masculine declension

9.6

Forms of words like nouns and adjectives used for masculine gender in a language

noun
/ˈmæskjʊlɪn dɪˈklɛnʃən/

Specialized

: declinación masculina

Students must memorize the patterns of the masculine declension to properly use nouns in Russian.

Examples

In Latin, the masculine declension differs from the feminine and neuter forms in both endings and agreement.
In German, the masculine declension is essential for understanding articles.
Some languages have a distinct masculine declension for adjectives, affecting the way they modify nouns.
The masculine declension in Latin shows different endings for nouns.
In Latin, the masculine declension differs from the feminine and neuter forms in both endings and agreement.
Some languages have a distinct masculine declension for adjectives, affecting the way they modify nouns.
Students must memorize the patterns of the masculine declension to properly use nouns in Russian.

Surface Forms

masculine declension singular

masculine declensions plural

Morphology

masculine + declension

The phrase is directly compositional: 'masculine' specifies the grammatical gender and 'declension' denotes the pattern of inflectional forms, so the meaning 'the set of inflectional forms for the masculine gender' is directly derivable from the parts. This construction is cross-linguistically common in languages with gender/declension systems, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should understand it.

Etymology

Masculine declension names the pattern of word forms and 'endings' that show a noun is masculine. Imagine a group of words putting on different 'endings' like hats to show they belong to the masculine group, and that's why the term means the set of forms used for masculine nouns.