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Adjectives vary according to gender, and in most cases only the lemma form (nominative singular masculine form) is listed here. 1st-and-2nd-declension adjectives end in -us (masculine), -a (feminine) and -um (neuter), whereas 3rd-declension adjectives ending in -is (masculine and feminine) change to -e (neuter).
There are two principal parts for Latin nouns: the nominative singular and the genitive singular. Each declension can be unequivocally identified by the ending of the genitive singular (-ae, -i, -is, -ūs, -ei). The stem of the noun can be identified by the form of the genitive singular as well. There are five declensions for Latin nouns:
The latter class, i.e. the neuter nominative/accusative singular, usually ends with -um in Latin and -ον (-on) in Greek, matching the accusative of the former. In Latin, the masculine words of the second declension that end with -us in the nominative case are differently declined from the latter in the vocative case: such words end with -e.
Most nouns in English have distinct singular and plural forms. Nouns and most noun phrases can form a possessive construction. Plurality is most commonly shown by the ending-s (or -es), whereas possession is always shown by the enclitic-'s or, for plural forms ending in s, by just an apostrophe. Consider, for example, the forms of the noun girl.
A special case is the word you: originally, ye was its nominative form and you the accusative, but over time, you has come to be used for the nominative as well. The term "nominative case" is most properly used in the discussion of nominative–accusative languages, such as Latin, Greek and most modern Western European languages.
The neuter nominative, accusative, and vocative singular always has no ending. The α of the accusative singular and plural was originally a syllabic ν . The accusative singular ending -α appears after Proto-Greek consonants, and is much more common than -ν , because almost all third-declension stems end in a consonant.
The adverbial ending -(i)ter is used to form adverbs from 3rd declension adjectives, for example celer "quick", celeriter "quickly". Other endings such as -ō, -e, -tim are also found. The comparative form of an adverb is the same as the neuter nominative singular form of a comparative adjective and usually ends in -ius.
Usually, in borrowing words from Latin, the endings of the nominative are used: nouns whose nominative singular ends in -a (first declension) have plurals in -ae (anima, animae); nouns whose nominative singular ends in -um (second declension neuter) have plurals in -a (stadium, stadia; datum, data). (For a full treatment, see Latin declensions.)