This declension will have only two (2) genders in it. The nouns will either be Masculine or Neuter. There are NO Feminine words in this declension.

There are several ways to learn the second declension. I prefer to always choose the easiest manner. In all textbooks, they present these two genders as totally separate entities. As a result the have to be learned separately, taking up a lot of your time and energy. I approach it differently.

First here are the endings.

Singular plural

Nom. Us,er,ir (um) I (a)
Gen I orum
Dat O is
Acc um Os, (a)
Abl O is

Voc: e e

Let’s first just look at the endings. These are the endings for both the masculine and neuter of the second declension.
The masculine are: us,er,ir; I; o; um; o; I; orum; is; os; is. The Neuter are: um; I; o; um; o; a; orum; is; a; is. Notice that the only place that these differ are in the nominative and accusative endings. The rest are exactly the same. For me, it was easier to memorize one and remember the two small differences than to memorize two totally separate declensions. You can do it either way. Just so you know them.

First of all, I propose the question: how do you know that a word is in the second declension. The answer was given much earlier. It was given when we looked at the first declension. The same answer applies here. The answer is: Look at the genitive singular ending that must be given to you when you learn your vocabulary. If the second principle part of the vocabulary list ends in an “I”, then you are in the second declension. Words in the second declension can only take second declension endings. You can never put first declension endings on a second declension noun; nor can you ever put second declension endings on a first declension noun. First declension endings only go on first declension nouns and second declension endings only go on second declension nouns. Understand. Remember the endings will tell you how the noun is used in a sentence. That’s why it’s so important to know these endings, and know them in the correct order.

e.g. donum doni gift

Okay. I understand that the word donum is in the second declension because the second principle part of the noun ends in an “i”. But since there are two sets of endings, how do I know which set to use on which word in the second declension. No problemo!! It’s really not as difficult as it may first appear. I made up a simple rule, or I found it somewhere. I really don’t remember which. But here’s the rule:

If the first word of the principle part of a noun ends in “um” then the gender of the word is neuter and you use the neuter ending only; if the first word of the principle part ends in ANY THING ELSE then it’s masculine and you use the masculine endings only.

Easy enough? “UM” neuter; anything else, masculine.

That’s easy enough, but there are three (3) masculine nominative endings. How do I know which one I have to use? Again, no problemo!! You don’t have to know. You never form the nominative singular of ANY noun. Nor do you have to form any genitive singulars. They have to be given to you. Then it’s your responsibility to memorize them. So if the nominative singular masculine word of the second declension ends in an “er” it will only end in an “er” and never an “us” or “ir”. Same with the other two.

Another point of fact to make learning easier.

Rule:

Neuter nominatives and neuter accusatives are always the same. And the neuter plural is always “a”.

So if you know that the noun is neuter, even though you do not know or remember the other endings, you can always copy the nominative singular for the accusative case.

Remember: to form the other cases, you must remove the genitive singular ending and then add the next ending to that stem.

Let’s try declining some nouns:

Servus servi
   Puer pueri
   Vir viri
   Amica ae






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