1st and 2nd Declension Adjectives

Question 1

what are the 1st and 2nd Declentions?

Answer 1

Adjectives, like nouns, belong to declension categories, although adjectives are kind of weird in this regard. They can belong to either one of two categories: 1st/2nd declension adjectives or 3rd declension adjectives. The 1st/2nd declension adjectives are called that because they change declensions based on the gender of the noun being described.

Question 2

How?

Answer 2

Take the word “laetus,” which means “happy,” for example. A happy man would be “vir laetus,” whereas a happy woman would be “femina laeta,” and a happy temple would be “templum laetum.” Notice that the ending after the “lae-“ changes based on whether the word being described is masculine, feminine, or neuter. 1st/2nd declension adjectives actually use the noun case endings from the first and second declensions to determine what they will look like for different genders.