Declining Certain Nouns

[CraftyCarol]

Salvete,
We are working on Latina Christiana I and we are beginning to decline nouns. I have two questions. First, how do you decline nouns like gloria? Do you remove just the "a" before adding the case endings or do you remove the "ia"? Secondly, (maybe a stupid question?) can/do you decline proper nouns like Roma and Italia or Gallia? If so, I assume it works the same way as regular nouns?
Thank you for your time!

BTW, we LOVE (I LOVE) this program and CAN'T WAIT to move onto First Form Latin! I'm REALLY enjoying teaching and learning Latin. It makes me feel smart. Thank you for this wonderful program!!!

[pickandgrin]

Declining first declension nouns

I'm only a bit ahead of you myself in Latin, but I'll jump in and give it a go. To decline first declension nouns like gloria, you'll see the chart in LC 1 Lesson 7 for the model noun terra. The actual stem here is terr- and the nominative case ending is -a. If you're in Lesson 5 you'll see mens-a. For gloria, the stem is glori- and then the nominative case ending -a. If you will keep a space or dash between your stems and case endings when you decline them it will help you see the stems and case endings.

For example:
glori-a
glori-ae
glori-ae
glori-am
glori-a

glori-ae
glori-arum
glori-is
glori-as
glori-is

It does get more confusing when your stem ends in a vowel and often you'll have a double "ii" in the dative and ablative plural. That's why terra and mensa are good model nouns as they are more straightforward. So you are correct, just remove the -a and add your case endings.

Secondly, yes, you decline proper nouns the same way. They follow the pattern of their declension/gender and vary based on their usage in the sentence. For example, Roma in the singular:

Rom-a (Rome, as the subject of the sentence, or predicate noun)
Rom-ae (of Rome, Rome's, possessive)
Rom-ae (to or for Rome, indirect object)
Rom-am (Rome, as the direct object)
Rom-a (in, by, with, from Rome)

Some proper nouns don't exist in the plural, so you'll won't see those. There is no such thing as "Romes."

A helpful note on nouns for the long term is always to learn them (and have you child learn them & speak them out) as both the nominative and genitive forms. Learning terra should be practiced: "terra, terrae, land." This starts in Lesson 6. The genitive singular ending is always going to be the marker for which of the five declensions you're working with. Some good news is that these endings show back up with adjectives and you'll already have them memorized!

Best wishes on your Latin journey. I have found it to be a most fulfilling aspect of learning along with my children!

(And! If I have any of this wrong I'm sure my more experienced friends will correct me gently. )

Warmly