how to tell a noun's declension in Latin

How can you tell what declension a Latin noun is?
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CORRECTION
1:11 puellās should be identified as plural, not singular. Festinā lente!

LYRICS
When you look at the dictionary and you look up a noun, they give you two forms: the nominative and the genitive, as well as the gender.

That second form - the genitive - that tells you what declension the noun is.

–ae is 1st (but that’s -ae as in the letters -ae, not the letter -i)
– ī is 2nd (but that’s the letter -ī, not the letter -e)
So,

– ae is 1st
– ī is 2nd
– is is 3rd
– ūs is 4th
– eī is 5th declension

– ae is 1st
– ī is 2nd
– is is 3rd
– ūs is 4th
– eī is 5th declension

If you know a noun’s declension, you’ll know what endings it will be using, and then you can know a given form’s case and meaning, and then you can understand what you’re hearing or reading.

But if you don’t know a noun’s declension, you’ll probably find things pretty confusing because you won’t really know what you’re doing, and you’ll always be grasping for meaning.

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