Latin/1st Declension Lesson 2

Salvēte omnēs!

Welcome to this week’s lesson in the continuing series of Latin for Wikiversity. Our aim is to walk you through the basics and beyond in a style similar to what is available for modern languages. To see previous lessons or a classified vocabulary list, follow these links:

New Grammar
Today let’s continue adding 1st declension nouns and a few adjectives to our vocabulary. We now know how to use the nominative and accusative, singular and plural; let’s add the ablative case as well. The ablative case is used for many purposes in Latin but the easiest to begin with is as object of certain prepositions. So to review all the 1st declension case endings we have learned so far:

Note the macron over the -ā in the ending of the ablative singular. This is the only way to tell the difference between the nominative and ablative singular of the 1st declension. The “ablative of place where” as object of the preposition “in”, and the “ablative of accompaniment” as the object of the preposition “cum” will be our main new concepts today.

New Vocabulary
Many place-names are part of the 1st declension; some are not different enough from their English equivalents to introduce them formally: Āfrica, America, Āsia, Britannia, Eurōpa, Germānia, Graecia, Hispānia, Ītalia, Rōma.

Remember, all 1st declension nouns are feminine unless they name a male person.

Our new verbs belong to the 1st conjugation and all follow the regular pattern for their 4 principal parts; -ō, -āre, -āvi, -ātus – this will be explained in greater detail later on. For now only a few forms are used.

Practice
Enough for now… I hope you are enjoying these Latin lessons! Next time we will learn a few more 1st declension nouns and the genitive case. Valē!