Page:Latin for Beginners.djvu/35

 26 GENDER

59. Write the declension of the following nouns, separating the base from the termination by a hyphen. Also give them orally. pugna, terra, lūna, ancil’la, corō’na, īn’sula, silva

60. Gender. In English, names of living beings are either masculine or feminine, and names of things without life are neuter. This is called natural gender. Yet in English there are some names of things to which we refer as if they were feminine; as, "Have you seen my yacht? She is a beauty." And there are some names of living beings to which we refer as if they were neuter; as, "Is the baby here? No, the nurse has taken it home." Some words, then, have a gender quite apart from sex or real gender, and this is called grammatical gender.

Latin, like English, has three genders. Names of males are usually masculine and of females feminine, but names of things have grammatical gender and may be either masculine, feminine, or neuter. Thus we have in Latin the three words, lapis, a stone; rūpēs, a cliff; and saxum, a rock. Lapis is masculine, rūpēs feminine, and saxum, neuter. The gender can usually be determined by the ending of the word, and must always be learned, for without knowing the gender it is impossible to write correct Latin.

61. Gender of First-Declension Nouns. Nouns of the first declension are feminine unless they denote males. Thus silva is feminine, but nauta, sailor, and agricola, farmer, are masculine.

62. EXERCISES First learn the special vocabulary, p. 284.

1. 1. Agricola cum fīliā in casā habitat. 2. Bona fīlia agricolae cēnam parat. 3. Cēna est grāta agricolae1 et agricola bonam fīliam laudat. 4. Deinde fīlia agricolae gallinās ad cēnam vocat. 5. Gallīnae fīliam agricolae amant. 6. Malae fīliae bonās cēnās nōn parant. 7. Fīlia agricolae est grāta dominae 8. Domina in īnsulā magnā habitat. 9. Domina bonae puellaa parvae pecūniam dat.

1 Note that the relation expressed by the dative case covers that to which a feeling is directed. (Cf. § 43.)