems have no rule. However, all of them end in -al, -ar or -e, for example: animal, animālis ('animal'); cochlear, cochleāris ('spoon'); mare, maris ('sea').

Pure i-stems may exhibit peculiar endings in both singular and plural. Mixed i-stems employ normal (consonant) 3rd declension endings in the singular but i-stem endings in the plural. Note the alternative i-stem endings indicated in parentheses.

	amnis, amnis stream, torrent m. (pure)				pars, partis part, piece f. (mixed)				animal, animālis animal, living being n. (pure)
	Parisyllabic rule				Double consonant rule				Special neuter ending
	Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural
Nominative	amnis	-s[i]	amnēs	-ēs	pars	-s[i]	partēs	-ēs	animal	—[i]	animālia	-ia
Vocative
Accusative	amnem amnim	-em –im	amnēs amnīs	-ēs -īs	partem partim	-em –im	partēs partīs	-ēs -īs
Genitive	amnis	-is	amnium	-ium	partis	-is	partium	-ium	animālis	-is	animālium	-ium
Dative	amnī	-ī	amnibus	-ibus	partī	-ī	partibus	-ibus	animālī	-ī	animālibus	-ibus
Ablative	amne amnī	-e –ī			parte	-e

The rules for determining i-stems from non-i-stems and mixed i-stems should be thought of more as guidelines than rules: even among the Romans themselves, the categorization of a third-declension word as an i-stem or non-i-stem was quite fluid. The result is that many words that should be i-stems according to the parisyllabic and consonant stem rules actually are not, such as canis ('dog') or iuvenis ('youth'). By the parisyllabic rule, canis should be a masculine i-stem and thus differ from the non-i-stems by having an extra -i- in the plural genitive form: *canium. In reality, the plural genitive of canis is canum, the form of a non-i-stem. This fluidity even in Roman times results in much more uncertainty in Medieval Latin, as scholars were trying to imitate what was fluid to begin with.

Peculiarities[edit]

In the third declension, there are four irregular nouns.

Case	vīs, vīs force, power f.		sūs, suis swine, pig, hog m.f.		bōs, bovis ox, bullock m.f.		Iuppiter, Iovis Jupiter m.
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular
Nominative	vīs	vīrēs	sūs	suēs	bōs[i]	bovēs	Iuppiter Iūpiter[i]
Vocative
Accusative	vim	vīrēs vīrīs	suem		bovem		Iovem
Genitive	vīs[ii]	vīrium	suis	suum	bovis	boum bovum	Iovis
Dative	vī[ii]	vīribus	suī	suibus, sūbus	bovī	bōbus būbus[i]	Iovī
Ablative			sue		bove		Iove

Fourth declension (u stems)[edit]

The fourth declension is a group of nouns consisting of mostly masculine words such as fluctus, fluctūs m. ('wave') and portus, portūs m. ('port') with a few feminine exceptions, including manus, manūs f. ('hand'). The fourth declension also includes several neuter nouns including genū, genūs n. ('knee'). Each noun has the ending -ūs as a suffix attached to the root of the noun in the genitive singular form, the predominant letter in the ending forms of this declension is u, but the declension is otherwise very similar to the third-declension i stems.

	portus, portūs port, haven, harbor m.				cornū, cornūs horn, strength n.
	Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural
Nominative	portus	-us	portūs	-ūs	cornū	-ū	cornua	-ua
Vocative
Accusative	portum	-um
Genitive	portūs	-ūs	portuum	-uum	cornūs cornū	-ūs –ū	cornuum	-uum
Dative	portuī	-uī	portibus	-ibus	cornū cornuī	-ū –uī	cornibus	-ibus
Ablative	portū	-ū			cornū	-ū

In the dative and ablative plural, -ibus is sometimes replaced with -ubus, this is so for only a few nouns, such as artūs pl., ('limbs').

Domus ('home') is declined like a full fourth-declension noun, and also like a second-declension noun, except in the dative and ablative plural, which are always domibus. Its locative case is domī (plural, domibus)

	domus, domūs				domus, domī
	house, home f.
	as fourth declension				as second declension
	Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural
Nominative	domus	-us	domūs	-ūs	domus	-us	domī	-ī
Vocative
Accusative	domum	-um			domum	-um	domōs	-ōs
Genitive	domūs	-ūs	domuum	-uum	domī	-ī	domōrum	-ōrum
Dative	domū domuī	-ū -uī	domibus	-ibus	domō	ō	domibus*	-ibus[i]
Ablative	domū	-ū

Fifth declension (e stems)[edit]

The fifth declension is a small group of nouns consisting of mostly feminine nouns like rēs, reī f. ('affair, matter, thing') and diēs, diēī m. ('day'; but f. in names of days). Each noun has either the ending -ēī or -eī as a suffix attached to the root of the noun in the genitive singular form.

	diēs, –ēī day m., f.				rēs, –eī thing f.
	Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural
Nominative	diēs	-ēs	diēs	-ēs	rēs	-ēs	rēs	-ēs
Vocative
Accusative	diem	-em			rem	-em
Genitive	diēī	-ēī	diērum	-ērum	reī	-eī	rērum	-ērum
Dative			diēbus	-ēbus			rēbus	-ēbus
Ablative	diē	-ē			rē	-ē

Nouns ending in -iēs have long ēī in the dative and genitive, while nouns ending in a consonant + -ēs have short eī in these cases.

The locative ending of the fifth declension was -ē (singular only), identical to the ablative singular, as in hodiē ('today').

Locative case[edit]

The locative case expresses the place where an action is performed; in early Latin the locative case had extensive use, but in Classical Latin the locative case was very rarely used, applying only to the names of cities and small islands and to a few other isolated words. For this purpose, the Romans considered all Mediterranean islands to be small except for Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Crete, and Cyprus. Much of the case's function had been absorbed into the ablative; in the first and second declension singular, the locative is identical to the genitive singular, and in the third declension singular it is identical to the dative singular. For plural nouns of all declensions, the locative is also identical to the ablative, the few fourth- and fifth-declension place names would also use the ablative form for the locative case. However, a few nouns use the locative instead of a preposition: bellum → bellī 'at war'; domus → domī 'at home'; rūs → rūrī 'in the country'; humus → humī 'on the ground'; mīlitia → mīlitiae 'in military service, in the field'; focus → focī 'at the hearth', 'at the center of the community'. In archaic times, the locative singular of third declension nouns was interchangeable between the ablative and dative but, in the Augustan period, the use of the dative became fixed.

Locative case declensions in Latin

	Locative case by declension				Comments
	Singular		Plural
1st declension	Romae	-ae	Athenīs	-īs	Same as in 1st case dative.
2nd declension (masculine)	mūrī	-ī	mūrīs		In singular, same as in 2nd case genitive. In plural, same as in 2nd case dative/ablative.
2nd declension (neuter)	bellī		bellīs
3rd declension	urbī		urbibus	-ibus	Same as in 3rd case dative.
4th declension	domī		domibus		In singular, the same form as in the 2nd declension is used. In plural, same as in 4th case dative/ablative.
5th declension	fidē	-ē	fidēbus	-ēbus	Same as in 5th case ablative.

Pronouns[edit]

Personal pronouns[edit]

The first and second persons are irregular, and both pronouns are indeclinable for gender.

	First Person		Second Person
	ego, meī I	nōs, nostrī we	tū, tuī you (sg.)	vōs, vestrī you (pl.)
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	ego egō	nōs	tū	vōs
Accusative	mē		tē
Genitive	meī	nostrī, nostrum	tuī	vestrī, vestrum
Dative	mihi mihī	nōbīs	tibi tibī	vōbīs
Ablative	mē		tē

The genitive forms meī, tuī, nostrī, vestrī, suī are used as complements in certain grammatical constructions, whereas nostrum, vestrum are used with a partitive meaning ('[one] of us', '[one] of you'). To express possession, the possessive pronouns (essentially adjectives) meus, tuus, noster, vester are used, declined in the first and second declensions to agree in number and case with the thing possessed, e.g. pater meus 'my father', māter mea 'my mother'. The vocative singular masculine of meus is mī: mī Attice 'my dear Atticus'.^[8]

Usually, to show the ablative of accompaniment, cum would be added to the ablative form. However, with personal pronouns (first and second person), the reflexive and the interrogative, -cum is added onto the end of the ablative form, that is: mēcum 'with me', nōbīscum 'with us', tēcum 'with you', vōbīscum, sēcum and quōcum (sometimes quīcum).

For the third person pronoun is 'he', see below.

Reflexive pronoun (sē)[edit]

The third person reflexive pronoun sē, suī always refers back to the subject, regardless of whether the subject is singular or plural:

	sē, suī himself, herself itself, oneself, themselves
Nominative	—
Accusative	sē, sēsē
Genitive	suī
Dative	sibi
Ablative	sē, sēsē

This pronoun has a possessive adjective: suus, sua, suum, meaning 'his/her/its/their own':

Patrem suum numquam vīderat. (Cicero)^[9]

"He had never seen his [own] father."

When 'his' or 'her' refers to someone else, not the subject, the genitive pronoun eius 'of him' is used instead of suus:

Fit obviam Clodio ante fundum eius. (Cicero)^[10]

"He met Clodius in front of the latter's farm."

When one sentence is embedded inside another with a different subject, sē and suus can refer to either subject:

Patres conscripti ... legatos in Bithyniam miserunt qui ab rege peterent, ne inimicissimum suum secum haberet sibique dederet. (Nepos)^[11]

"The senators ... sent ambassadors to Bithynia, who were to ask the king not to keep their greatest enemy with him but hand him over to them."

Demonstrative pronouns and adjectives[edit]

Relative, demonstrative and indefinite pronouns are generally declined like first and second declension adjectives, with the following differences:

• the nominatives are often irregular
• the genitive singular ends in -īus rather than -ae or -ī.
• the dative singular ends in -ī: rather than -ae or -ō.

These differences characterize the pronominal declension, and a few special adjectives (tōtus 'whole', sōlus 'alone', ūnus 'one', nūllus 'no', alius 'another', alter 'another [of two]', etc.) are also declined according to this pattern.

All demonstrative, relative, and indefinite pronouns in Latin can also be used adjectivally, with some small differences; for example in the interrogative pronoun, quis 'who?' and quid 'what?' are usually used for the pronominal form, quī and quod 'which?' for the adjectival form.

Third person pronoun[edit]

The weak demonstrative pronoun is, ea, id 'that' also serves as the third person pronoun 'he, she, it':

	Third person
	is, eī he, they m.		ea, eae she, they f.		id, ea it, they n.
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	is	eī, iī	ea	eae	id	ea
Accusative	eum	eōs	eam	eās
Genitive	eius	eōrum	eius	eārum	eius	eōrum
Dative	eī	eīs, iīs	eī	eīs, iīs	eī	eīs, iīs
Ablative	eō		eā		eō

This pronoun is also often used adjectivally, e.g. is homo 'that man', ea pecunia 'that money'. It has no possessive adjective; the genitive is used instead: pater eius 'his/her father'; pater eōrum 'their father'.

Declension of īdem[edit]

The pronoun or pronominal adjective īdem, eadem, idem means 'the same', it is derived from is with the suffix -dem. However, some forms have been assimilated.

	īdem, eadem, idem the same, same as
	Masculine		Feminine		Neuter
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	īdem	eīdem, iīdem, īdem	eadem	eaedem	idem	eadem
Vocative
Accusative	eundem	eōsdem	eandem	eāsdem
Genitive	eiusdem	eōrundem	eiusdem	eārundem	eiusdem	eōrundem
Dative	eīdem	eīsdem, iīsdem	eīdem	eīsdem, iīsdem	eīdem	eīsdem, iīsdem
Ablative	eōdem		eādem		eōdem

Other demonstrative pronouns[edit]

Similar in declension is alius, alia, aliud 'another'.

Intensive pronoun[edit]

	ipse, ipsa, ipsum himself, herself, itself
	Masculine		Feminine		Neuter
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	ipse	ipsī	ipsa	ipsae	ipsum	ipsa
Accusative	ipsum	ipsōs	ipsam	ipsās
Genitive	ipsīus	ipsōrum	ipsīus	ipsārum	ipsīus	ipsōrum
Dative	ipsī	ipsīs	ipsī	ipsīs	ipsī	ipsīs
Ablative	ipsō		ipsā		ipsō

Interrogative pronouns[edit]

The interrogative pronouns are used strictly for asking questions, they are distinct from the relative pronoun and the interrogative adjective (which is declined like the relative pronoun). Interrogative pronouns rarely occur in the plural, the plural interrogative pronouns are the same as the plural relative pronouns.

Singular

	quis? quid? who?, what?
	Masculine and feminine	Neuter
Nominative	quis?	quid?
Accusative	quem?
Genitive	cuius?
Dative	cuī?
Ablative	quō?

Relative pronouns[edit]

	quī, quae, quod who, which, that
	Masculine		Feminine		Neuter
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	quī		quae		quod	quae
Accusative	quem	quōs	quam	quās
Genitive	cuius[i]	quōrum	cuius[i]	quārum	cuius[i]	quōrum
Dative	cuī	quibus	cuī	quibus	cuī	quibus
Ablative	quō		quā		quō

Correlatives[edit]

Correlatives are the corresponding demonstrative, relative, interrogative, and indefinite forms of pronouns, pronominal adjectives, and adverbs. These are shown below:^[12]

	Demonstrative	Relative	Interrogative	Indefinite relative	Indefinite
	vowel or t-[13]	qu-, c-, u-		reduplicated or -cumque	ali-
basic	is	quī	quis	quisquis	aliquis
number	tantus	quantus		quantuscumque	aliquantus
type	tālis	quālis		quāliscumque	aliquālis
place where	ibi	ubi		ubiubi	alicubi
place to, whither	eō	quō		quōquō	aliquō
manner	eā	quā		quāquā	aliquā
place from, whence	inde	unde		undecumque	alicunde
time	tum	cum	quandō	quandōcumque	aliquandō
counting	tot	quot		quotquot	aliquot
repetition	totiēns	quotiēns		quotiēnscumque	aliquotiēns

Adjectives[edit]

First- and second-declension adjectives[edit]

First- and second-declension adjective are inflected in the masculine, the feminine and the neuter; the masculine form typically ends in -us (although some end in -er, see below), the feminine form ends in -a, and the neuter form ends in -um. Therefore, some adjectives are given like altus, alta, altum.

	altus, alta, altum high, long, tall
	Masculine				Feminine				Neuter
	Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural
Nominative	altus	-us	altī	-ī	alta	-a	altae	-ae	altum	-um	alta	-a
Vocative	alte	-e
Accusative	altum	-um	altōs	-ōs	altam	-am	altās	-ās
Genitive	altī	-ī	altōrum	-ōrum	altae	-ae	altārum	-ārum	altī	-ī	altōrum	-ōrum
Dative	altō	-ō	altīs	-īs			altīs	-īs	altō	-ō	altīs	-īs
Ablative					altā	-ā

First- and second-declension -r adjectives[edit]

Some first- and second-declension adjectives' masculine form end in -er, as with second-declension -r nouns, some adjectives retain the e throughout inflection, and some omit it. Sacer, sacra, sacrum omits its e while miser, misera, miserum keeps it.

	miser, misera, miserum sad, poor, unhappy
	Masculine				Feminine				Neuter
	Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural
Nominative	miser	-er	miserī	-ī	misera	-a	miserae	-ae	miserum	-um	misera	-a
Vocative
Accusative	miserum	-um	miserōs	-ōs	miseram	-am	miserās	-ās
Genitive	miserī	-ī	miserōrum	-ōrum	miserae	-ae	miserārum	-ārum	miserī	-ī	miserōrum	-ōrum
Dative	miserō	-ō	miserīs	-īs			miserīs	-īs	miserō	-ō	miserīs	-īs
Ablative					miserā	-ā

	sacer, sacra, sacrum sacred, holy
	Masculine				Feminine				Neuter
	Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural
Nominative	sacer	-er	sacrī	-ī	sacra	-a	sacrae	-ae	sacrum	-um	sacra	-a
Vocative
Accusative	sacrum	-um	sacrōs	-ōs	sacram	-am	sacrās	-ās
Genitive	sacrī	-ī	sacrōrum	-ōrum	sacrae	-ae	sacrārum	-ārum	sacrī	-ī	sacrōrum	-ōrum
Dative	sacrō	-ō	sacrīs	-īs			sacrīs	-īs	sacrō	-ō	sacrīs	-īs
Ablative					sacrā	-ā

First and second -īus genitive adjectives[edit]

Nine first and second declension adjectives are irregular in the genitive and the dative in all genders, they can be remembered by using the mnemonic acronym ūnus nauta. They are:

• ūllus, ūlla, ūllum 'any'
• nūllus, nūlla, nūllum 'no, none'
• uter, utra, utrum 'which [of two], either'
• sōlus, sōla, sōlum 'sole, alone'
• neuter, neutra, neutrum 'neither
• alius, alia, aliud (genitive singular alīus often replaced by alterīus 'another'
• ūnus, ūna, ūnum 'one'
• tōtus, tōta, tōtum 'whole'
• alter, altera, alterum 'other [of two]'

	ūllus, ūlla, ūllum any
	Masculine				Feminine				Neuter
	Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural
Nominative	ūllus	-us	ūllī	-ī	ūlla	-a	ūllae	-ae	ūllum	-um	ūlla	-a
Vocative	ūlle	-e
Accusative	ūllum	-um	ūllōs	-ōs	ūllam	-am	ūllās	-ās
Genitive	ūllīus	-īus	ūllōrum	-ōrum	ūllīus	-īus	ūllārum	-ārum	ūllīus	-īus	ūllōrum	-ōrum
Dative	ūllī	-ī	ūllīs	-īs	ūllī	-ī	ūllīs	-īs	ūllī	-ī	ūllīs	-īs
Ablative	ūllō	-ō			ūllā	-ā			ūllō	-ō

Third-declension adjectives[edit]

Third-declension adjectives are normally declined like third-declension i-stem nouns, except for the fact they usually have -ī rather than -e in the ablative singular (unlike i-stem nouns, in which only pure i-stems have -ī). Some adjectives, however, like the one-ending vetus, veteris ('old, aged'), have -e in the ablative singular, -um in the genitive plural, and -a in the nominative and accusative neuter plural.

Third-declension adjectives with one ending[edit]

These have a single nominative ending for all genders, although as usual the endings for the other cases vary, as with nouns, a genitive is given for the purpose of showing the inflection.

	atrōx, atrōcis terrible, mean, cruel
	Masculine and feminine				Neuter
	Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural
Nominative	atrōx	-ōx	atrōcēs	-ēs	atrōx	-ōx	atrōcia	-ia
Vocative
Accusative	atrōcem	-em	atrōcēs atrōcīs	-ēs -īs
Genitive	atrōcis	-is	atrōcium	-ium	atrōcis	-is	atrōcium	-ium
Dative	atrōcī	-ī	atrōcibus	-ibus	atrōcī	-ī	atrōcibus	-ibus
Ablative

Non-i-stem variant[edit]

	vetus, veteris old, aged
	Masculine and feminine				Neuter
	Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural
Nominative	vetus	-us	veterēs	-ēs	vetus	-us	vetera	-a
Vocative
Accusative	veterem	-em
Genitive	veteris	-is	veterum	-um	veteris	-is	veterum	-um
Dative	veterī	-ī	veteribus	-ibus	veterī	-ī	veteribus	-ibus
Ablative	vetere	-e			vetere	-e

Third-declension adjectives with two endings[edit]

Third-declension adjectives that have two endings have one form for the masculine and feminine, and a separate form for the neuter, the ending for the masculine and feminine is -is, and the ending for the neuter is -e. It is not necessary to give the genitive, as it is the same as the nominative masculine singular.

	agilis, agile nimble, swift
	Masculine and feminine				Neuter
	Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural
Nominative	agilis	-is	agilēs	-ēs	agile	-e	agilia	-ia
Vocative
Accusative	agilem	-em	agilēs agilīs	-ēs -īs
Genitive	agilis	-is	agilium	-ium	agilis	-is	agilium	-ium
Dative	agilī	-ī	agilibus	-ibus	agilī	-ī	agilibus	-ibus
Ablative

Third-declension adjectives with three endings[edit]

Third-declension adjectives with three endings have three separate nominative forms for all three genders. Like third and second declension -r nouns, the masculine ends in -er, the feminine ends in -ris, and the neuter ends in -re. The genitive is the same as the nominative feminine singular.

	celer, celeris, celere swift, rapid, brash
	Masculine				Feminine				Neuter
	Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural
Nominative	celer	-er	celerēs	-ēs	celeris	-is	celerēs	-ēs	celere	-e	celeria	-ia
Vocative
Accusative	celerem	-em	celerēs celerīs	-ēs -īs	celerem	-em	celerēs celerīs	-ēs -īs
Genitive	celeris	-is	celerium	-ium	celeris	-is	celerium	-ium	celeris	-is	celerium	-ium
Dative	celerī	-ī	celeribus	-ibus	celerī	-ī	celeribus	-ibus	celerī	-ī	celeribus	-ibus
Ablative
	alacer, alacris, alacre lively, jovial, animated
	Masculine				Feminine				Neuter
	Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural
Nominative	alacer	-er	alacrēs	-ēs	alacris	-is	alacrēs	-ēs	alacre	-e	alacria	-ia
Vocative
Accusative	alacrem	-em	alacrēs alacrīs	-ēs -īs	alacrem	-em	alacrēs alacrīs	-ēs -īs
Genitive	alacris	-is	alacrium	-ium	alacris	-is	alacrium	-ium	alacris	-is	alacrium	-ium
Dative	alacrī	-ī	alacribus	-ibus	alacrī	-ī	alacribus	-ibus	alacrī	-ī	alacribus	-ibus
Ablative

Comparative and superlative forms of adjectives[edit]

As in English, adjectives have superlative and comparative forms, for regular first and second declension and third declension adjectives with one or two endings, the comparative is formed by adding -ior for the masculine and feminine, and -ius for the neuter to the stem. The genitives for both are formed by adding -iōris. Therefore, they are declined in the third declension, but they are not declined as i-stems. Superlatives are formed by adding -issimus, -issima, -issimum to the stem and are thus declined like first and second declension adjectives.

General pattern for comparatives[edit]

	altior, altiōris higher, taller (comparative of altus)
	Masculine and feminine				Neuter
	Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural
Nominative	altior	-ior	altiōrēs	-iōrēs	altius	-ius	altiōra	-iōra
Vocative
Accusative	altiōrem	-iōrem
Genitive	altiōris	-iōris	altiōrum	-iōrum	altiōris	-iōris	altiōrum	-iōrum
Dative	altiōrī	-iōrī	altiōribus	-iōribus	altiōrī	-iōrī	altiōribus	-iōribus
Ablative	altiōre	-iōre			altiōre	-iōre

Comparatives and superlatives with normal endings[edit]

Adjective	Positive	Comparative	Superlative
	clārus, clāra, clārum ('clear, bright, famous')	clārior, clārius	clārissimus, clārissima, clārissimum
	frīgidus, frīgida, frīgidum ('cold, chilly')	frīgidior, frīgidius	frīgidissimus, frīgidissima, frīgidissimum
	pugnāx, pugnāx (pugnācis) ('pugnacious')	pugnācior, pugnācius	pugnācissimus, pugnācissima, pugnācissimum
	benevolēns, benevolēns (benevolentis) ('kind, benevolent')	benevolentior, benevolentius	benevolentissimus, benevolentissima, benevolentissium
	fortis, forte ('strong, robust')	fortior, fortius	fortissimus, fortissima, fortissimum
	aequālis, aequāle ('equal, even')	aequālior, aequālius	aequālissimus, aequālissima, aequālissimum

Comparatives and superlatives of -er adjectives[edit]

Adjectives (in the first and second as well as third declensions) that have masculine nominative singular forms ending in -er are slightly different, as with normal adjectives, the comparative is formed by adding -ior to the stem, but for the superlative, -rimus is added to the nominative masculine singular.

Adjective	Positive	Comparative	Superlative
	pulcher, pulchra, pulchrum ('pretty, beautiful')	pulchrior, pulchrius	pulcherrimus, pulcherrima, pulcherrimum
	sacer, sacra, sacrum ('sacred, holy')	sacrior, sacrius	sacerrimus, sacerrima, sacerrimum
	tener, tenera, tenerum ('delicate, tender')	tenerior, tenerius	tenerrimus, tenerrima, tenerrimum
	ācer, ācris, ācre ('sharp')	ācrior, ācrius	ācerrimus, ācerrima, ācerrimum
	celeber, celebris, celebre ('celebrated, famous')	celebrior, celebrius	celeberrimus, celeberrima, celeberrimum
	celer, celeris, celere ('quick, fast')	celerior, celerius	celerrimus, celerrima, celerrimum

Comparatives and superlatives of -lis adjectives[edit]

Some third declension adjectives with two endings in -lis in the masculine–feminine nominative singular have irregular superlative forms, the following are the only adjectives that do.

Adjective	Positive	Comparative	Superlative
	facilis, facile ('easy')	facilior, facilius	facillimus, facillima, facillimum
	difficilis, difficile ('hard, difficult')	difficilior, difficilius	difficillimus, difficillima, difficillimum
	similis, simile ('similar, like)	similior, similius	simillimus, simillima, simillimum
	dissimilis, dissimile ('unlike, dissimilar')	dissimilior, dissimilius	dissimillimus, dissimillima, dissimillimum
	gracilis, gracile ('slender, slim')	gracilior, gracilius	gracillimus, gracillima, gracillimum
	humilis, humile ('low, humble')	humilior, humilius	humillimus, humillima, humillimum

Comparatives and superlatives of -eus/-ius adjectives[edit]

First and second declension adjectives that end in -eus or -ius are unusual in that they do not form the comparative and superlative by taking endings at all. Instead, magis ('more') and maximē ('most'), the comparative and superlative degrees of magnoperē ('much, greatly'), respectively, are used.

Many adjectives in -uus, except those in -quus or -guus, also follow this rule.

Adjective	Positive	Comparative	Superlative
	idōneus, idōnea, idōneum ('suitable, fitting, proper')	magis idōneus	maximē idōneus
	sōlitārius, sōlitāria, sōlitārium ('solitary, lonely')	magis sōlitārius	maximē sōlitārius
	ebrius, ebria, ebrium ('drunk')	magis ebrius	maximē ebrius
	meritōrius, meritōria, meritōrium ('meritorious')	magis meritōrius	maximē meritōrius
	grāmineus, grāminea, grāmineum ('grassy')	magis grāmineus	maximē grāmineus
	bellātōrius, bellātōria, bellātōrium ('warlike, bellicose')	magis bellātōrius	maximē bellātōrius
	arduus, ardua, arduum ('lofty, steep')	magis arduus	maximē arduus

Irregular comparatives and superlatives[edit]

As in most languages, Latin has adjectives that have irregular comparatives and superlatives.

Adjective	Positive	Comparative	Superlative
	bonus, bona, bonum ('good')	melior, melius ('better')	optimus, optima, optimum ('best')
	malus, mala, malum ('bad, evil')	pēior, pēius ('worse')	pessimus, pessima, pessimum ('worst')
	magnus, magna, magnum ('great, large')	māior, māius ('greater')	maximus, maxima, maximum ('greatest')
	parvus, parva, parvum ('small, slight')	minor, minus ('lesser')	minimus, minima, minimum ('least')
	multus, multa, multum ('much, many')	plūs[i] ('more')	plūrimus, plūrima, plūrimum ('most')
	propinquus, propinqua, propinquum ('near, close')	propior, propius ('nearer')	proximus, proxima, proximum ('nearest, next')
	mātūrus, mātūra, mātūrum ('ripe, mature')	mātūrior, mātūrius ('riper')	mātūrrimus, mātūrrima, mātūrrimum[ii] ('ripest')
	nēquam[iii] ('worthless')	nēquior, nēquius ('more worthless')	nēquissimus, nēquissima, nēquissimum ('most worthless')
	posterus, postera, posterum ('next, future')	posterior, posterius ('later')	postrēmus, postrēma, postrēmum ('last, latest') postumus, postuma, postumum
	superus, supera, superum ('above')	superior, superius ('upper')	suprēmus, suprēma, suprēmum ('uppermost') summus, summa, summum
	exterus, extera, exterum ('outward')	exterior, exterius ('outer')	extrēmus, extrēma, extrēmum ('outermost') extimus, extima, extimum
	īnferus, īnfera, īnferum ('below')	īnferior, īnferius ('lower')	īnfimus, īnfima, īnfimum ('lowest') īmus, īma, īmum
	senex, senis ('old, aged')	senior, senius ('older, elder')	—
	iuvenis, iuvenis ('young, youthful')	iuvenior, iuvenius ('younger') iūnior, iūnius	—

Declension of numerals[edit]

There are several different kinds of numeral words in Latin: the two most common are cardinal numerals and ordinal numerals. There are also several more rare numerals, e.g., distributive numerals and adverbial numerals.

Cardinal numerals[edit]

All cardinal numerals are indeclinable, except ūnus ('one'), duo ('two'), trēs ('three'), plural hundreds ducentī ('two hundred'), trecentī ('three hundred') etc., and mīlle ('thousand'), which have cases and genders like adjectives. Ūnus, ūna, ūnum is declined like a first- and second-declension pronoun with -īus in the genitive, and -ī in the dative. Duo is declined irregularly, trēs is declined like a third-declension plural adjective, -centī ('hundred') numerals decline like first- and second-declension adjectives, and mille is invariable in the singular and declined like a third-declension i-stem neuter noun in the plural:

	ūnus, ūna, ūnum one
	Masculine		Feminine		Neuter
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	ūnus	ūnī	ūna	ūnae	ūnum	ūna
Vocative	ūne
Accusative	ūnum	ūnōs	ūnam	ūnās
Genitive	ūnīus	ūnōrum	ūnīus	ūnārum	ūnīus	ūnōrum
Dative	ūnī	ūnīs	ūnī	ūnīs	ūnī	ūnīs
Ablative	ūnō		ūnā		ūnō

The existence of plural endings for ūnus might seem unnecessary; however, they are used with pluralia tantum nouns, e. g. ūna castra (one [military] camp), ūnae scālae (one ladder).

Plural

	duo, duae, duo two
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	duo	duae	duo
Vocative
Accusative	duōs duo	duās
Genitive	duōrum duum	duārum	duōrum
Dative	duōbus	duābus	duōbus
Ablative

The word ambō ('both'), is declined like duo except that its o is long. Both declensions derive from the Indo-European dual number, otherwise defunct in Latin, rather than the plural.

Plural

	trēs, tria three
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	trēs		tria
Vocative
Accusative	trēs trīs
Genitive	trium
Dative	tribus
Ablative

	ducentī, ducentae, ducenta two hundred
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
	Plural
Nominative	ducentī	ducentae	ducenta
Vocative
Accusative	ducentōs	ducentās
Genitive	ducentōrum	ducentārum	ducentōrum
Dative	ducentīs
Ablative

The numeral centum ('one hundred') is indeclinable, but all the other hundred numerals are declinable.

	mīlle thousand
	Singular		Plural
Nominative	mīlle		mīlia	-ia
Vocative
Accusative
Genitive			mīlium	-ium
Dative			mīlibus	-ibus
Ablative

The word mīlle 'thousand' is a singular indeclinable adjective. However, its plural, mīlia, is a plural third-declension i-stem neuter noun. To write the phrase "four thousand horses" in Latin, the genitive is used: quattuor mīlia equōrum, literally, "four thousands of horses".

The rest of the numbers are indeclinable whether used as adjectives or as substantives.

1	I	ūnus, ūna, ūnum	11	XI	ūndecim	21	XXI	vigintī et ūnus	101	CI	centum et ūnus
2	II	duo, duae, duo	12	XII	duodecim	22	XXII	vigintī et duo	200	CC	ducentī, ducentae, ducenta
3	III	trēs, tria	13	XIII	trēdecim	30	XXX	trīgintā	300	CCC	trecentī, trecentae, trecenta
4	IV	quattuor	14	XIV	quattuordecim	40	XL	quadrāgintā	400	CD	quadringentī, quadringentae, quadringenta
5	V	quīnque	15	XV	quīndecim	50	L	quīnquāgintā	500	D	quīngentī, quīngentae, quīngenta
6	VI	sex	16	XVI	sēdecim	60	LX	sexāgintā	600	DC	sescentī, sescentae, sescenta
7	VII	septem	17	XVII	septendecim	70	LXX	septuāgintā	700	DCC	septingentī, septingentae, septingenta
8	VIII	octō	18	XVIII	duodēvigintī	80	LXXX	octōgintā	800	DCCC	octingentī, octingentae, octingenta
9	IX	novem	19	XIX	ūndēvigintī	90	XC	nōnāgintā	900	CM	nōngentī, nōngentae, nōngenta
10	X	decem	20	XX	vigintī	100	C	centum	1000	M	mīlle

The conjunction et between numerals can be omitted: vigintī ūnus, centum ūnus. Et is not used when there are more than two words in a compound numeral: centum trīgintā quattuor. The word order in the numerals from 21 to 99 may be inverted: ūnus et vigintī. Numbers ending in 8 or 9 are usually named in subtractive manner: duodētrīgintā, ūndēquadrāgintā.

Ordinal numerals[edit]

Ordinal numerals all decline like normal first- and second-declension adjectives. When declining two-word ordinals (thirteenth onwards), both words decline to match in gender, number and case.

• prīmus 'first'
• secundus 'second'
• tertius 'third'
• vicēsimus/vicensimus 'twentieth'

Note: secundus only means 'second' in the sense of 'following', the adjective alter, altera, alterum meaning 'other [of two]' was more frequently used in many instances that English would use 'second'.

Ordinal numbers, not cardinal numbers, are commonly used to represent dates, because they are in the format of "in the tenth year of Caesar", etc. which also carried over into the anno Domini system and Christian dating, e.g. annō post Christum nātum centēsimō for AD 100.

1	I	prīmus	11	XI	ūndecimus	21	XXI	vicēsimus prīmus	101	CI	centēsimus prīmus
2	II	secundus	12	XII	duodecimus	22	XXII	vicēsimus secundus	200	CC	ducentēsimus
3	III	tertius	13	XIII	tertius decimus	30	XXX	trīcēsimus	300	CCC	trecentēsimus
4	IV	quārtus	14	XIV	quārtus decimus	40	XL	quadrāgēsimus	400	CD	quadringentēsimus
5	V	quīntus	15	XV	quīntus decimus	50	L	quīnquāgēsimus	500	D	quīngentēsimus
6	VI	sextus	16	XVI	sextus decimus	60	LX	sexāgēsimus	600	DC	sescentēsimus
7	VII	septimus	17	XVII	septimus decimus	70	LXX	septuāgēsimus	700	DCC	septingentēsimus
8	VIII	octāvus	18	XVIII	duodēvicēsimus	80	LXXX	octōgēsimus	800	DCCC	octingentēsimus
9	IX	nōnus	19	XIX	ūndēvicēsimus	90	XC	nōnāgēsimus	900	CM	nōngentēsimus
10	X	decimus	20	XX	vicēsimus	100	C	centēsimus	1000	M	mīllēsimus

Numerals for plurals with singular meaning[edit]

Certain nouns in Latin were pluralia tantum, i.e. nouns that did not exist in the grammatical singular, for example litterae 'letter', castra 'camp', catēnae 'set of chains', vestīmenta 'clothes', hibernae 'winter quarters', nūptiae 'wedding', quadrīgae 'quadriga' etc. A special series of numeral adjectives was used for counting these, namely ūnī, bīnī, trīnī, quadrīnī, quīnī, sēnī, and so on. Thus Roman authors would write: ūnae litterae "one letter", trīnae litterae "three letters", quīna castra "five camps", etc.^[14]

1	I	ūnī	11	XI	ūndēnī	21	XXI	vīcēnī ūnī	101	CI	centēnī singulī
2	II	bīnī	12	XII	duodēnī	22	XXII	vīcēnī bīnī	200	CC	ducēnī
3	III	trinī	13	XIII	trinī dēnī	30	XXX	trīcēnī	300	CCC	trecēnī
4	IV	quadrīnī	14	XIV	quadrīnī dēnī	40	XL	quādrāgēnī	400	CD	quadringēnī
5	V	quīnī	15	XV	quīnī dēnī	50	L	quīnquāgēnī	500	D	quīngēnī
6	VI	sēnī	16	XVI	sēnī dēnī	60	LX	sexāgēnī	600	DC	sescēnī
7	VII	septēnī	17	XVII	septēnī dēnī	70	LXX	septuāgēnī	700	DCC	septingēnī
8	VIII	octōnī	18	XVIII	duodēvīcēnī	80	LXXX	octōgēnī	800	DCCC	octingēnī
9	IX	novēnī	19	XIX	ūndēvīcēnī	90	XC	nōnāgēnī	900	CM	nōngēnī
10	X	dēnī	20	XX	vīcēnī	100	C	centēnī	1000	M	mīllenī

Distributive numerals[edit]

Another set of numeral adjectives, similar to the above but differing in the adjectives for 1, 3, and 4, were the distributive numerals: singulī, bīnī, ternī, quaternī, quīnī, sēnī, and so on. The meaning of these is 'one each', 'two each' (or 'in pairs') and so on, for example ibī turrīs cum ternīs tabulātīs ērigēbat "there he began erecting towers with three storeys each" (Julius Caesar); bīnī senātōrēs singulīs cohortibus praepositī "a pair of senators was put in charge of each group of soldiers" (Livy). In numbers 13 to 19, the order may be inverted, e.g. "dēnī ternī" instead of "ternī dēnī"^[15].

1	I	singulī	11	XI	ūndēnī	21	XXI	vīcēnī singulī	101	CI	centēnī singulī
2	II	bīnī	12	XII	duodēnī	22	XXII	vīcēnī bīnī	200	CC	ducēnī
3	III	ternī	13	XIII	ternī dēnī	30	XXX	trīcēnī	300	CCC	trecēnī
4	IV	quaternī	14	XIV	quaternī dēnī	40	XL	quādrāgēnī	400	CD	quadringēnī
5	V	quīnī	15	XV	quīnī dēnī	50	L	quīnquāgēnī	500	D	quīngēnī
6	VI	sēnī	16	XVI	sēnī dēnī	60	LX	sexāgēnī	600	DC	sescēnī
7	VII	septēnī	17	XVII	septēnī dēnī	70	LXX	septuāgēnī	700	DCC	septingēnī
8	VIII	octōnī	18	XVIII	duodēvīcēnī	80	LXXX	octōgēnī	800	DCCC	octingēnī
9	IX	novēnī	19	XIX	ūndēvīcēnī	90	XC	nōnāgēnī	900	CM	nōngēnī
10	X	dēnī	20	XX	vīcēnī	100	C	centēnī	1000	M	mīllenī

Adverbial numerals[edit]

Adverbial numerals are (as the name states) indeclinable adverbs, but because all of the other numeral constructions are adjectives, they are listed here with them. Adverbial numerals give how many times a thing happened. semel 'once', bis 'twice', ter 'thrice, three times', quater 'four times', and so on.

1	I	semel	11	XI	ūndeciēns	21	XXI	vīciēns semel	101	CI	centiēns semel
2	II	bis	12	XII	duodeciēns	22	XXII	vīciēns bis	200	CC	ducentiēns
3	III	ter	13	XIII	trēdeciēns	30	XXX	trīciēns	300	CCC	trecentiēns
4	IV	quater	14	XIV	quattuordeciēns	40	XL	quadrāgiēns	400	CD	quadringentiēns
5	V	quinquiēns	15	XV	quīndeciēns	50	L	quīnquāgiēns	500	D	quīngentiēns
6	VI	sexiēns	16	XVI	sēdeciēns	60	LX	sexāgiēns	600	DC	sescentiēns
7	VII	septiēns	17	XVII	septendeciēns	70	LXX	septuāgiēns	700	DCC	septingentiēns
8	VIII	octiēns	18	XVIII	duodēvīciēns	80	LXXX	octōgiēns	800	DCCC	octingentiēns
9	IX	noviēns	19	XIX	ūndēvīciēns	90	XC	nōnāgiēns	900	CM	nōngentiēns
10	X	deciēns	20	XX	vīciēns	100	C	centiēns	1000	M	mīlliēns

The suffix -iēns may also be spelled -iēs: quinquiēs, sexiēs, etc.

Multiplicative numerals[edit]

Multiplicative numerals are declinable adjectives, they give how many times a thing is. simplex 'single', duplex 'double', triplex 'treble', quadruplex 'fourfold', and so on.

1	I	simplex	11	XI	ūndecuplex	21	XXI	vīgentuplex simplex	101	CI	centuplex simplex
2	II	duplex	12	XII	duodecuplex	22	XXII	vīgentuplex duplex	200	CC	ducentuplex
3	III	triplex	13	XIII	trēdecuplex	30	XXX	trigintuplex	300	CCC	trecentuplex
4	IV	quadruplex	14	XIV	quattuordecuplex	40	XL	quadrāgintuplex	400	CD	quadringentuplex
5	V	quinquiplex	15	XV	quīndecuplex	50	L	quīnquāgintuplex	500	D	quīngentuplex
6	VI	sextuplex	16	XVI	sēdecuplex	60	LX	sexāgintuplex	600	DC	sescentuplex
7	VII	septuplex	17	XVII	septendecuplex	70	LXX	septuāgintuplex	700	DCC	septingentuplex
8	VIII	octuplex	18	XVIII	duodēvīgentuplex	80	LXXX	octōgintuplex	800	DCCC	octingentuplex
9	IX	nonuplex	19	XIX	ūndēvīgentuplex	90	XC	nōnāgintuplex	900	CM	nōngentuplex
10	X	decuplex	20	XX	vīgentuplex	100	C	centuplex	1000	M	mīlliplex

Proportional numerals[edit]

Proportional numerals are declinable adjectives. simplus 'simple', duplus 'twice as great', triplus 'thrice as great', quadruplus 'four times as great', and so on.

1	I	simplus	11	XI	ūndecuplus	21	XXI	vīgentuplus simplus	101	CI	centuplus simplus
2	II	duplus	12	XII	duodecuplus	22	XXII	vīgentuplus duplus	200	CC	ducentuplus
3	III	triplus	13	XIII	trēdecuplus	30	XXX	trigintuplus	300	CCC	trecentuplus
4	IV	quadruplus	14	XIV	quattuordecuplus	40	XL	quadrāgintuplus	400	CD	quadringentuplus
5	V	quinquiplus	15	XV	quīndecuplus	50	L	quīnquāgintuplus	500	D	quīngentuplus
6	VI	sextuplus	16	XVI	sēdecuplus	60	LX	sexāgintuplus	600	DC	sescentuplus
7	VII	septuplus	17	XVII	septendecuplus	70	LXX	septuāgintuplus	700	DCC	septingentuplus
8	VIII	octuplus	18	XVIII	duodēvīgentuplus	80	LXXX	octōgintuplus	800	DCCC	octingentuplus
9	IX	nonuplus	19	XIX	ūndēvīgentuplus	90	XC	nōnāgintuplus	900	CM	nōngentuplus
10	X	decuplus	20	XX	vīgentuplus	100	C	centuplus	1000	M	mīlliplus

Temporal numerals[edit]

Temporal numerals are indeclinable adverbs. ūniennis 'in [a period of] one year, of one year'; biennis 'in/of two years'; triennis 'in/of three years'; quadriennis 'in/of four years'; and so on.

1	I	ūniennis	11	XI	ūndēniennis	21	XXI	vīciennis ūniennis	101	CI	centiennis ūniennis
2	II	biennis	12	XII	duodēniennis	22	XXII	vīciennis biennis	200	CC	duciennis
3	III	triennis	13	XIII	triennis dēniennis	30	XXX	trīciennis	300	CCC	treciennis
4	IV	quadriennis	14	XIV	quadrīniennis dēniennis	40	XL	quādrāgiennis	400	CD	quadringiennis
5	V	quīniennis	15	XV	quīniennis dēniennis	50	L	quīnquāgiennis	500	D	quīngiennis
6	VI	sēniennis	16	XVI	sēniennis dēniennis	60	LX	sexāgiennis	600	DC	sesciennis
7	VII	septiennis	17	XVII	septiennis dēniennis	70	LXX	septuāgiennis	700	DCC	septingiennis
8	VIII	octiennis	18	XVIII	duodēvīcēnī	80	LXXX	octōgiennis	800	DCCC	octingiennis
9	IX	noviennis	19	XIX	ūndēvīciennis	90	XC	nōnāgiennis	900	CM	nōngiennis
10	X	dēniennis	20	XX	vīciennis	100	C	centiennis	1000	M	mīlliennis

Partitive numerals[edit]

Partitive are declinable adjectives. ūninārius 'of one part', bīnārius 'of two parts', ternārius 'of three parts', quaternārius 'of four parts', and so on.

1	I	ūninārius	11	XI	ūndēnārius	21	XXI	vīcēnārius ūninārius	101	CI	centēnārius ūninārius
2	II	bīnārius	12	XII	duodēnārius	22	XXII	vīcēnārius bīnārius	200	CC	ducēnārius
3	III	ternārius	13	XIII	tredēnārius	30	XXX	trīcēnārius	300	CCC	trecēnārius
4	IV	quaternārius	14	XIV	quattuordēnārius	40	XL	quādrāgēnārius	400	CD	quadringēnārius
5	V	quīnārius	15	XV	quīndēnārius	50	L	quīnquāgēnārius	500	D	quīngēnārius
6	VI	sēnārius	16	XVI	sēdēnārius	60	LX	sexāgēnārius	600	DC	sescēnārius
7	VII	septēnārius	17	XVII	septendēnārius	70	LXX	septuāgēnārius	700	DCC	septingēnārius
8	VIII	octōnārius	18	XVIII	duodēvīcēnārius	80	LXXX	octōgēnārius	800	DCCC	octingēnārius
9	IX	novēnārius	19	XIX	ūndēvīcēnārius	90	XC	nōnāgēnārius	900	CM	nōngēnārius
10	X	dēnārius	20	XX	vīcēnārius	100	C	centēnārius	1000	M	mīllēnārius

Adverbs and their comparatives and superlatives[edit]

Adverbs are not declined. However, adverbs must be formed if one wants to make an adjective into an adverb.

Adverbs from first- and second-declension adjectives[edit]

First and second declension adjectives' adverbs are formed by adding -ē onto their stems.

Adjective	Adverb
clārus, clāra, clārum ('clear, famous')	clārē ('clearly, famously')
validus, valida, validum ('strong, robust')	validē ('strongly, robustly')
īnfīrmus, īnfīrma, īnfīrmum ('weak')	īnfīrmē ('weakly')
solidus, solida, solidum ('complete, firm')	solidē ('completely, firmly')
integer, integra, integrum ('whole, fresh')	integrē ('wholly, freshly')
līber, lībera, līberum ('free')	līberē ('freely')

Adverbs from third declension adjectives[edit]

Typically, third declension adjectives' adverbs are formed by adding -iter to the stem. However, most third declension adjectives with one ending simply add -er to the stem.

Adjective	Adverb
prūdēns, prūdēns (prūdentis) ('prudent')	prūdenter ('prudently')
audāx, audāx (audācis) ('bold')	audāciter ('boldly')
virilis, virile ('courageous, spirited')	viriliter ('courageously, spiritedly')
salūbris, salūbre ('wholesome')	salūbriter ('wholesomely')

Comparative and superlative of adverbs[edit]

Adverbs' comparative forms are identical to the nominative neuter singular of the corresponding comparative adjective. Adverbs' superlative forms are simply formed by attaching the regular ending -ē to the corresponding superlative adjective, as with their corresponding adjectival forms, first and second declensions adjectives ending in -eus or -ius use magis and maximē as opposed to distinct endings.

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
clārē ('clearly, famously')	clārius	clārissimē
solidē ('completely, firmly')	solidius	solidissimē
idōneē ('suitably, properly')	magis idōneē	maximē idōneē
prudenter ('prudently')	prudentius	prudentissimē
salūbriter ('wholesomely')	salūbrius	salūbrissimē

Irregular adverbs and their comparative and superlative forms[edit]

As with adjectives, there are irregular adverbs with peculiar comparative and superlative forms.

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
bene ('well')	melius ('better')	optimē ('best')
male ('badly, ill')	peius ('worse')	pessimē ('worst')
magnopere ('greatly')	magis ('more')	maximē ('most')
multum ('much, a lot')	plūs ('more')	plūrimum ('most')
parvum ('little')	minus ('less')	minimē ('least')
nēquiter ('worthlessly')	nēquius ('more worthlessly')	nēquissimē ('most worthlessly')
saepe ('often')	saepius ('more often')	saepissimē ('most often')
mātūrē ('seasonably, betimes')	mātūrius ('more seasonably')	māturrimē ('most seasonably')
prope ('near')	propius ('nearer')	proximē ('nearest, next')
nūper ('recently')	—	nūperrimē ('most recently, previously')
potis ('possible')	potius ('rather')	potissimē ('especially')
—	prius ('before, previously')	prīmō ('first')
secus ('otherwise')	sētius sequius ('less')	—

Peculiarities within declension[edit]

Irregularity in number[edit]

Some nouns are only used in the singular (singulare tantum) such as:

• materials, such as aurum ('gold') and aes ('copper, bronze')
• abstract nouns, such as celeritās ('speed') and scientia ('knowledge)

Some nouns are only used in the plural (plurale tantum) such as:

• many festivals, such as Saturnālia ('Saturnalia')
• castra ('camp') and arma ('arms')
• a few geographical names are plural such as Thēbae ('Thebes', both the Greek and the Egyptian cities)

Indeclinable nouns[edit]

Indeclinable nouns are nouns which only have one form in all cases (of the singular).

• fās ('fate, divine law')
• īnstar ('likeness')
• māne ('morning')
• nefās ('sin, abomination')
• nihil, nīl ('nothing, none')
• secus ('sex')

Heterogeneous nouns[edit]

Heterogeneous nouns are nouns which vary in respect to gender.

• A few nouns in the second declension occur in both the neuter and masculine. However, their meanings remain the same.
• Some nouns are one gender in the singular, but become another gender in the plural. They may also change in meaning.

Singular	Plural
balneum n. ('bath')	balneae f. or balnea n. ('bathhouse')
epulum n. ('feast, banquet')	epulae f. ('feast, banquet')
frēnum n. ('bridle, curb')	frēnī m. bridle, curb
iocus m. ('joke, jest')	ioca n. or ioci m. ('jokes, fun')
locus m. ('place, location')	loca n. ('region'); locī m. ('places in books, arguments')
rāstrum n. ('hoe, rake')	rāstrī m. ('hoes, rakes')

Plurals with alternative meanings[edit]

Singular	Plural
aedēs, aedis f. ('building, temple')	aedēs, aedium ('rooms, house')
auxilium, auxiliī n. ('help, aid')	auxilia, auxiliōrum ('auxiliary troops')
carcer, carceris m. ('prison, cell')	carcerēs, carcerum ('starting traps')
castrum, castrī n. ('fort, castle, fortress')	castra, castrōrum ('military camp, encampment')
cōpia, copiae f. ('plenty, much, abundance')	cōpiae, copiārum ('troops')
fortūna, fortūae f. ('luck, chance')	fortūnae, fortūārum ('wealth, fortune')
grātia, grātiae f. ('charm, favor')	grātiae, grātiārum ('thanks')
impedīmentum, impedīmentī m. ('impediment, hindrance')	impedīmenta, impedīmentōrum ('baggage, baggage train')
littera, litterae f. ('letter [alphabet]')	litterae, litterārum ('letter [message], epistle, scholarship, literature')
mōs, mōris m. ('habit, inclination')	mōrēs, mōrum m. ('morals, character')
opera, operae f. ('trouble, pains')	operae, operārum m. ('workmen')
*ops, opis f.[i] ('help')	opēs, opium ('resources, wealth')
pars, partis f. ('part, piece')	partēs, partium ('office, function')

Order of the cases[edit]

In modern textbooks of Latin, there is no single international standard for the sequence of cases.

Nom–(Voc)–Acc–Gen–Dat–Abl–(Loc)[edit]

This order reflects the syncretic trends of different cases to share similar endings. Usually the vocative and locative cases are omitted because they appear in the paradigm of only a few word classes and are dealt with separately, this makes the paradigm appear normally in the format Nom–Acc–Gen–Dat–Abl, which is also roughly the order of how frequently the cases appear in Latin text, meaning that the cases are introduced in teaching in this order. This paradigm has been the usual order in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth countries since the publication of Benjamin Hall Kennedy's Latin Primer (1866). It is the only method nowadays used in Hungary and Finland, it is also usual in France, Spain, and Portugal.

Nom–Gen–Dat–Acc–(Voc)–Abl–(Loc)[edit]

This alternative sequence arose from Byzantine grammarians who were originally writing about Greek, it is standard in the United States, although modern texts increasingly move the vocative at the end to minimize disruption to the declensions in which it is identical to the nominative; some introductory texts such as Wheelock's Latin almost entirely ignore the vocative and locative except for a few brief notes, giving the format Nom–Gen–Dat–Acc–Abl–(Voc). This paradigm is also used in Poland, as it closely corresponds to the conventional case order in the Polish language, except for the latter's use of an instrumental case instead of an ablative. The same sequence is predominant in the Netherlands, although the modern Dutch language has largely lost its case system; instead, the rationale is that this general order is convenient for the consistent teaching of three different commonly studied declensional languages: Latin, Ancient Greek, and modern German. The order Nom–Gen–Dat–Acc–(Voc)–Abl is also used in Germany itself to echo the conventional order of German cases (Nom–Gen–Dat–Acc), and also in Lithuania because the conventional order of Lithuanian noun cases is the same. The locative is dealt with separately as it is seldom used in Latin and might be considered to be on the verge of extinction in Classical Latin.

The order Nom–Gen–Dat–Acc–Voc–Abl is the standard order used in Greece (both for the teaching of Ancient and Modern Greek as well as Latin) and Italy (with the vocative case before the ablative). Here again, the locative is dealt with separately.

Others[edit]

Brazilian grammarian Napoleão Mendes used the unusual sequence Nom–Voc–Gen–Dat–Acc–Abl. The Latinum podcast uses Nom–Voc–Acc–Abl–Dat–Gen, as this facilitates memorisation. Latinum deals with the locative separately.

See also[edit]

• Declension of Greek nouns in Latin
• Latin conjugation
• Latin mnemonics
• William Whitaker's Words
• Greek declension

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

• Latin declensor (in Spanish)
• New Latin Grammar, an eBook, originally written by Charles Edwin Bennett, at the Project Gutenberg
• Interactive Latin Word Endings
• A Student's Latin Grammar, by Cambridge Latin Course's Robin m. Griffin, Third Edition
• Gildersleeve, B. L.; Gonzalez Lodge (1895). Gildersleeve's Latin Grammar (3rd ed.). Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-09215-5. 
• Greenough, J. B.; G. L. Kittredge; A. A. Howard; Benj. L. D'Ooge (1903). Allen and Greenough's New Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges. Ginn and Company.