Bennett's New Latin Grammar is a book, now in the public domain, written by the famous Charles E. Bennett. I have made this version available online. Of course there may be errors, so use at your own risk.
10. The Parts of Speech in Latin are the same as in English, viz. Nouns, Adjectives, Pronouns, Verbs, Adverbs, Prepositions, Conjunctions, and Interjections; but the Latin has no article.
11. Of these eight parts of speech the first four are capable of Inflection, i.e. of undergoing change of form to express modifications of meaning. In case of Nouns, Adjectives, and Pronouns, this process is called Declension; in case of verbs, Conjugation.
12. A Noun is the name of a person, place, thing, or quality; as, Caesar, Caesar; Rōma, Rome; penna, feather; virtūs, courage.
1. Nouns are either Proper or Common. Proper nouns are permanent names of persons or places; as, Caesar, Rōma. Other nouns are Common: as, penna, virtūs.
2. Nouns are also distinguished as Concrete or Abstract.
a) Concrete nouns are those which designate individual objects; as, mōns, mountain; pēs, foot; diēs, day; mēns, mind.
Under concrete nouns are included, also, collective nouns; as, legiō, legion; comitātus, retinue.
b) Abstract nouns designate qualities; as, cōnstantia, steadfastness; paupertās, poverty.
GENDER OF NOUNS.
13. There are three Genders, - Masculine, Feminine, and Neuter. Gender in Latin is either natural or grammatical.
Natural Gender.
14. The gender of nouns is natural when it is based upon sex. Natural gender is confined entirely to names of persons; and these are -
1. Masculine, if they denote males; as, -
nauta, sailor; agricola, farmer.
2. Feminine, if they denote females; as, -
māter, mother; rēgīna, queen.
Grammatical Gender.
15. Grammatical gender is determined not by sex, but by the general signification of the word, or the ending of its Nominative Singular. By grammatical gender, nouns denoting things or qualities are often Masculine or Feminine, simply by virtue of their signification or the ending of the Nominative Singular. The following are the general principles for determining grammatical gender: -
A. Gender determined by Signification.
1. Names of Rivers, Winds, and Months are Masculine; as, -
Sēquana, Seine; Eurus, east wind; Aprīlis, April.
2. Names of Trees, and such names of Towns and Islands as end in -us, are Feminine; as, -
quercus, oak; Corinthus, Corinth; Rhodus, Rhodes.
Other names of towns and islands follow the gender of their endings (see B, below); as, -
Delphī, n.; Leuctra, n.; Tībur, n.; Carthāgō, f.
3. Indeclinable nouns, also infinitives and phrases, are Neuter; as, -
nihil, nothing; nefās, wrong; amāre, to love.
NOTE. - Exceptions to the above principles sometimes occur; as, Allia (the river), f.
B. Gender determined by Ending of Nominative Singular.
The gender of other nouns is determined by the ending of the Nominative Singular.[11]
NOTE 1. - Common Gender. Certain nouns are sometimes Masculine, sometimes Feminine. Thus, sacerdōs may mean either priest or priestess, and is Masculine or Feminine accordingly. So also cīvis, citizen; parēns, parent; etc. The gender of such nouns is said to be common.
NOTE 2. - Names of animals usually have grammatical gender, according to the ending of the Nominative Singular, but the one form may designate either the male or female; as, ānser, m., goose or gander. So vulpēs, f., fox; aquīla, f., eagle.
NUMBER.
16. The Latin has two Numbers, - the Singular and Plural. The Singular denotes one object, the Plural, more than one.
CASES.
17. There are six Cases in Latin: -
| Nominative, | Case of Subject; |
| Genitive, | Objective with of, or Possessive; |
| Dative, | Objective with to or for; |
| Accusative, | Case of Direct Object; |
| Vocative, | Case of Address; |
| Ablative, | Objective with by, from, in, with. |
1. LOCATIVE. Vestiges of another case, the Locative (denoting place where), occur in names of towns and in a few other words.
2. OBLIQUE CASES. The Genitive, Dative, Accusative, and Ablative are called Oblique Cases.
3. STEM AND CASE-ENDINGS. The different cases are formed by appending certain case-endings to a fundamental part called the Stem.[12] Thus, portam (Accusative Singular) is formed by adding the case-ending -m to the stem porta-. But in most cases the final vowel of the stem has coalesced so closely with the actual case-ending that the latter has become more or less obscured. The apparent case-ending thus resulting is called a termination.
THE FIVE DECLENSIONS.
18. There are five Declensions in Latin, distinguished from each other by the final letter of the Stem, and also by the Termination of the Genitive Singular, as follows: -
| DECLENSION. | FINAL LETTER OF STEM. | GEN. TERMINATION. |
| First | ā | -ae |
| Second | ŏ | -ī |
| Third | ĭ / Some consonant | -īs |
| Fourth | ŭ | -ūs |
| Fifth | ē | -ēī / -ĕī |
19. 1. The Vocative is regularly like the Nominative, except in the singular of nouns in -us of the Second Declension.
2. The Dative and Ablative Plural are always alike.
3. In Neuters the Accusative and Nominative are always alike, and in the Plural end in -ă.
4. In the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Declensions, the Accusative Plural is regularly like the Nominative.
[11] The great majority of all Latin nouns come under this category. The principles for determining their gender are given under the separate declensions.
[12] The Stem is often derived from a more primitive form called the Root. Thus, the stem porta- goes back to the root per-, por-. Roots are usually monosyllabic. The addition made to a root to form a stem is called a Suffix. Thus in porta- the suffix is -ta.