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
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Puellae in viā cantant.
The girls sing in the street.
Fīlia agricolae in casā labōrat.
The farmer's daughter works in the cottage.
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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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Вправи для практикиPuellae 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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