By Patrick Cheiban In the First and Second Declensions the genitive singular and the nominative plural endings are the same 1 st Dec S P Nom Puella ID: 294280
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Slide1
Genitive Singular or Nominative Plural?
By: Patrick
CheibanSlide2
In the First and Second Declensions, the genitive singular and the nominative plural endings are the same:
1
st
Dec.
S P
Nom:
Puella
Puell
ae
Gen:
Puall
ae
Puellarum
2
nd
Dec.
S P
Nom: Lupus
Lup
i
Gen:
Lup
i
LuporumSlide3
How to Distinguish the Two
There are a number of ways that you can distinguish them. To decide which case is used, you must look for further clues.Slide4
Example 1
Lupi
in
arborem
currunt
.
Translation: The Wolves run into the tree.
“
Lupi
” is nominative plural because it is the only noun in the sentence that could possibly be nominative and the plural, 3
rd
person verb “
Currunt
” describes what the wolves are doing.Slide5
Example 2
Pater
Sexti
in Asia est.
Translation: The father of
Sextus
is in Asia.
The reason why “
Sexti
” is genitive is because the verb “
est
” is singular, therefore “Pater” is the only thing it can describe. Also, if they were both part of the subject, the would be connected by a conjunction such as “et,” but they are not, so “
S
exti
” must be Genitive. Slide6
Example 3
In
Horto
domini
servi
saepe
laborant
.
Translation: The master ‘s slaves often work in the garden
“
Servi
” and “Domini” can not both be nominative because they are not connected by a conjunction like “et.”
The syntax of the sentence suggests that the noun “
servi
” is connected to
laborant
. In this case, “
domini
” must be genitive singular and “
servi
” must be nominative plural.Slide7
Example 4
In
agris
domini
servos
iubent
.
Translation: The masters order the slaves in the fields.
“Domini” is nominative plural because it’s the only word in the sentence that would make sense as a subject.Slide8
Example 5
In villa
pueri
sedent
.
Translation 1: The boys sit in the country house.
Translation 2: They sit in the boy’s country house.
“
Pueri
” could be nominative plural or genitive singular. The only way you can tell the difference is through context clues.Slide9
Exersicises
Tell if the underlined word in each sentence is nominative plural or genitive singular.
Celeriter
redeunt
servi
.
Lupi
in
arbore
se
celat
.
In
villa
domini
servi
celerrime
laborant
.
Pila
Sexti
Cornelia
excipet
.
Lupi
in
horto
sunt
.Slide10
Answers
Nominative
Nominative
Genitive
Genitive
Nominative