What’s with the Hyphens?
Referring to the top two tables — since third declension nouns have a variety of different endings (-a, -e, -i, -o, -c, -l, -n, -r, -s, -t, -x, and -y in some cases), the paradigm charts above mark the nominative case with a hyphen. If the hyphen appears in other parts of the paradigm, it indicates that the nominative form should be used.
Cheat Sheet for Determining Gender
You can usually tell the gender of the noun by the following endings:
- Masculine - Endings: -ō, -or, -ōs, -er, -es
- Feminine - Endings: -ās, -ēs, -is, -ys, -x, -s (preceded by a consonant), -dō, -gō, -iō, -ūs
- Neuter - Endings: -a, -i, -e, -y, -o, -l, -n, -t, -ar, -ur, -us
Neuter nouns
The accusative form of neuter nouns is always the same as its nominative form, no matter what declension.