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.
FIRST DECLENSION.
20. Pure Latin nouns of the First Declension regularly end, in the Nominative Singular, in -ă, weakened from -ā, and are of the Feminine Gender. They are declined as follows: -
|
Porta, gate; stem, portā-. SINGULAR. |
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| CASES. | MEANINGS. | TERMINATIONS. | |
| Nom. | porta | a gate (as subject) | -ă |
| Gen. | portae | of a gate | -ae |
| Dat. | portae | to or for a gate | -ae |
| Acc. | portam | a gate (as object) | -am |
| Voc. | porta | O gate! | -ă |
| Abl. | portā | with, by, from, in a gate | -ā |
|
PLURAL. |
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| Nom. | portae | gates (as subject) | -ae |
| Gen. | portārum | of gates | -ārum |
| Dat. | portīs | to or for gates | -īs |
| Acc. | portās | gates (as object) | -ās |
| Voc. | portae | O gates! | -ae |
| Abl. | portīs | with, by, from, in gates | -īs |
1. The Latin has no article, and porta may mean either a gate or the gate; and in the Plural, gates or the gates.
21. 1. EXCEPTIONS IN GENDER. Nouns denoting males are Masculine; as, nauta, sailor; agricola, farmer; also, Hadria, Adriatic Sea.
2. Rare Case-Endings, -
a) An old form of the Genitive Singular in -ās is preserved in the combination pater familiās, father of a family; also in māter familiās, fīlius familiās, fīlia familiās. But the regular form of the Genitive in -ae is also admissible in these expressions; as, pater familiae.
b) In poetry a Genitive in -āī also occurs; as, aulāī.
c) The Locative Singular ends in -ae; as, Rōmae, at Rome.
d) A Genitive Plural in -um instead of -ārum sometimes occurs; as, Dardanidum instead of Dardanidārum. This termination -um is not a contraction of -ārum, but represents an entirely different case-ending.
e) Instead of the regular ending -īs, we usually find -ābus in the Dative and Ablative Plural of dea, goddess, and fīlia, daughter, especially when it is important to distinguish these nouns from the corresponding forms of deus, god, and fīlius, son. A few other words sometimes have the same peculiarity; as, lībertābus (from līberta, freedwoman), equābus (mares), to avoid confusion with lībertīs (from lībertus, freedman) and equīs (from equus, horse).
22. These end in -ē (Feminine); -ās and -ēs (Masculine). In the Plural they are declined like regular Latin nouns of the First Declension. In the Singular they are declined as follows: -
| Archiās, Archias. | Epitomē, epitome. | Comētēs, comet. | |
| Nom. | Archiās | epitomē | comētēs |
| Gen. | Archiae | epitomēs | comētae |
| Dat. | Archiae | epitomae | comētae |
| Acc. | Archiam (or -ān) | epitomēn | comētēn |
| Voc. | Archiā | epitomē | comētē (or -ă) |
| Abl. | Archiā | epitomē | comētē (or -ā) |
1. But most Greek nouns in -ē become regular Latin nouns in -a, and are declined like porta; as, grammatica, grammar; mūsica, music; rhētorica, rhetoric.
2. Some other peculiarities occur, especially in poetry.
SECOND DECLENSION.
23. Pure Latin nouns of the Second Declension end in -us, -er, -ir, Masculine; -um, Neuter. Originally -us in the Nominative of the Masculine was -os; and -um of the Neuters -om. So also in the Accusative.
Nouns in -us and -um are declined as follows: -
| Hortus, garden; stem, hortŏ-. | Bellum, war; stem, bellŏ-. | |||
| SINGULAR. | ||||
| TERMINATION. | TERMINATION. | |||
| Nom. | hortus | -us | bellum | -um |
| Gen. | hortī | -ī | bellī | -ī |
| Dat. | hortō | -ō | bellō | -ō |
| Acc. | hortum | -um | bellum | -um |
| Voc. | horte | -e | bellum | -um |
| Abl. | hortō | -ō | bellō | -ō |
|
PLURAL. |
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| Nom. | hortī | -ī | bella | -a |
| Gen. | hortōrum | -ōrum | bellōrum | -ōrum |
| Dat. | hortīs | -īs | bellīs | -īs |
| Acc. | hortōs | -ōs | bella | -a |
| Voc. | hortī | -ī | bella | -a |
| Abl. | hortīs | -īs | bellīs | -īs |
Nouns in -er and -ir are declined as follows: -
| Puer, boy; stem, puerŏ- | Ager, field; stem, agrŏ- | Vir, man; stem, virŏ- | ||
| SINGULAR. | TERMINATION. | |||
| Nom. | puer | ager | vir | Wanting |
| Gen. | puerī | agrī | virī | -ī |
| Dat. | puerō | agrō | virō | -ō |
| Acc. | puerum | agrum | virum | -um |
| Voc. | puer | ager | vir | Wanting |
| Abl. | puerō | agrō | virō | -ō |
|
PLURAL. |
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| Nom. | puerī | agrī | virī | -ī |
| Gen. | puerōrum | agrōrum | virōrum | -ōrum |
| Dat. | puerīs | agrīs | virīs | -īs |
| Acc. | puerōs | agrōs | virōs | -ōs |
| Voc. | puerī | agrī | virī | -ī |
| Abl. | puerīs | agrīs | virīs | -īs |
1. Note that in words of the type of puer and vir the final vowel of the stem has disappeared in the Nominative and Vocative Singular.
In the Nominative and Vocative Singular of ager, the stem is further modified by the development of e before r.
2. The following nouns in -er are declined like puer: adulter, adulterer; gener, son-in-law; Līber, Bacchus; socer, father-in-law; vesper, evening; and compounds in -fer and -ger, as signifer, armiger.
24. Nouns ending in the Nominative Singular in -vus, -vum, -quus, exhibited two types of inflection in the classical Latin, - an earlier and a later, - as follows: -
| Earlier Inflection (including Caesar and Cicero). | |||
| Servos, m., slave. | Aevom, n., age. | Equos, m., horse. | |
| SINGULAR. | |||
| Nom. | servos | aevom | equos |
| Gen. | servī | aevī | equī |
| Dat. | servō | aevō | equō |
| Acc. | servom | aevom | equom |
| Voc. | serve | aevom | eque |
| Abl. | servō | aevō | equō |
|
Later inflection (after Cicero). SINGULAR. |
|||
| Nom. | servus | aevum | equus |
| Gen. | servī | aevī | equī |
| Dat. | servō | aevō | equō |
| Act. | servum | aevum | equum |
| Voc. | serve | aevum | eque |
| Abl. | servō | aevō | equō |
1. The Plural of these nouns is regular, and always uniform.
25. 1. Proper names in -ius regularly form the Genitive Singular in -ī (instead of -iī), and the Vocative Singular in -ī (for -ie); as Vergílī, of Virgil, or O Virgil (instead of Vergiliī, Vergilie). In such words the accent stands upon the penult, even though that be short. Nouns in -ajus, -ejus form the Gen. in -aī, -eī, as Pompejus, Pompeī.
2. Nouns in -ius and -ium, until after the beginning of the reign of Augustus (31 B.C.), regularly formed the Genitive Singular in -i (instead of -iī); as, -
| Nom. | ingenium | fīlius |
| Gen. | ingénī | fīlī |
These Genitives accent the penult, even when it is short.
3. Fīlius forms the Vocative Singular in -ī (for -ie); viz. fīlī, O son!
4. Deus, god, lacks the Vocative Singular. The Plural is inflected as follows: -
| Nom. | dī | (deī) |
| Gen. | deōrum | (deum) |
| Dat. | dīs | (deīs) |
| Acc. | deōs | |
| Voc. | dī | (deī) |
| Abl. | dīs | (deīs) |
5. The Locative Singular ends in -ī; as, Corinthī, at Corinth.
6. The Genitive Plural has -um, instead of -ōrum, -
a) in words denoting money and measure; as, talentum, of talents; modium, of pecks; sēstertium, of sesterces.
b) in duumvir, triumvir, decemvir; as, duumvirum.
c) sometimes in other words; as, līberum, of the children; socium, of the allies.
26. 1. The following nouns in -us are Feminine by exception: -
a) Names of towns, islands, trees - according to the general rule laid down in § 15, 2; also some names of countries; as Aegyptus, Egypt.
b) Five special words, -
alvus, belly;
carbasus, flax;
colus, distaff;
humus, ground;
vannus, winnowing-fan.
c) A few Greek Feminines; as, -
atomus, atom;
diphthongus, diphthong.
2. The following nouns in -us are Neuter: -
pelagus, sea;
vīrus, poison;
vulgus, crowd.
27. These end in -os, -ōs, Masculine or Feminine; and -on, Neuter. They are mainly proper names, and are declined as follows: -
| Barbitos, m. and f., lyre. | Androgeōs, m., Androgeos. | Īlion, n., Troy. | |
| Nom. | barbitos | Androgeōs | Īlion |
| Gen. | barbitī | Androgeō, -ī | Īliī |
| Dat. | barbitō | Androgeō | Īliō |
| Acc. | barbiton | Androgeō, -ōn | Īlion |
| Voc. | barbite | Androgeōs | Īlion |
| Abl. | barbitō | Androgeō | Īliō |
1. Nouns in -os sometimes form the Accusative Singular in -um instead of -on; as, Dēlum, Delos.
2. The Plural of Greek nouns, when it occurs, is usually regular.
3. For other rare forms of Greek nouns the lexicon may be consulted.