Week 3 3rd declension nouns & adjectives; 2nd conjugation verbs The 3rd declension is a tricky one for sight recognition; unlike the first and second, which have very predictable forms, nouns of the 3rd declension frequently change form drastically between the nominative singular on the one hand, and all other cases on the other, and there’s no one set of changes that happens often enough to constitute a "regular" 3rd declension noun. A good example is the word for stone, lapis (masculine): lapis, lapidis, m. stone Singular Plural Nominative lapis lapides Genitive lapidis lapidum Dative lapidi lapidibus Accusative lapidem lapides Ablative lapide lapidibus The above declension endings (-is, -i, -em -e; -es, -um,- ibus, -es, -ibus) are the exact same for feminine nouns. Neuter 3rd declension nouns have the same general pattern, but like neuters of the 2nd declension, they are the same in the nominative and accusative, and the plural ends in -a, e.g. corpus, body: corpus, corporis, n. body Singular Plural Nominative corpus corpora Genitive corporis corporum Dative corpori corporibus Accusative corpus corpora Ablative corpore corporibus There are some analogs to the 1st and 2nd declensions -- the dative and ablative plurals are still the same, the genitive plural still ends in -um, the ablative and dative singulars still end in vowels, but for the most part, it's just a new learning experience every time. Once you’ve encountered enough 3rd declensions, you’ll start to recognize patterns of these stem changes; in the meantime, the big thing is to be aware of what the endings are so you don’t get completely frustrated trying to look up a word that isn’t there. Naturally the bulk of Latiin vocab is 3rd declension. A subclass of the 3rd declension contains what are known as the "i" stems. These nouns generally are the same in the nominative and the genitive (e.g., turris, turris, tower): turris, turris, f. tower Singular Plural Nominative turris turres Genitive turris turrium Dative turri turribus Accusative turrim (or turrem) turres Ablative turri turribus You’ll notice the differences are in the accusative singular, the ablative singular, and the genitive plural (-i-, instead of -e- or nothing). Though -i- stem nouns are few and far between, they are important for: 3rd declension adjectives 3rd declension adjectives work in nearly the same way as the -i- stems above, with one minor exception, namely that the accusative singular is back to the -em ending, and one major exception: the nominative singular. 3rd declension adjectives come in 3 flavors: three terminations, two terminations, and one termination. In English, this means some have different nominative singular forms for masculine, feminine, and neuter; some have different nominative singular forms for masculine/feminine, and neuter; and some have one nominative singular form for all three. Otherwise they are declined like any other 3rd declension word. Click below to look at the complete paradigm. Adjective declension 2nd conjugation verbs: -o, -ere, -ui, -itum Verbs of the second conjugation are an easy follow-up to those of the first, since they have all the exact same forms with only these small and easily distinguished differences: in the 2nd principle part they have a long -e- instead of -a- as in the 1st conjugation; the regular pattern is like moneo, monere, monui, monitum; and they attach their endings with the -e- that’s already in the first principle part instead of having to add an -a- to the stem. More of the 2nd conjugation verbs tend to be irregular in their principle parts, but the forms will be tremendously familiar from the 1st conjugation, and of course the basic meanings are all the same, so I won’t go into them further here. Have a look at the paradigms instead. Verb paradigms Passive paradigms