In the seventh class of the Latin from Scratch course, we’ll study the second declension, which is slightly more difficult than the first one, since we need to learn three different tables; most of the cells are the same, though.
I explain everything in the following video (⏳ 09m 56s ⌛):
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Morphology of the second declension
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As already said, the second declension is more complex than the first declension, since we have three types, which we classify according to their statement:
- nominative singular ‑us (masculine and feminine)
- nominative singular ‑er (masculine)
- nominative singular ‑um (neuter)
They’re pretty much the same, but with some differences.
Nominative ending in ‑us
Most of them are masculine. However, names of plants are feminine (e.g. pinus alta est), as well as the nouns humus ‘soil, earth’, alvus ‘belly, abdomen’ and colus ‘spinning wheel’.
| nom. sg. | dominŭs | nom. pl. | dominī |
| voc. sg. | dominĕ | voc. pl. | dominī |
| ac. sg. | dominŭm | ac. pl. | dominōs |
| gen. sg. | dominī | gen. pl. | dominōrum |
| dat. sg. | dominō | dat. pl. | dominīs |
| ab. sg. | dominō | ab. pl. | dominīs |
Nominative ending in ‑er
This group is different from the first one only in its nominative-vocative singular, which end in ‑er. These are always masculine.
| nom. sg. | puer | nom. pl. | puerī |
| voc. sg. | puer | voc. pl. | puerī |
| ac. sg. | puerŭm | ac. pl. | puerōs |
| gen. sg. | puerī | gen. pl. | puerōrum |
| dat. sg. | puerō | dat. pl. | puerīs |
| ab. sg. | puerō | ab. pl. | puerīs |
It could be considered a different subcategory, but let’s just include them here: the noun vir, viri ‘man, male person’ and its compounds (duumvir, duumviri; triumvir, triumviri, etc.)
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Nominative ending in ‑um
These are always neuter. All neuter nouns, in any declension, have the peculiarity of having the same nominative, vocative and accusative (singular, and then plural).
| nom. sg. | bellŭm | nom. pl. | bellă |
| voc. sg. | bellŭm | voc. pl. | bellă |
| ac. sg. | bellŭm | ac. pl. | bellă |
| gen. sg. | bellī | gen. pl. | bellōrum |
| dat. sg. | bellō | dat. pl. | bellīs |
| ab. sg. | bellō | ab. pl. | bellīs |
We include in this category, despite ending in ‑us, these three words: pelagus ‘sea’, virus ‘poison’ y volgus ‘masses, common people’.
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Now that we have learned the second declension, we can put it together with the first declension and study the first-class adjectives.
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