Declension
From KneeQuickie
A declension is an inflection of a noun or a set of inflections for a given group of nouns. Generally speaking, declension features heavily in synthetic languages but naturally less so in isolating ones. A language may, however, be rich in declension without being rich in conjugation, and vice versa. Languages notable for their rich declension include Latin and Sanskrit.
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Common inflections
Declension classes
Many languages with declension also have a set of classes for nouns (which may or may not overlap in some way with genders). Within each class, inflections follow a certain pattern. Often, however, nouns depart greatly from the standard even from within the declension, at times evoking a sense that they are almost a sui generis inflectionally.
Latin declension
Of all the languages possessing declension, Latin perhaps ranks as the most well-known. It's baroque and Kafkaesque system of fusional endings has taxed the minds of students for centuries. Latin possesses no less than five declension classes each containing several further subdivisions corresponding to different genders, final consonants, and so forth. Illustrating with some of the similar cases...
