Latin Noun Endings: A Guide To All 5 Declensions

Learning the case endings of the five Latin noun declensions is extremely important. Here you will find Latin noun endings presented in a clear, accessible format!

Latin has cases, which means that a noun’s endings change based on its role in the sentence. You, as a Latin learner, should memorize these endings (or most of them, at the very least). If you don’t, it will be extremely difficult, or even impossible, for you to understand Latin.

Fortunately you don’t have to learn the endings of each noun individually. Instead, Latin nouns are divided into five groups known as declensions. A noun’s declension determines which sets of case endings you add to it.

What do we call these five Latin declensions? First, second, third, fourth, and fifth, of course! (I know, very creative. But also easy to remember!)

This post presents charts with all the Latin noun endings. The charts list the main five cases in the order traditionally used in the United States: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, and ablative.

As is customary, the vocative and the locative do not appear in the charts. The vocative is always identical to the nominative, except in second declension (to be discussed more below). The locative only exists for certain declensions, so I mention it where it is relevant.

👉 Need a refresher on Latin cases? This post will clear everything up for you.

You can scroll through all five declensions, or jump to whichever one interests you. This post also includes my best tips for memorizing Latin noun endings. Happy reading!

First Declension Noun Endings

First declension is the simplest of the five Latin declensions. There is only one set of endings for all first declension nouns (regardless of gender). Most first declension nouns are feminine, but there are a few exceptions.

You will notice the vowel a popping up in almost all of the case endings.

Case	SINGULAR	PLURAL
Nominative	a	ae
Genitive	ae	ārum
Dative	ae	īs
Accusative	am	ās
Ablative	ā	īs

Note that the only thing that distinguishes the nominative –a from the ablative –ā is vowel length (indicated by the macron). Memorizing macrons is always helpful, but this is arguably the most important macron in the entire Latin language.

Locative: The locative singular is equal to the genitive singular, while the locative plural is equal to the ablative plural. Example: Bostōniae “in Boston” (singular); Athēnīs “in Athens” (plural).

The following chart shows the endings in action, attached to the noun puella, ae “girl”. The base (or stem) is puell-, and the endings are indicated in bold.

Case	SINGULAR	PLURAL
Nominative	puella	puellae
Genitive	puellae	puellārum
Dative	puellae	puellīs
Accusative	puellam	puellās
Ablative	puellā	puellīs

Second Declension Noun Endings

Second declension nouns fall into two main categories: masculine nouns and neuter nouns. There are two different, but related, sets of endings.

The few feminine nouns of the second declension take masculine endings.

Second Declension Masculine

First we will look at the masculine case endings.

Case	SINGULAR	PLURAL
Nominative	us / er	ī
Genitive	ī	ōrum
Dative	ō	īs
Accusative	um	ōs
Ablative	ō	īs

Notice that there are two options in the nominative singular. Most second declension nouns have a nominative in –us, but some have a nominative in –er or even –ir.

Vocative: Masculine –us nouns of the second declension are the only nouns in Latin that have a vocative that is distinct from the nominative. The vocative ending for the singular is –e, or (occasionally) –ī. In the plural, the vocative is the same as the nominative. (For more about vocative endings, read my post all about the vocative.)

Locative: The locative singular is equivalent to the genitive singular. The locative plural is equivalent to the ablative plural. Examples: Ephesī “in Ephesus” (singular).

The following two charts show the declension of mūrus, ī (an –us noun with the base mūr-) and ager, agrī (an –er noun with the base agr-).

Case	SINGULAR	PLURAL
Nominative	mūrus	mūrī
Genitive	mūrī	mūrōrum
Dative	mūrō	mūrīs
Accusative	mūrum	mūrōs
Ablative	mūrō	mūrīs

Case	SINGULAR	PLURAL
Nominative	ager	agrī
Genitive	agrī	agrōrum
Dative	agrō	agrīs
Accusative	agrum	agrōs
Ablative	agrō	agrīs

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Second Declension Neuter

Second declension neuter nouns have slightly different case endings than second declension masculine nouns. To begin with, the nominative singular ends in –um. In addition, the nominative and accusative plural ending is –a.

Case	SINGULAR	PLURAL
Nominative	um	a
Genitive	ī	ōrum
Dative	ō	īs
Accusative	um	a
Ablative	ō	īs

Locative: As with masculine nouns, the locative singular is equivalent to the genitive singular. The locative plural is equivalent to the ablative plural. Example: Londiniī “in London” (singular).

The following chart shows the endings attached to oppidum, ī “town”. The base is oppid-.

Case	SINGULAR	PLURAL
Nominative	oppidum	oppida
Genitive	oppidī	oppidōrum
Dative	oppidō	oppidīs
Accusative	oppidum	oppida
Ablative	oppidō	oppidīs

Third Declension Noun Endings

Third declension is by far the most common of the five Latin declensions. It is also, unfortunately, the most confusing.

Third declension nouns can be masculine, feminine, or neuter. Furthermore, in addition to the complications of gender, third declension nouns can be consonant-stem or i-stem.

The good news is that masculine and feminine nouns use the same set of endings. So we have to worry about 4 sets of endings:

1. masculine/feminine consonant-stem
2. masculine/feminine i-stem
3. neuter consonant-stem
4. neuter i-stem

The nominative singular of third declension nouns is highly unpredictable (and so is listed as —). It typically does not include the base, which is why you should pay extra attention to the genitive singular.

👉 Read all about how to determine a Latin noun’s base here.

Locative: The locative is always the same as the ablative.

Third Declension Masculine & Feminine

The following chart presents the masculine and feminine consonant-stem endings.

Case	SINGULAR	PLURAL
Nominative	—	ēs
Genitive	is	um
Dative	ī	ibus
Accusative	em	ēs
Ablative	e	ibus

Here are the endings attached to a noun: dux, ducis “leader”. The base is duc-.

Case	SINGULAR	PLURAL
Nominative	dux	ducēs
Genitive	ducis	ducum
Dative	ducī	ducibus
Accusative	ducem	ducēs
Ablative	duce	ducibus

Now it is time to talk about i-stem nouns. Most of the time, the endings are very similar to those of consonant-stems. The one consistently different ending is the genitive plural, where we find –ium instead of –um.

However, it is also possible to have variant ablative singular, accusative plural, and even accusative singular endings. These are rarer, and so I have put them in parentheses after the primary ending.

Case	SINGULAR	PLURAL
Nominative	—	ēs
Genitive	is	ium
Dative	ī	ibus
Accusative	em (im)	ēs (īs)
Ablative	e (ī)	ibus

The next chart shows these endings added to a classic i-stem: pars, partis “part”. The base is part-.

Case	SINGULAR	PLURAL
Nominative	pars	partēs
Genitive	partis	partium
Dative	partī	partibus
Accusative	partem (partim)	partēs (partīs)
Ablative	parte (partī)	partibus

If you are wondering how you tell whether a noun is consonant-stem or i-stem, then I have a whole post coming about that soon.

Third Declension Neuter

Third declension neuter endings are very similar to third declension masculine and feminine endings. Differences appear in the accusative singular and in the nominative and accusative plural.

The accusative singular is always equal to the nominative singular, which is why there is no standard case ending for the accusative. The nominative and accusative plural end in –a.

Case	SINGULAR	PLURAL
Nominative	—	a
Genitive	is	um
Dative	ī	ibus
Accusative	—	a
Ablative	e	ibus

Now let’s look at these endings attached to a noun: lūmen, lūminis “light”. The base is lūmin-.

Case	SINGULAR	PLURAL
Nominative	lūmen	lūmina
Genitive	lūminis	lūminum
Dative	lūminī	lūminibus
Accusative	lūmen	lūmina
Ablative	lūmine	lūminibus

Neuter i-stem nouns have more changes in their case endings. Note that i‘s pop up in the ablative singular and in the nominative, genitive, and accusative plural.

Case	SINGULAR	PLURAL
Nominative	—	ia
Genitive	is	ium
Dative	ī	ibus
Accusative	—	ia
Ablative	ī	ibus

The next chart shows these endings in action on the noun mare, maris “sea”. The base is mar-.

Case	SINGULAR	PLURAL
Nominative	mare	maria
Genitive	maris	marium
Dative	marī	maribus
Accusative	mare	maria
Ablative	marī	maribus

Fourth Declension Noun Endings

Most fourth declension nouns are masculine and have a nominative singular ending in –us. There are a few neuter nouns of the fourth declension, however, with their nominative singular in –ū.

Locative: The locative has virtually disappeared in the fourth declension. The one surviving locative is domī, the locative singular form of the irregular noun domus, ūs.

Fourth Declension Masculine

Here are the endings for fourth declension masculine nouns. (The few fourth declension feminine nouns also take these endings.)

Case	SINGULAR	PLURAL
Nominative	us	ūs
Genitive	ūs	uum
Dative	uī	ibus
Accusative	um	ūs
Ablative	ū	ibus

Now let’s look at the endings on impetus, ūs “attack”. The base is impet-.

Case	SINGULAR	PLURAL
Nominative	impetus	impetūs
Genitive	impetūs	impetuum
Dative	impetuī	impetibus
Accusative	impetum	impetūs
Ablative	impetū	impetibus

Fourth Declension Neuter

There are very few fourth declension neuter nouns. The two most common are cornū, ūs “horn” and genū, ūs “knee”.

Case	SINGULAR	PLURAL
Nominative	ū	ua
Genitive	ūs	uum
Dative	ū	ibus
Accusative	ū	ua
Ablative	ū	ibus

Now let’s see the endings on genū, genūs. The base is gen-.

Case	SINGULAR	PLURAL
Nominative	genū	genua
Genitive	genūs	genuum
Dative	genū	genibus
Accusative	genū	genua
Ablative	genū	genibus

Fifth Declension Noun Endings

Nouns of the fifth declension are overwhelmingly feminine. There is only one set of endings, although the length of the e in the genitive and dative singular varies.

The genitive singular ending is –eī. If there is a consonant before the e, it is short (no macron). If there is a vowel before the e, it is long (with a macron).

Here are the case endings of the fifth declension.

Case	SINGULAR	PLURAL
Nominative	ēs	ēs
Genitive	eī / ēī	ērum
Dative	eī / ēī	ēbus
Accusative	em	ēs
Ablative	ē	ēbus

Locative: The locative only appears in the singular for a few words. It is identical to the ablative.

In the following chart, you can see the endings on diēs, diēī “day.” The base is di-.

Case	SINGULAR	PLURAL
Nominative	diēs	diēs
Genitive	diēī	diērum
Dative	diēī	diēbus
Accusative	diem	diēs
Ablative	diē	diēbus

Tips for Memorizing Latin Noun Endings

There are a lot of different Latin case endings to memorize. So, you may ask, how do you learn them all? In this section, I will give you some tips and advice.

1. Look for patterns in the case endings

First, let’s talk about the Latin noun endings themselves. We can observe general patterns across declensions. Noticing these patterns will make it easier to keep things organized in your head.

• For all nouns, regardless of declension and gender, the dative plural and the ablative plural are equal to one another.
• The accusative singular of masculine and feminine nouns always ends in m, no matter which declension they belong to, and the accusative plural always ends in s.
• For neuter nouns, the nominative and accusative are always equal to one another (in both singular and plural).
• For neuter nouns, the nominative plural and the accusative plural always end in a (regardless of declension).
• If you compare first and second declension, you will notice that most of the endings are identical – first declension just uses a where second declension uses o.

Here are the masculine and feminine endings of the 1st through 5th declensions presented side by side for comparison.

Case	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
Nom Sing	a	us	—	us	ēs
Gen Sing	ae	ī	is	ūs	eī / ēī
Dat Sing	ae	ō	ī	uī	eī / ēī
Acc Sing	am	um	em	um	em
Abl Sing	ā	ō	e	ū	ē
Nom Pl	ae	ī	ēs	ūs	ēs
Gen Pl	ārum	ōrum	um / ium	uum	ērum
Dat Pl	īs	īs	ibus	ibus	ēbus
Acc Pl	ās	ōs	ēs	ūs	ēs
Abl Pl	īs	īs	ibus	ibus	ēbus

Now here is a chart comparing the endings of neuter nouns of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th declensions.

Case & Number	2nd	3rd	4th
Nom Sing	um	—	ū
Gen Sing	ī	is	ūs
Dat Sing	ō	ī	ū
Acc Sing	um	—	ū
Abl Sing	ō	e / ī	ū
Nom Pl	a	a / ia	ua
Gen Pl	ōrum	um / ium	uum
Dat Pl	īs	ibus	ibus
Acc Pl	a	a / ia	ua
Abl Pl	īs	ibus	ibus

These observations will help you to make sense of the Latin noun endings themselves. And now we shall turn to general study strategies.

2. Say the endings out loud and write them out

It can be tempting to simply stare at the declension chart and hope that the case endings will sink in. But this will only lead to frustration.

I always start memorizing new forms by saying them out loud. This engages two of your senses: sight and hearing. You will be surprised how much this will help your retention of new material.

You can even invent you own chant for each declension. When I first learned Latin noun endings, I was 7. I used to run around singing the endings to myself. And hey, it worked . . . I still remember them to this day.

You can also search for “Latin declension songs” on YouTube. There are quite a few amusing and helpful tunes. For instance, take a look at the video embedded below!

Latin 3rd declension endings (masculine/feminine)

In addition to saying the endings out loud, I recommend that you practice by writing them out. This engages another sense: that of touch. When I was first learning Latin, I would practice my case endings by writing out the declensions of several different nouns every day.

To summarize: try to activate as many senses as possible!

Final Thoughts on Latin Noun Endings

As you have seen by now, there are a lot of Latin noun endings to grapple with. But I promise that it gets easier with time.

Focus on learning endings declension by declension, and you will be an expert before you know it.

PRO TIP: Spend extra time on 3rd declension. I know this is the most difficult of the five Latin declensions, but it is also the most common. Take a look at the numbers:

I created this pie chart based on data from the Dickinson College Commentary Core Latin Vocabulary List. This list includes the 1000 most frequently used words in the Latin language.

As you can see, almost half of the most common Latin nouns belong to the third declension. Time to get to work on those endings!

👉 Don’t forget to download my free noun study sheets! They will help you practice.

Latin noun endings are important, but there is more to language learning than memorizing declensions. Check out these other useful posts about Latin nouns!

How To Find the Declension of Any Latin Noun

How To Find the Base of Any Latin Noun

The Ultimate Guide to Latin Noun Gender

How To Parse Latin Nouns (Step by Step)