Forming all cases of the first three declensions

You will form the dative and accusative cases as you do all the others: add the appropriate ending to the stem you find by dropping the ending of the genitive singular.

Note that in all three declensions, the dative plural endings are identical to the ablative plural endings. In the second and third declensions, masculine neuters have identical endings except that neuter accusatives are always identical in form to the neuter nominative.

The new endings you need to commit to memory are listed here.

First declension:

Case Singular Plural
Dative -ae -īs
Accusative -am -ās

Second declension masculine:

Case Singular Plural
Dative -īs
Accusative -um -ōs

Second declension neuter:

Case Singular Plural
Dative -īs
Accusative -um -a

Third declension masculine or feminine:

Case Singular Plural
Dative -ibus
Accusative -em -ēs

Third declension neuter:

Case Singular Plural
Dative -ibus
Accusative - -a (-ia for i-stems)

Full examples

You now know all forms of first, second and third declension nouns! The following models illustrate complete declensions in the traditional order (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, ablative).

First declension

Case Singular Plural
Nominative fili-a fili-ae
Genitive fili-ae fili-ārum
Dative fili-ae fili-īs
Accusative fili-am fili-ās
Ablative fili-ā fili-īs

Second declension masculine

Case Singular Plural
Nominative fili-us fili-ī
Genitive fili-ī fili-ōrum
Dative fili-ō fili-īs
Accusative fili-um fili-ōs
Ablative fili-ō fili-īs

Second declension neuter

Case Singular Plural
Nominative oppid-um oppid-a
Genitive oppid-ī oppid-ōrum
Dative oppid-ō oppid-īs
Accusative oppid-um oppid-a
Ablative oppid-ō oppid-īs

Third declension masculine or feminine

Case Singular Plural
Nominative māter mātr-ēs
Genitive mātr-is mātr-um
Dative mātr-ī mātr-ibus
Accusative mātr-em mātr-ēs
Ablative mātr-e mātr-ibus

i-stem

Case Singular Plural
Nominative urbs urb-ēs
Genitive urb-is urb-ium
Dative urb-ī urb-ibus
Accusative urb-em urb-ēs
Ablative urb-e urb-ibus

Third declension neuter

Case Singular Plural
Nominative nōmen nōmin-a
Genitive nōmin-is nōmin-um
Dative nōmin-ī nōmin-ibus
Accusative nōmen nōmin-a
Ablative nōmin-e nōmin-ibus

i-stem

Case Singular Plural
Nominative mare mar-ia
Genitive mar-is mar-ium
Dative mar-ī mar-ibus
Accusative mare mar-ia
Ablative mar-ī mar-ibus

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