Genitive

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The genitive case is the Latin grammatical case of possession that marks a noun as being the possessor of another noun, for example in English "Popillia's book" or in "board of directors", but it can also indicate various relationships other than possessions.

The genitive is the only grammatical case in Latin which is different in each of the five declensions, so the genitive case serves to distinguish the single declensions from each other.

Here are the basic and very general rules for making a genitive in singular:

• If a word ends in "-us" or "-um", then the genitive ends in "-i". Tullius becomes Tullii; forum will be fori.
• If a word ends in "-a", then the genitive ends in "-ae". Livia becomes Liviae.
• If a word ends in "-o", then the genitive ends in "-onis". Cicero becomes Ciceronis.
• Many other words change their ending to "-is" whose rules are more difficult and are not detailed here. Here are some just for example:

Audens in genitive becomes Audentis,

Venus in genitive is Veneris,

homo in genitive is hominis,

consul in genitive is consulis

praetor in genitive is praetoris and so on.

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

Senatus in genitive is Senatús,

exercitus in genitive is exercitús and so on.

Usage in practice

Avarage Nova Roman citizen has to use genitive in some expressions like "pater patriae", "scriba censoris" but it is also useful when one connects people to offices, or wants to entitle a message in Latin, or especially when addressing magistrates' assistants.

Forming the genitive in all declensions

Attention: in the third declension, there are two subcategories: "consonant stem" and "i-stem". They are almost identical, but when it comes to the plural genitive form, nouns of the "consonant stem" get an ending "-um", while "i-stem" nouns get an "-ium" ending. How to differentiate between "consonant stem" and "i-stem"?

Nouns of "i-stem" are the following:

1. nouns ending in -is, -es, and having a genitive form with a number of syllables equal to their nominative form. E. g.: civis, civis mf, or collis, collis m;
2. nouns ending in consonant + s (-rs, -ns, -ps, -bs, -x), but only, and exclusively only, if before their genitive ending -is there are at least two consonants. E. g.: gens, gentis, f ("-nt-" is two consonants before the "-is"), or nox, noctis f ("-ct-" is two consonants before the "-is").
3. neuter nouns ending in -e, -al, -ar. E. g.: mare, maris; n, animal, -alis, n; nectar, nectaris, n.
4. almost all adjectives of the third declension

Nouns of "consonant stem" are all nouns of the third declension not matching the requirements listed above.

	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