Latin Declensions?

There is no easy way - you just have to say them over and over until you can do it in your sleep. Do NOT go by what Sweet Dragon told you - that was a mess! A mix of singular and plural, and in some cases neither. I have no idea how she came up with those "declinations" - they are actually cases within the declensions. We were taught to start with the singular and then the plural - a, ae, ae, am, a, ae, arum, is, as, is. Nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, ablative, in that order.

1st Declension Feminine

a......ae

ae....arum

ae....is

am...as

a......is

2nd Declension Masculine

us.....i

i........orum

o.......is

um....os

o.......is

2nd Declension Neuter

um....a

i........orum

o.......is

um....a

o.......is

3rd Declension Masculine & Feminine

.........es

is......um

i........ibus

em....es

e.......ibus

3rd Declension Neuter

.........a

is......um

i........ibus

.........a

e.......ibus

No, "declension" is the correct word, even though the verb is "decline". "Declination" is an astronomical term. By the way, 2nd declension is both masculine and neuter; 3rd can be any gender.

Unfortunately, I can't think of an easy way to remember the declensions; you just have to memorize them. The nominative plurals are usually easy because we keep the formations in English (larva/larvae, datum/data). It might help to keep certain Latin phrases in mind (E Pluribus unum, so third declension ablative plural is -ibus), but really, you've just got to practice. No one said Latin was easy!

My Latin teacher did a cheer for the 1st declension ones, so I'm never going to forget those. It's kinda hard to demonstrate that online, though...sorry.

"Declinations" is the word sweetie.

And it goes with gender and not 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

Declination //Noun feminine // Noun Masculine // Noun Neutral

Nominative //Rosa // Puer // Rus

Vocative //Rosa // Puer // Rus

Genitive // Rosae // Pueris // Ruris

Dative // Rosae // Pueris // Ruris

Ablative //Rosae // Pueris // Ruris

Accusative //Rosam // Puer // Rus

Hope it helps