Nouns by Declensions
Singular
| Case (shows) | 1st (Feminine) | 2nd Masculine | 2nd Neuter | 3rd (vowel) | 3rd (cons.) |
| Nom. (subject) | puella |
servus |
templum |
leō |
mercator |
| Gen. (possession) | puellae |
servī |
templī |
leōnis | mercatoris |
| Dat. (Indirect Obj.) | puellae |
servō |
templō |
leōnī | mercatorī |
| Accus. (Dir.Obj.) | puellam |
servum |
templum |
leōnem | mercatorem |
| Abl. (by/how) | puellā |
servō |
templō |
leōne | mercatore |
Plural
| Case (shows) | 1st (Feminine) | 2nd Masculine | 2nd Neuter | 3rd (vowel) | 3rd (cons.) |
| Nom. (subject) | puellae |
servi |
templa |
leōnēs |
mercatorēs |
| Gen. (possession) | puellārum |
servōrum |
templōrum |
leōnum |
mercatorum |
| Dat. (Indirect Obj.) | puellīs |
servīs |
templīs |
leōnibus | mercatoribus |
| Accus. (Dir.Obj.) | puellās |
servōs |
templa |
leōnēs | mercatorēs |
| Abl. (by/how) | puellīs |
servīs |
templīs |
leōnibus | mercatoribus |
Abbreviation key: Nom. (nominative), Gen. (genitive), Dat. (dative), Accus. (accusative), and Abl. (ablative). Vocative and Nominative are usually the same except for 2nd declension masculine singular when the "us" ending changes to an "e" (ergo Marcellus becomes Marcelle (meaning "hey Marcellus!).
Declension Rhymes:
Feminine (1st) Singular: Adam And Eve Ate Evil Apples Monday Afternoon.
Masculine (2nd) Singular: Uncle Sam Is Out Until Monday O.k.
Neuter (2nd) Singular: Uncle Mike Is Out Until Monday O.k.
3rd Singular (ending in a consonant): Skip I Saw Ian Eat My Eggo.
3rd Singular (ending in a vowel): Nothing I Saw Ian Eat My Eggo.
These rhymes are simply to help you start to get the feel for the endings much as you sang your A, B, C's. One would hope that you no longer have to sing your alphabet to figure out how to look up a word (at least not the whole alphabet). I found it just as easy to to practice the endings going "a, ae, ae, am, a, ae, arum, is, as, is" et cetera. Once you have it memorized then we can work on the accent (long) marks.
Remember the word order of a "normal" Latin sentence is likely to be "subject indirect object direct object verb" with ablative thrown in for good measure almost anywhere such as "Magister Rufum pilam cum manō pulsavit" ("The teacher hit the ball to Rufus with (his) hand"). When in doubt, look for clues, translating as best you can, such as order, prepositions like ad (acc.), cum (abl.), in (abl.), per (acc.), ex (abl.), or de (abl.). See the page on diagramming to review.