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Latin declension is the set of patterns according to which Latin words are declined—that is, have their endings altered to show grammatical case, number and gender.Nouns, pronouns, and adjectives are declined (verbs are conjugated), and a given pattern is called a declension.
The first declension is a category of declension that consists of mostly feminine nouns in Ancient Greek and Latin with the defining feature of a long ā (analysed as either a part of the stem or a case-ending). In Greek grammar, it is also called the alpha declension, since its forms have the letter α, at least in the plural.
The ancient Romans themselves, beginning with Varro (1st century BC), originally divided their verbs into three conjugations (coniugationes verbis accidunt tres: prima, secunda, tertia "there are three different conjugations for verbs: the first, second, and third" (), 4th century AD), according to whether the ending of the 2nd person singular had an a, an e or an i in it. [2]
Latin nouns are divided into different groups according to the patterns of their case endings. These different groups are known as declensions. Nouns with -a in the nominative singular, like puella "girl" are known as 1st declension nouns, and so on.
Ablative case is used to modify verbs and can be translated as 'by', 'with', 'from', etc. Vocative case is used to address a person or thing. The genitive, dative, accusative, and ablative also have important functions to indicate the object of a preposition. Given below is the declension paradigm of Latin puer 'boy' and puella 'girl':
The declension of nouns in Latin that are borrowed from Greek varies significantly between different types of nouns, though certain patterns are common. Many nouns, particularly proper names , in particular, are fully Latinized and declined regularly according to their stem-characteristics.
The future indicative has various endings depending on the verb. First conjugation verbs and eō and its compounds have a future ending in -bō (passive -bor); sum and its compounds have a future ending in -erō; other verbs have a future ending in -am (passive -ar): 1st conjugation: amābō 'I will love' (-bō, -bis, -bit, -bimus, -bitis, -bunt)
Although the a of the Greek and Latin first declension was not originally a thematic vowel, it is considered one in Greek and Latin grammar. In both languages, first-declension nouns take some endings belonging to the thematic second declension. An a-stem noun was originally a collective noun suffixed with -eh₂, the ending of the neuter plural.