Latin 3rd declension?

Question

okay, i know about the 1st and second declensions, and how to recognize them in a sentence, but how can you know if it is neuter?? For ex:

complete the following setences by filling in the blanks with the correct case endings and translate.

Quintus patr---- vocat.
So, it would Quintus calls his father. right?
so, father would be accusitive, ending in -um, right? wrong. the correct answer is -es. Why is this? how could one recognize this? Please Please help me. I'm very confused.

Answer 1

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Answer 2

You seem to be mixing up third declension and neuter. They are not mutually exclusive.

To know if a word is neuter, you must memorize that from the dictionary. There are complicated rules, but there are many exceptions to those complicated rule.

Now the third declension has masculine (as pater) feminine (as mater) and neuter (as tempus)

You can tell if a noun is in the third declension by looking at the genitive singular (the 2nd entry in the dictionary.) If that ends in -is, it is 3rd declension.

2nd declension masculine
nom us i
gen i orum
dat o is
acc um os
abl o is

2nd declension neuter
nom um a
gen i orum
dat o is
acc um a
abl o is

3rd declension masculine and feminine
nom * es
gen is um
dat i ibus
acc em es
abl e ibus


3rd declension neuter
nom * a
gen is um
dat i ibus
acc * a
abl e ibus

In the neuter, the nominative and the accusative are ALWAYS the same, and the nominative and accusative singular ALWAYS end in a.

Pater can't be neuter. Although grammatical gender has strange rules, words that refer to beings that are obviously male, such as man, Joey, father, etc, always take masculine adjectives.

Here is the declension of pater (be careful, your book may give the declension in a different order, particularly if you are using Oxford, which it appears you may be):
nom pater patres
gen patris patrum
dat patri patribus
acc patrem patres
abl patre patribus


Quintus patres vocat means: Quintus calls the fathers.
Quintus patrem vocat means: Quintus calls his father.

Patrum means something else (of the fathers). This word does not follow the same pattern as a word like servus, because servus is 2nd declension, and pater is 3rd declension.

Please email me if you need it cleared up some more. Are you taking the course without a teacher?

Answer 3

'Patres' is actually accusative plural - Quintus patres vocat = Quintus called his fathers.

Singular is 'patrem'.

Nominative singular is the base word (no ending). Others are root plus:

Nom ____ -es
Gen -is -um
Dat -i -ibus
Acc -em -es
Abl -e -ibus