Capitulum IX — Pāstor et Ovēs
A shepherd, a hundred sheep, a wolf in the wood: the setting is simple, and just as well, because this is the most important chapter since the first. It opens the third declension — by far the largest in Latin, the home of pater, māter, urbs, rēx, homō, nōmen, tempus. Until now a noun sorted itself at a glance: -a or -us/-um. That is over.
Two models, one set of endings
| [A] pāstor, pāstōris (m.) | [B] ovis, ovis (f.) | |
|---|---|---|
| nōm. sg. | pāstor | ovis |
| acc. sg. | pāstōrem | ovem |
| gen. sg. | pāstōris | ovis |
| dat. sg. | pāstōrī | ovī |
| abl. sg. | pāstōre | ove |
| nōm./acc. pl. | pāstōrēs | ovēs |
| gen. pl. | pāstōrum | ovium |
| dat./abl. pl. | pāstōribus | ovibus |
Look closely: exactly one cell differs, the genitive plural. Everything else is identical. Type [A] (consonant stem) has -um; type [B] (i-stem) has -ium.
-ium: ovium, montium, dentium, collium, vallium, nūbium -um: pāstōrum, arborum, timōrum, clāmōrum, dēclīnātiōnum
And the book hands you the exception itself: canis declines like ovis, but its genitive plural is canum, never *canium.
The nominative tells you nothing: learn the genitive
In the 1st and 2nd declensions the nominative was enough. Here it hides the stem:
| citation form | stem | why |
|---|---|---|
| mōns, montis | mont- | mōns < *monts: the t drops before -s |
| dēns, dentis | dent- | same thing: dēns < *dents |
| nūbēs, nūbis | nūb- | nominative in -ēs, genitive in -is |
| arbor, arboris | arbor- | short o throughout |
| sōl, sōlis | sōl- | long ō in both syllables |
Hence the golden rule: never learn a 3rd-declension noun without its genitive. That is why the dictionary writes pāstor -ōris, arbor -oris, dēns dentis.
Mind the quantities: arbor, arbor*is, arbore* (short o) against timor, timōris, timōre (long ō). The same -or in the nominative, two different lengths afterwards.
Gender is not predictable either
The book has to list it for you — that is the price of admission:
- feminine: ovis, vallis, nūbēs, arbor (a tree is feminine in Latin);
- masculine: pāstor, pānis, collis, mōns, dēns, sōl, timor, clāmor;
- canis is given as masculine or feminine.
So gender shows up on the adjective, never on the noun: ovis nigra, but collis magnus.
-ēs: subject or object?
In the plural, nominative and accusative are identical: ovēs, pāstōrēs, montēs, arborēs. The sentence decides.
Canis niger ovēs in campum dūcit. — dūcit is singular, its subject is canis: so ovēs is the object. Suprā montēs nūbēs sunt. — montēs is accusative (after suprā), nūbēs nominative (subject of sunt).
Read forward, without jumping to the verb: that is the training this chapter forces on you.
Two opposite prepositions
| case | example | |
|---|---|---|
| suprā | + accusative | suprā montēs, suprā campum |
| sub | + ablative | sub arbore, sub arboribus |
sub + accusative does exist in Latin, but it marks motion and does not arrive until capitulum XXII: here sub is always static.
ipse, ipsa, ipsum — “himself, herself”
A new pronoun, but a declension you already know: the one from capitulum VIII (a single genitive ipsīus, a single dative ipsī). The chapter shows only four forms, and they are enough:
| masculine | feminine | |
|---|---|---|
| nōm. sg. | lupus ipse | ovis ipsa |
| acc. sg. | lupum ipsum | ovem ipsam |
ipse is not is: is reminds you (“the one just mentioned”), ipse insists (“the wolf himself, and no other”).
Three function words
- dum + present indicative, with two senses that only context separates: “while” (dum pāstor ēst, ovēs herbam edunt) and “until”.
- ut appears here for the first time, and only as a comparative: “like, as”, followed by a nominative — lūcent ut gemmae. (ut + subjunctive: capitulum XXVII.)
- ūndēcentum = 99, literally ūn-dē-centum, “one taken from a hundred”.
Two traps, and they are serious
1. An imperative with no -e. dūcere gives dūc! in the singular (like dīc! and fac!), but dūcite! in the plural, regularly. The chapter's other imperatives behave: pete!, quaere!, reperī!
2. A macron that changes the meaning. The verb “to eat” is irregular:
ēst (long ē) = “he eats” ≠ est (short e) = “he is” ēsse = “to eat” ≠ esse = “to be” — in the plural there is no risk: edunt ≠ sunt.
This is the one place in the course where the app does not accept the answer without its macron: here, dropping it is not a slip, it is a contradiction.
Building words
The book takes the opportunity to show two mechanisms:
- assimilated prefix: ac-currit < ad-currit, im-pōnit < in-pōnit;
- noun drawn from a verb: timet → timor, clāmat → clāmor, dēclīnat → dēclīnātiō.
And impōnere takes the accusative of motion: ovem in umerōs impōnit, “he loads the sheep onto his shoulders”.
In one line: 3rd declension — -em, -is, -ī, -e; -ēs, -ēs, -um/-ium, -ibus; the genitive plural alone separates pāstōrum from ovium (and canum is the exception); learn a noun with its genitive and with its gender; -ēs is both nominative and accusative; suprā + acc. ↔ sub + abl.; ipse/ipsa, ipsum/ipsam; dum + present; ut = “like”; dūc!; and ēst ≠ est.