Third-declension nouns are the largest and most varied noun family in Latin, and they include some of the commonest words: rēx (king), mīles (soldier)
Can recognize Third declension nouns in a short Latin prompt
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The king leads the soldiers into the city.
I am a human being.
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Third-declension nouns are the largest and most varied noun family in Latin, and they include some of the commonest words: rēx (king), mīles (soldier), urbs (city), homō (person). They can be any gender, and their nominative singular comes in many shapes, so this is the declension where you most need the genitive.
The reliable signal is the genitive ending -is. Chop off the -is and you get the stem to which all other endings attach, which is why dictionaries always list the genitive (e.g. rēx, rēgis).
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | rēx | rēgēs |
| Genitive | rēgis | rēgum |
| Dative | rēgī | rēgibus |
| Accusative | rēgem | rēgēs |
| Ablative | rēge | rēgibus |
Examples:
The trap for English speakers is expecting the nominative to predict the endings; it does not. From rēx alone you could not guess the stem rēg-. Always learn the genitive with the word. Also note that rēgēs is both nominative and accusative plural, so once again the ending alone will not tell you subject from object; use the verb and context.
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Procvičovací cvičeníThe king leads the soldiers into the city.
Rex has the stem reg-, visible only in the genitive regis. The nominative hides it, which is what makes this declension hard.
I am a human being.
Homo, genitive hominis, stem homin-. Terence's line opens with these two words: Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto.
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Použijte tuto gramatiku ve cvičeních kurzu A1