Third Declension I-Stem Nouns

(Cf. Wheelock 14)

The first table below indicates the relationships among various third-declension noun-patterns. The second table gives the examples, fully declined.

 

Within the whole set (of third-declension nouns), there are TWO major subsets:

(1) masculine and feminine nouns

(2) neuter nouns

 

Each of these subsets has two subsets: regulars and i-stems, so that the whole group can be broken down as

(1) masculine and feminine nouns

(a) regulars, like mater

(b) i-stems, like dêns or nûbes

(2) neuter nouns

(a) regulars, like tempus

(b) i-stems, like mare, animal, or exemplar

 

 

~ All Third-Declension Nouns ~
(1) MASCULINE & FEMININE Third-Declension Nouns	(2) NEUTER Third-Declension Nouns
(a) REGULARS m. and f. See example	(a) REGULARS neut. See example
(b) I-STEMS m. and f. See example Often: (1) Parisyllabics in -is / -ês like nûbês, nûbis (2) M/F monosyllabics ending in -s / -x with TWO consonants before the -is of the genitive singular, like dêns, deNTis / nox, noCTis.	(b) I-STEMS neut. See example Often: Neuters of the third declension ending in -e / -al / -ar like mare / animal / exemplar.

 

 

The same chart with examples.   Notice that the masculine and femine i-stems of the third declension have only ONE change, the neuters FOUR, as highlighted below:

 

~ All Third-Declension Nouns ~
(1) MASCULINE & FEMININE Third-Declension Nouns	(2) NEUTER Third-Declension Nouns
(a) REGULARS m. and f. mâter mâtr-ês mâtr-is mâtr-um mâtr-î mâtr-ibus mâtr-em mâtr-ês mâtr-e mâtr-ibus	(a) REGULARS neut. tempus tempor-a tempor-is tempor-um tempor-î tempor-ibus tempus tempor-a tempor-e tempor-ibus
(b) I-STEMS m. and f.   dêns dent-ês   dent-is dent-ium dent-î dent-ibus   dent-em dent-ês   dent-e dent-ibus	(b) I-STEMS neut. mare mar-ia mar-is mar-ium mar-î mar-ibus mare mar-ia mar-î mar-ibus

 

NOTA BENE:

1. The masculine and feminine i-stems show only ONE change, namely, -ium instead of -um in the genitive plural.

2. Only a very, very few nouns have an -î  for the usual -e  in the ablative singular: the NEUTER i-stems of the third declension.

3. In some medieval  orthography, e  and i  are interchanged, so that a third-declension dative could sometimes be written with a final -e , but in classical  texts, you will never see an -e  indicating a dative case. You will occasionally see, however, an -i  indicating an ablative for a third declension noun, as indicated in the preceding note. Of course -i  is a typical third-declension adjectival ablative singular ending.  See also the page on Third-Declension Patterns.