About the Language

1. About the Language Stage III: nouns-nominative and accusative case, declensions (1st, 2nd & 3rd)

2. A. Remember the Nominative and Accusative. • Remember the difference between the nominative case and the accusative case of the following nouns. • nominativeMetella Caecilius mercator accusative Metellam Caecilium mercatorem

3. B. First Declension • A large number of words, such as ancilla and taberna, form their accusative case in the same ways as Metella. They belong to a “family” of nouns known as the first declension and look like this: • nominative Metella ancilla taberna -a accusative Metellam ancillam tabernam -am The nominative ending of the first declension is –a, and the accusative ends in –am. **The “families” known as declensions are when the nouns are “declined” into their different cases such as nominative and accusative. This way the nouns can be used in different ways in sentences such as the subject or direct object.

4. C. Second Declension • Another large group of nouns belongs to the second declension. Most of these words form their accusative in the same way as Caecilius. For example: • nominative Caecilius servus amicus -us accusative Caecilium servum amicum -um The nominative ending of the second declension is –us, and the accusative ends in –um.

5. D. Third Declension • You have also met several nouns belonging to the third declension. For example: • nominativemercator leo senex canis -X accusativemercatorem leonem senem canem -em The nominative ending of the third declension make take various forms, but the accusative ends in –em.