Gender
Gender plays a relatively minor role in latin, however, gender become important for noun/adjective agreement, and knowing which endings go on a word. In Latin, there are three genders, masculine, feminine, and neuter. Gender is always given in the principal parts of the word, however, there are a few tricks to determining gender.
Masculine
- Words of the second and third declension contain masculine nouns
- The second declension, masculine nouns can be identified by the 1st Principal part ending in -us, or -r
-The third declension, gender is not easily distinguished-- it must be learned.
e.g. puer, pueri m. - boy
servus,servi m. - slave
pater, patris m. - father
Feminine
- ALL words in the first declension words, except those denoting profession, are feminine
-NO words in the second declension are feminine
-In the first declension, the first principal part endings in -a
-Although third declension nouns have to be learned-- only feminine nouns will end in -ix for the first principal part
e.g. puella, puellae f. -girl
phoenix,phoenicis f. - phoenix
mater, matris f. - mother
Neuter
-Neuter nouns exist in the second and third declensions-In the second declension, the first principal part ends in -um
-Gender must be learned for the third declension, however, typically the neuter form's second principal part will end in -inis
-The first principal part for thrid declension words ending is -us are usually neuter.
e.g. bellum, belli n. - war
onus, oneris n. - work, burden, load
nomen, nominis n. - name
Noun/Verb Agreement
Noun and verb agreement is essential to learning Latin, the concept it relatively simple to understand. A verb and noun must agree in person, and number, in other words-- if the subject is 1st person singular (I), then the verb needs to be first person singular. If the verb is first person plural (we), thus the verb needs to match, and so on. Keep in mind, a verb can stand alone-- for its ending tells you the subject. Personal pronouns were very rarely used, except for emphasis in the nominative case.
e.g. Brentus est bonus
Brentus = 3rd Person Singular
est= thrid person singular
Tu es scelestus!
Tu= 2nd Person singular
es= 2nd person singular
Brentus et Ioelus sunt amici
Brent et Ioelus = 3rd Person plural
sunt= 3rd person plrual