Salvēte!
This lesson will wrap up the 3rd declension, so that we at least have a good overview of this class of nouns. To see the rest of the course, check out the links on the right.
New Grammar
The dative case is the only case in this declension we haven’t covered, and it has consistent endings regardless of gender, and regardless of whether the noun is i-stem or regular, so it shouldn’t be too confusing. Dative case is used for indirect objects, or to express some “to/for” phrases. 3rd declension nouns have -ī in the dative singular and -ibus in the dative plural.
| case name | sing. | pl. | typical use |
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative (m./f.) | --- | -ēs | subject or predicate noun |
| nominative (n.) | --- | -(i)a | “ |
| genitive | -is | -(i)um | possession, the “of” case |
| dative | -ī | -ibus | indirect object, the “to/for” case |
| accusative (m.) | -em | -ēs | direct object (also some objects of preps.) |
| accusative (n.) | --- | -(i)a | “ |
| ablative | -e | -ibus | objects of prepositions, etc. “by/with/from” case |
New Vocabulary
| Latin | English |
|---|---|
| cīvitās, cīvitātis (f.) | state, citizenship, community, city |
| dux, ducis (m.) | general, leader |
| gēns, gentis, gentium (f.) | tribe, nation, clan |
| imperātor, imperātōris (m.) | commander-in-chief, general, emperor, ruler (outranks dux) |
| lībertās, lībertātis (f.) | liberty, freedom |
| pāx, pācis (f.) | peace |
New Sentences
| Latin | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Rēx lībertātem cīvibus dat. | The king gives freedom to the citizens. | |
| Cīvēs urbem rēgī dant. | The citizens give the city to the king. | |
| Lībertās lūcem hominibus dat. | Liberty gives light to men. | |
| Ducēs boni pācem gentī dant. | Good leaders give peace to (their) nation. | |
| Mīlitēs pecūniam Gallōrum imperātōrī dant. | The soldiers give the money of the Gauls to the commander. | |
| Dōna patrī meō dō. | I give gifts to my father. | |
| Vīnum cīvibus bonis cīvitātis dās. | You give wine to the good citizens of the state. | |
| Vīnum cīvibus cīvitātis bonae datis. | You (pl.) give wine to the citizens of the good state. |
Practice
| Practice and learn the words and phrases in this lesson | |
|---|---|
| Step one | First learn the words using this lesson: |
| Step two | Next try learning and writing the sentencing using this: |
| Note that the Memrise stage covers the content for all lessons in each stage. If you are skipping previous stages you may need to manually "ignore" the words in previous levels (use the 'select all' function) | |
At this point, we have had a survey of the first three declensions of Latin nouns. There are two more declensions with their own sets of endings, but the vast majority of nouns fall within the first three declensions and the rules we’ve just taught you. For the next several lessons we’ll go back to more general subjects with family, animals, food, etc. as the topics. I hope you’ll enjoy the break from all the intense grammar, while building on the vocabulary you’ve already learned. Bonam fortūnam!