- a. The vocative case of these words is like the nominative, following the general rule (§74.a).
- b. The declension differs from that of servus only in the nominative and vocative singular.
- c. Note that in puer the e remains all the way through, while in ager it is present only in the nominative. In puer the e belongs to the base, but in ager (base agr-) it does not, and was inserted in the nominative to make it easier to pronounce. Most words in -er are declined like ager. The genitive shows whether you are to follow puer or ager.
93. Masculine adjectives in -er of the second declension are declined like nouns in -er. A few of them are declined like puer, but most of them like ager. The feminine and neuter nominatives show which form to follow, thus,
| Masc. | Fem. | Neut. | ||
| līber | lībera | līberum | (free) | is like puer |
| pulcher | pulchra | pulchrum | (pretty) | is like ager |
For the full declension in the three genders, see §469.b.c.
94. Decline together the words vir līber, terra lībera, frūmentum līberum, puer pulcher, puella pulchra, oppidum pulchrum.
95.
Italia[1]
First learn the special vocabulary, p. 286.
Magna est Italiae fāma, patriae Rōmānōrum, et clāra est Rōma, domina orbis terrārum.[2] Tiberim,[3] fluvium Rōmānum, quis nōn laudat et pulchrōs fluviō fīnitimōs agrōs? Altōs mūrōs, longa et dūra bella, clārās victōriās quis nōn laudat? Pulchra est terra Italia. Agrī bonī agricolīs praemia dant magna, et equī agricolārum cōpiam frūmentī ad oppida et vīcōs portant. In agrīs populi Rōmānī labōrant multī servī. Viae Italiae sunt longae et lātae. Fīnitima Italiae est īnsula Sicilia.
