Dowling's Tables

This page is intended for those who are interested in learning Latin and following Dowling's Method. If you haven't done so already, visit that page first. Otherwise, this will be meaningless to you.

Dowling recommends cracking open 'any old Latin textbook' and reciting the tables in those books. This guide was made to eliminate the ambiguity of the words 'any old.' Mainly because there were some declensions I spent way too much time on, and others where I didn't spend nearly enough. Most of the words you see in this guide appear in Lingua Latīna.

An important disclaimer before we begin: I myself am actually working my way through Lingua Latīna as I write this guide, so you may see some adjustments to some explanations as I get a clearer understanding of the concepts.

Table of Contents

Nouns of the First Declension

Nouns of the first declension are (almost!) all feminine in gender. They are recognized by ending with an -a in the nominative singular.

Nouns of the Second Declension

Nouns of the second declension end in -us, -er, -um, and sometimes -ir (in the nominative singular.) They may be masculine or neuter in gender. Masculine nouns ending in -us are declined as follows:

Masculine nouns ending in -er may be declined like this:

or like this:

Of these two declension styles, the liber style is far more common. Second declension nouns ending in -ir are rather rare. They are declined similarly to puer:

The vast majority of neuters in the second declension end in -um. They are declined as follows:

For all neuters, the nominative and accusative are identical.

Adjectives of the First and Second Declensions

Adjectives of these declensions are declined just as the nouns are. Adjectives must agree in case and gender with the nouns they modify. They are declined as follows:

Remember: Adjectives must agree in case and gender with the nouns they modify. Here are some examples:

Most, but not all nouns of the first declension are feminine. There are some exceptions, such as the word nauta which is masculine. The adjective must agree in gender with the noun it modifies:

Adjectives with masculine nominative singulars ending in -er, similarly to the nouns, can be declined like this:

or like this:

And just like the nouns, the pulcher style is the more common of the two.

Nouns of the Third Declension

Nouns of the third declension are the most irregular. They can be any gender. Masculine and feminine nouns of the third declension may be declined as follows:

For each noun of the third declension, the nominative and genitive singular forms must be memorized. All forms other than the nominative singular are composed of the stem and the case ending. For the word vōx, the stem would be vōc-. For the word leō, the stem is leōn-. Here are some more examples:

Neuters are very similar to masculine and feminine nouns of this declension, but there are some subtle differences:

Some third declension nouns are declined differently. These nouns are called i-stems. These have slightly different endings for some of the forms. For all i-stems, the genitive plural ending -um becomes -ium. Here are some examples:

For neuters, in addition to the -ium change, the ablative singular ending -e becomes -ī and the nominative and accusative plural -a turns into -ia. Neuter i-stems are rather rare.

Adjectives of the Third Declension

Adjectives of the third declension are declined similarly to i-stems.

Masculine and feminine adjectives are declined like ovis but with an -ī in the ablative singular. The neuter forms are declined exactly like mare.

Comparatives, on the other hand, are declined like 'normal' third declension nouns:

The third declension is by far the most complicated. Make sure you take a moment to identify the stem of each word in this declension. Lingua Latīna is incredibly helpful in this regard. It will show you the stem of each word, and whether or not it is an i-stem. It also walks you through the process very slowly, over many chapters. It is still strongly advised you commit these tables to memory.

Nouns of the Fourth Declension

Most nouns of the fourth declension are masculine. Few are feminine, and even fewer are neuter. Masculine and feminine nouns are declined as follows:

Neuters are declined like this:

Nouns of the Fifth Declension

All nouns of the fifth declension are feminine with the exception of diēs and merīdiēs, which are masculine. There are no neuters. They are declined as follows:

The word rēs has a short e in place of a long ē in the genitive and dative singular:

Common Irregular Nouns and Adjectives

Irregular nouns are not as common or as scary as you'd think. I saved this part for last because I think it is very important that you understand how the rules work before you try to break them.

Pronouns tend to be irregular, yet similar to eachother. Here is a common example; the 3rd person pronoun is:

For all genders, the genitive singular is eius and the dative singular is eī. All the other forms resemble the first and second declension endings, with some small differences. The masculine nominative plural is iī (instead of eī.) The dative and ablative plurals for all genders is iīs (instead of eīs.)

The 1st person, 2nd person, and reflexive pronouns respectively:

There is no nominative form of the reflexive pronoun.

Here are some more important third person pronouns. First, the relative/interrogative pronoun:

The masculine nominative singular quī may also be quis. The neuter nominative/accusative quod may also be quid.

Now for some demonstrative pronouns:

Numbers are adjectives. The word ūnus, meaning one, only has singular forms for obvious reasons. Likewise, duo (2) and trēs (3) only have plural forms. They are declined like this:

Most other numbers are either indeclineable or declined exactly like adjectives of the first and second declensions. The word mīlle, meaning 1000, has singular and plural forms which represent multiples of 1000. The declension is identical for all genders.

The Vocative and Locative Cases

There are technically 7 noun cases. The vocative and locative cases are often neglected because they show up far less frequently than the other 5 cases, and also have very specific uses. They show up infrequently enough that, in my opinion, you don't really need to spend too much time memorizing them. It isn't necessary to to study these as rigorously as the other known cases, but you should at least be aware of their existence.

The vocative case is used when addressing someone. If I say "Go away, Edward!" in Latin, 'Edward' would be rendered in the vocative case. For masculine nouns of the second declension ending in -us, the case ending is -e. Otherwise, the vocative ending is almost always identical to the nominative ending.

The locative case is used exclusively to refer to a location. It is almost always identical to the genetive ending.

Verb Conjugation

Verb conjugation in Latin can seem very intimidating, but thankfully Lingua Latīna takes it nice and slow. In fact, all indicative verbs are in the third person until chapter 15. My personal advice: Study the first conjugation first. Then note how each of the following conjugations are different. And take it SLOW. Slow and steady wins the race.

Verbs are divided into 4 groups, also called conjugations. They can be identified by their infinitive forms:

First Conjugation: cantāre, pulsāre; -āre
Second Conjugation: rīdēre, vidēre; -ēre
Third Conjugation: pōnere, sūmere; -ere
Fourth Conjugation venīre, dormīre; -īre

Some verbs of the third conjugation have an -iō in the first person present indicative active and are declined somewhat differently. Lingua Latīna generously points these out to you with marginal notes. There are also some common irregular verbs you need to learn. We will start with the most common irregular verb: esse (to be). More irregular verbs will be covered at the end.

The format for this section will be Tense Mood Voice.

Present Indicative Active

Present Indicative Passive

There is no passive voice of esse.

Imperfect Indicative Active

Imperfect Indicative Passive

Future Indicative Active

Future Indicative Passive

Perfect Indicative Active

There tends to be a lot of variety in the perfect stems. Lingua Latīna (and most Latin textbooks) will give you the perfect stem (the part not in bold.) My advice is not to get too worked up about it. You can visit this link if you'd like a detailed explanation, but in my opinion the best way is to just memorize the endings (-ī, -isti, -it, etc.) and then just keep a careful eye on the marginal notes. If you're doing the pēnsa and exercitia, as you should be, then you will be tested on this regularly. I rarely forget perfect forms now.

Perfect Indicative Passive

The perfect indicative passive is formed by combining the perfect participle (pulsātus) with the present indicative active of esse. As is the case with the perfect stems, don't get too scared of these. Lingua Latīna spells them out to you clearly. Worth pointing out is that the perfect participle is a first/second declension adjective. So if the subject is feminine, it would be pulsāta est. For neuters it would be pulsātum est.

Pluperfect Indicative Active

The pluperfect indicative active is formed by combining the perfect stem with the imperfect indicative active of esse.

Pluperfect Indicative Passive

You should start to see a pattern emerge.

Future Perfect Indicative Active

The case endings here are identical to the future indicative active of esse, but with the third person plural erunt becoming erint.

Future Perfect Indicative Passive

Present Subjunctive Active

Present Subjunctive Passive

Imperfect Subjunctive Active

A helpful hint is that, for whatever reason, the endings for this case are formed by adding the common endings -m, -s, -t, -mus, -tis, and -nt to the infinitives. Even for esse.

Imperfect Subjunctive Passive

Perfect Subjunctive Active

Perfect Subjunctive Passive

Pluperfect Subjunctive Active

Pluperfect Subjunctive Passive

Imperative

Infinitive

Participles

Esse only has a future active participle: futūrus.

All other participles are declined like adjectives of the first and second declension. The present participle is declined like adjectives of the third declension:

The ablative singular ending can also be -ī.

Gerund

The gerund is a verbal noun. It is declined exactly like a masculine second declension noun, without a nominative form:

You may look to the future passive participle as an example of what the nominative form could be, but keep in mind that the gerund, in actuality, does not have a nominative form:

Supine

The supine is another verbal noun. It is declined like a fourth declension noun, but with only an accusative and ablative singular form. Combine the case endings with the perfect participle stem:

Some Common Irregular Verbs

īre, to go

Indicative

Subjunctive

Other Forms

ferre, to carry

Indicative

Subjunctive

Other Forms

posse, to be able to

Posse has no passive forms.

Indicative

Subjunctive

Other Forms

velle, to want

Velle also lacks passive forms.

Indicative

Subjunctive

Other Forms

nōlle, to not want

Like velle, nōlle has no passive form. However, it does have an imperative form, which means "do not." It is declined similarly to velle.

Indicative

Subjunctive

Other Forms

facere, to do, to make

Facere is declined like a third conjugation verb ending in -iō in the active, but irregularly in the passive.

Indicative

Subjunctive

Other Forms