Latin Declension Rules | Latin Declensions > Fifth Declension
The Fifth declension nouns in Latin are sometimes called -e stem nouns. The nouns are few but common. Like the first declension, fifth declension nouns tend to be feminine. The word for day (dies) can be either masculine or feminine in the singular, but in the plural, it is masculine. Meridies, the Latin word for mid-day is also masculine. Otherwise, the fifth declension nouns are all feminine (all 50 or so of them). The forms of fifth declension easily taken for 3d declension forms. Mistaking an accusative plural fifth declension noun for an accusative plural third declension noun, for instance, as long as you have the gender right, should cause no trouble in translation.
Most 5th Declension Nouns in Nominative Singular End in -IES
The rudiments of Latin and English grammar, by Alexander Adam (1820) characterizes fifth declension Latin nouns:
All nouns of the fifth declension end in ies, except three; fides, faith; spes, hope; res, a thing; and all nouns in ies are of the fifth, except these four; abies, a firtree; aries, a ram; paries, a wall; and quies, rest; which are of the third declension.
The Endings
The endings of the masculine or feminine Fifth declension are
SINGULAR PLURAL CASES (What does NOM., GEN., etc. mean?) NOM. -es -es GEN. -ei -erum DAT. -ei -ebus ACC. -em -es ABL. -e -ebus
dies, -ei, f. or m., day
SINGULAR PLURAL NOM. dies dies GEN. diei dierum DAT. diei or die diebus ACC. diem dies ABL. die diebus
Here are some other fifth declension nouns:
- effigies, effigiei, f., effigy
- fides, fidei, f., faith
- res, rei, f., thing
- spes, spei, f., hope.
Also see a paradigm of an additional fifth declension noun, macies, maciei f. (thinness), complete with macrons and umlauts.
