LESSON 4

Singular and Plural | E Pluribus Unum

4A. GRAMMAR In every language, we separate nouns into two large boxes. These boxes are named Singular and Plural. In English, to make a word plural add an -s or -es. Here are some simple examples.

Remember this list of words? In an earlier lesson, you organized them according to gender. Now, you will make them plural. For example:

actor -> actors cat -> cats

house -> houses tree -> trees

table -> tables hedgehog -> hedgehogs

chair -> chairs box -> boxes

Visual Latin | compassclassroom.com | © Compass Cinema 2020 | Version 3.0 | 13

lilium silva fluvius stella oppidum

vocabulum puer puella arca sofa

amicus amica terra herba populus

MASCULINE FEMININE NEUTER

fluvius becomes fluvii

puer = pueri

populus = populi

puella = puellae oppidum = oppida

Singular and plural are often called number in languages.� Latin changes its endings to form the plural like this:

feminine -a changes to -ae: insulae, ninjae, pizzae, ursae, stellae, aquae

masculine -us changes to -i: snufflleupagi, cacti, hippopotami, ursi

neuter -um changes to -a: urania, plutonia, tabernacula, podia, oppida.