First-declension nouns are the first family of Latin nouns you learn, and the friendliest.
Can recognize First declension nouns in a short Latin prompt
Schau dir diese Beispiele an. Kannst du das grammatische Muster erkennen?
Puellae in viā cantant.
The girls sing in the street.
Fīlia agricolae in casā labōrat.
The farmer's daughter works in the cottage.
Achte auf die hervorgehobenen Teile. Was haben sie gemeinsam?
First-declension nouns are the first family of Latin nouns you learn, and the friendliest. They are recognizable by their genitive ending -ae and are for the most part feminine, like puella (girl), rosa (rose), and aqua (water).
A "declension" is just a set of endings a noun uses to show its job in the sentence. Since English nouns barely change (only "book/book's/books"), the idea of one word taking six different case endings is the main new habit to build.
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | puella | puellae |
| Genitive | puellae | puellārum |
| Dative | puellae | puellīs |
| Accusative | puellam | puellās |
| Ablative | puellā | puellīs |
Notice the vowel "a" runs through the whole set, which is why this is called the "a-declension."
The catch for English speakers is that three forms look alike: puellae is genitive singular, dative singular, and nominative plural all at once, and puellā differs from puella only by a macron. Let the rest of the sentence tell you which reading is meant, and watch the accusative -am to spot the object.
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ÜbungsaufgabenPuellae in viā cantant.
The girls sing in the street.
Puellae is both nominative plural and genitive singular. The ending is genuinely ambiguous; only the sentence resolves it.
Fīlia agricolae in casā labōrat.
The farmer's daughter works in the cottage.
Agricolae is a first-declension genitive: 'of the farmer'. The noun is masculine despite its -a ending, like nauta and poeta.
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