before viewing this page, make sure
you have the index cards you need. You should have a set of 1st and
declension noun cards, one card each for the 1st declension, 2nd declension
masculine, and 2nd declension neuter (if you haven't gotten to 2nd
declension neuter yet, this will still make sense).
you also need a set of 1st and 2nd
declension adjective cards. One should be labeled FEMININE, one MASCULINE,
and one NEUTER. The endings will be identical to the noun cards listed above
(the feminine adjective endings = 1st declension noun endings, the masculine
adjective endings = 2nd declension noun endings, and the neuter adjective
endings = 2nd declension endings).
Once you have these 6 cards in front
of you, the following will make sense:
ADJECTIVE/NOUN
AGREEMENT (1ST/2ND DECLENSION)
In Latin, adjectives and
nouns agree in CASE, NUMBER, and GENDER. It is very easy to identify
adjective/noun pairs in Latin, or to put the correct endings on
adjective/noun pairs when translating phrases into Latin. BUT YOU SHOULD NOT
MAKE THE MISTAKE OF THINKING THAT THEY SHOULD "LOOK ALIKE". Follow
these simple steps:
1. identify the case and
number of the noun by its ending (you must know the declension to do this) fuller
explanation
2. identify the gender of
the noun fuller explanation
3. check the ending of the
adjective: it must agree with the noun in case, number and gender
fuller explanation
1.
Always seek out the noun first because nouns have a gender that never
changes. The first thing you have to know about any noun in any sentence is what
declension it belongs to. This is important because you need to know
which index card to refer to (in your head or in your pocket) so you can
accurately identify the case and number of the noun by its ending (e.g., if
you don't know what declension periculum,
periculi
belongs to, you might incorrectly identify pericula
as a nominative singular of the first declension, when it is in fact
nominative or accusative plural or the second declension. See how dangerous
that can be?) top
2.
The next step is to identify the gender of the noun. This is easy, since
nouns have a gender that never changes. It is what it is. Memorize a noun's
gender when you memorize it as a vocabulary word. Rarely, nouns will be
identified as m/f, meaning that it can be either masculine or feminine (canis,
canis, m/f -
"dog" - is such an example in the third declension). top
3.
Finally, check the ending of the adjective: it must agree with the noun in case,
number and gender. Adjective endings for 1st/2nd declension
adjectives are very similar to noun endings from the 1st/2nd declension
(there is such a thing as third declension adjectives, which you won't be
surprised to hear use 3rd declension noun endings, sort of). In order to
check the ending of your adjective, access the appropriate adjective index
card: gender is the attribute you must identify first. The gender
of the noun dictates the gender of the adjective, so go to that index
card. Once there, draw an imaginary line down in either the singular or
plural column, and an imaginary line across whatever case the noun is in.
The lines will intersect on the correct ending for your adjective: top
EXAMPLE
#1:
"good girl" in the
nominative singular
1. puella, puellae is
a 1st declension noun (we know this because the genitive of the word ends in
-ae. All words
whose genitive singular ends in -ae
are 1st declension nouns). When we look at our 1st
declension index card, we see that -a
is the nominative singular ending.
2. We know that puella,
-ae is feminine in
gender because we memorized it.
3. We now access our 1st/2nd
declension feminine ADJECTIVE index card. On this feminine gender card, we need to
find the ending corresponding to nominative singular, and it turns out to be
a:
feminine
adjective endings of the 1st/2nd declension
|
SINGULAR |
PLURAL |
NOMINATIVE |
-
a |
-
ae |
GENITIVE |
-
ae |
-
ārum |
DATIVE |
-
ae |
-
īss |
ACCUSATIVE |
-
am |
-
ās |
ABLATIVE |
-
ā |
-
īs |
4. We put the
nominative singular feminine adjective ending (-a) on the root of
the adjective. The dictionary listing of the adjective is bonus, -a,
um. This provides the nominative singular form for all three genders
so you can make it agree with ANY gender noun in ANY case and in ANY
number. We find the root by taking the ending off the genitive of
any gender (it is easiest to rely on masculine since it comes
first...the nominative is bonus,
and the genitive would be boni,
so the root is bon-).
Now add back the appropriate ending (feminine nominative singular)
onto the root...and you have bona.
5. The final form
for the nominative
singular of "good girl" is
then puella
bona, as in
this sentence: Puella
bona puerum spectat.
"The good girl watches the boy."
EXAMPLE #2:
"good boy" in the
accusative singular
1. puer, pueri is
a 2nd declension noun (we know this because the genitive of the word ends in
-i. All words
whose genitive singular ends in -i
are 2nd declension nouns). When we look at our 2nd
declension NOUN index card for the accusative singular, we see that -um
is the accusative singular ending.
2. We know that puer,
pueri is masculine in
gender because we memorized it.
3. We now access our 1st/2nd
declension masculine ADJECTIVE index card. On this masculine gender card, we need to
find the ending corresponding to nominative singular, and it turns out to be
um:
masculine
adjective endings of the 1st/2nd declension |
\ |
SINGULAR |
PLURAL |
NOMINATIVE |
-
us (-er) |
-
i |
GENITIVE |
-
i |
-
orum |
DATIVE |
-
o |
-
īss |
ACCUSATIVE |
-
um |
-
os |
ABLATIVE |
-
o |
-
īs |
4. We put the accusative
singular masculine adjective ending (-um)
on the root of the adjective. The dictionary listing of the adjective is bonus,
-a, um. This provides
the nominative singular form for all three genders so you can make it agree
with ANY gender noun in ANY case and in ANY number. We find the root by
taking the ending off the genitive of any gender (it is easiest to rely on
masculine since it comes first...the nominative is bonus,
and the genitive would be boni,
so the root is bon-).
Now add back the appropriate ending (masculine accusative singular) onto the
root...and you have bonum.
5. The final form for the accusative
singular of "good boy" is
then puer bonum,
as in this sentence: Puella
puerum bonum spectat.
"The girl watches the good boy."
top
copyright
2001 Janice
Siegel,
All Rights Reserved
send comments to: Janice Siegel (jfsiege@ilstu.edu)
date this page was edited last:
06/29/2005
the URL
of this page:
|