Nominative

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The nominative case is a grammatical case for a noun, which generally marks the subject of a verb, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments.

In Latin this is the noun itself without inflexion, in that form as you know it: Tullius, Livia, Cicero, forum, lex, consul are in singular nominatve.

Nominative in plural

The plural of Latin nouns is, however, more difficult. Here are the basic and very general rules for making a plural nominative:

• If a word ends in "-us", then the plural nominative ends in "-i". Tribunus becomes tribuni.
• If a word ends in "-a", then the plural nominative ends in "-ae". Provincia becomes provinciae.
• If a word ends in "-o", then the plural nominative ends in "-ones". Legio becomes legiones.
• Many other words change their ending to "-es", whose rules are more difficult and are not detailed here. Here are some just for example:

consul in plural nominative becomes consules,

praetor in plural nominative is praetores,

lex is leges,

mos is mores,

virtus is virtutes,

homo is homines.

• Some common nouns ending in "-us" change to long "-ús" in plural nominative , for example:

magistratus in plural nominative is magistratús,

exercitus in plural nominative is exercitús and so on.

• Nouns of the neutral gender which often end in "-um" have a plural nominative ending in "-a". So forum becomes fora. Examples with other endings:

ius in plural nominative becomes iura,

caput becomes capita.

Usage in practice

Not only Nova Roman citizens but every educated people use sometimes Latin plurals in the English language, so it is very important to learn some plural forms. You can start it by studying the article about addressing magistrates.

Nominative singular and plural in all declensions

Attention: all neuter nouns have a common plural nominative-accusative form that ends in -a, regardless to their declension group.

	First declension		Second declension
	A-Stem		O-Stem
	mf terra, -ae, f land		mf tribúnus, -í, m tribune		n auspicium, -í, n auspice
	Singular		Singular		Singular
Nominative	terra	——	tribúnus	——	auspicium	——
Accusative	terram	–am	tribúnum	–um	auspicium	——
Genitive	terrae	–ae	tribúní	–í	auspicií	–í
Dative	terrae	–ae	tribúnó	–ó	auspició	–ó
Ablative	terrá	–á	tribúnó	–ó	auspició	–ó
	Plural		Plural		Plural
Nominative	terrae	–ae	tribúní	–í	auspicia	–a
Accusative	terrás	–ás	tribúnós	–ós	auspicia	–a
Genitive	terrárum	–árum	tribúnórum	–órum	auspiciórum	–órum
Dative- Ablative	terrís	–ís	tribúnís	–ís	auspiciís	–ís

	Third declension								Fourth declension
	Consonant Stem				I-Stem				U-Stem
	mf léx, légis, f law		n iús, iúris, n right		mf cívis, -is, mf citizen		n mare, -is, n sea		mf senátus, -ús, m senate		n cornú, -ús, n horn
	Singular		Singular		Singular		Singular		Singular		Singular
Nominative	léx	——	iús	——	cívis	——	mare	——	senátus	——	cornú	——
Accusative	légem	–em	iús	——	cívem	–em	mare	——	senátum	–um	cornú	——
Genitive	légis	–is	iúris	–is	cívis	–is	maris	–is	senátús	–ús	cornús	–ús
Dative	légí	–í	iúrí	–í	cíví	–í	marí	–í	senátuí	–uí	cornú	–ú
Ablative	lége	–e	iúre	–e	cíve	–e	marí	–í	senátú	–ú	cornú	–ú
	Plural		Plural		Plural		Plural		Plural		Plural
Nominative- Accusative	légés	–és	iúra	–a	cívés	–és	maria	–ia	senátús	–ús	cornua	–ua
Genitive	légum	–um	iúrum	–um	cívium	–ium	marium	–ium	senátuum	–uum	cornuum	–uum
Dative- Ablative	légibus	–ibus	iúribus	–ibus	cívibus	–ibus	maribus	–ibus	senátibus	–ibus	cornibus	–ibus

	Fifth declension
	E-Stem
	mf diés, éí, m day
	Singular
Nominative	diés	——
Accusative	diem	–em
Genitive- Dative	diéí	–éí
Ablative	dié	–é
	Plural
Nominative- Accusative	diés	–és
Genitive	diérum	–érum
Dative- Ablative	diébus	–ébus