I. FUTURE OF THE FIRST CONJUGATION: laudo, laudare STEM + TENSE SIGN + PERS. END. = CONJUGATED FORM _________ + __________ + _____________ = _______________ _________ + __________ + _____________ = _______________ _________ + __________ + _____________ = _______________ _________ + __________ + _____________ = _______________ _________ + __________ + _____________ = _______________ _________ + __________ + _____________ = _______________ II. FUTURE OF THE SECOND CONJUGATION: moneo, monere STEM + TENSE SIGN + PERS. END. = CONJUGATED FORM _________ + __________ + _____________ = _______________ _________ + __________ + _____________ = _______________ _________ + __________ + _____________ = _______________ _________ + __________ + _____________ = _______________ _________ + __________ + _____________ = _______________ _________ + __________ + _____________ = _______________All this seems quite logical and straight-forward. But these is one glitch: the short "-e-" of the tense sign "-be-" undergoes some radical changes when you start attaching the personal endings.
Now let's look a little more closely at the second declension. It has two parts, you may remember: the section reserved entirely for neuter nouns -- those ending in "-um" in the nominative singular -- and the section used by masculine and feminine nouns (the vast majority are masculine). There is a variety of nominative singular endings in this second group: "-us", "-er", and "-ir". The nouns which followed the "-us" type second declension presented two problems: to find the stem, you simply dropped off the "-us" ending of the nominative case. But for the second declension nouns which ended in "-er" in the nominative singular, you had to be more careful. For some of them, the stem was the form of the nominative singular, but for others the "-e-" of the "-er" dropped out from the stem. Then you used the reduced form for all the other cases. The dictionary has to tell you which "-er" ending nouns had stem changes, and it does so in the in second entry for the noun.
puer, -i (m) liber, -bri (m) ager, agri (m)The stem of "puer" is "puer-", the stem of "liber" is "libr-", the stem of "ager" is "agr-". Okay, so much by way of review.
Now look at this word as it appears in the dictionary: "liber, -a, -um". What is this? Is it a noun or an adjective? You can tell it's an adjective because there is no gender listed for it. (Remember, an adjective has to be able to change its gender, so it has no fixed gender, as a noun does.) An entry for an adjective has to tell you how it will acquire different genders -- which declensional pattern it will use to become masculine, feminine and neuter -- and, you may recall, the first entry shows you the masculine nominative, the second the feminine nominative, and the third the neuter nominative.
So have a look again at this adjective. The second entry looks familiar -- it's the nominative singular ending of the first declension. This tells you that the adjective "liber" become feminine by using first declension endings. The "-um" should look familiar, too. That's its neuter ending, telling you it uses the "-um" endings of the second declension to modify neuter nouns. But what's the first entry? You know that this is telling you how the adjective becomes masculine, but what about the "-er".
You've probably already figured out by now that the adjective is going to use the second declension endings to modify masculine nouns, and that it's going to use the "-er" ending in the nominative singular. So for "free soul", you would write "liber animus". But what is the stem of the adjective? Remember that "-er" ending nouns of the second declension often change their stems when they move out of the nominative singular. The dictionary tells you about that in the second entry for the adjective in the genitive singular. That is, the dictionary actually starts declining it for you. But how will it tell you whether an adjective in "-er" has a stem change?
The rule is this. An adjective in "-er" which changes its stem (i.e., drops the "-e") will use the changed stem in all genders and numbers and cases except for the nominative masculine singular. So all you need to see to know whether the adjective is going to change its stem is the next entry -- the feminine nominative singular -- to know about the stem. Look at this entry.
M F N pulcher, -chra, -chrumThere, do you see it? The second entry shows you not only how the adjective becomes feminine, but also that the stem for all other cases except the masculine nominative singular is "pulchr-". Look as this adjective: "noster, nostra, nostrum". Stem change, right? Now look at this again: "liber, -a, -um". There is no stem change since it is not indicated in the second entry. So the stem is "liber-" throughout its inflection. Let's do a few exercises. Translate and decline the following.
beautiful fatherland our son Nom. ______________ ______________ ______________ ______________ Gen. ______________ ______________ ______________ ______________ Dat. ______________ ______________ ______________ ______________ Acc. ______________ ______________ ______________ ______________ Abl. ______________ ______________ ______________ ______________ Voc. ______________ ______________ N/V. ______________ ______________ ______________ ______________ Gen. ______________ ______________ ______________ ______________ Dat. ______________ ______________ ______________ ______________ Acc. ______________ ______________ ______________ ______________ Abl. ______________ ______________ ______________ ______________