Declensions in LCI

[LoveToLearn]

We are in Lesson 6 of LCI. In the teacher's manual, it is suggested to decline all of the vocabulary words presented in the first five lessons. What is the correct way to decline the nouns ending in "ia", such as filia, patria, etc.? Thank you.

[Maria]

LoveToLearn,

To find the stem of a noun, drop the ending of the genitive singular. The genitive singular ending of the first declension is -ae. Dropping -ae from filiae and patriae gives us fili- and patri-, respectively. Now we can add the endings of the first declension:

patri-a
patri-ae
patri-ae
patri-am
patri-a

patri-ae
patri-arum
patri-is
patri-as
patri-is

Hope this helps,
Maria

[LoveToLearn]

Thank you, Maria, for the information. That is the way we were trying to decline those particular nouns, but ran into trouble with pronounciation. Although I know we are not to be overly concerned with pronounciation at this point, it is hard to recite declensions without knowing how to say "patriis"! Perhaps a good Latin reference book is in order, even at this early stage? Thanks again.

[Maria]

LoveToLearn,

That is the way we were trying to decline those particular nouns, but ran into trouble with pronounciation. I know what you mean. I too was perplexed at the pronunciation of those particular nouns when I was at your level.

Whenever there are two vowels together, you pronounce both of them, even if they're the same. The exceptions to this rule are the diphthongs ae, oe, and au, which are pronounced as if they were one vowel. So in the case of patriis and filiis, both i's are pronounced.


Perhaps a good Latin reference book is in order, even at this early stage? I wouldn't get one at this point because they can be confusing if you aren't very familiar with the Latin language. I think asking your questions on this board (like you just did) is a very good way to take care of your difficulties. Also, if you haven't already, you may want to join the Latina Christiana Yahoo Group. If so, simply send an email to LatinaChristiana-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. I'm sure you'd be able to get answers there too.


Maria

[LoveToLearn]

Thank you, Maria, for all your help! I am looking forward to using your suggestions.