[Footnote A:  The genitive singular masculine of adjectives in -ius
ends in -ii:  and the vocative in -ie; not in -i:, as in nouns.]

91. Declension of Nouns in _-er_ and _-ir_.  In early Latin all the masculine nouns of the second declension ended in -os.  This -os later became -us in words like servus\, and was dropped entirely in words with bases ending in -r, like puer\, boy; ager\, _field_; and vir\, man.  These words are therefore declined as follows: 

92. puer, m., boy ager, m., field vir, m., man
         BASE puer- BASE agr- BASE vir-

SINGULAR                                    TERMINATIONS
Nom.  puer            ager               vir         ——­
Gen.  pueri:           agri:               viri:        -i: 
Dat.  puero:           agro:               viro:        -o: 
Acc.  puerum          agrum              virum       -um
Abl.  puero:           agro:               viro:        -o: 

PLURAL
Nom.  pueri:           agri:               viri:        -i: 
Gen.  puero:rum       agro:rum           viro:rum    -o:rum
Dat.  pueri:s         agri:s             viri:s      -i:s
Acc.  puero:s         agro:s             viro:s      -o:s
Abl.  pueri:s         agri:s             viri:s      -i:s

    a. The vocative case of these words is like the nominative,
    following the general rule (Sec. 74.a).

    b. The declension differs from that of servus\ only in the
    nominative and vocative singular.

c. Note that in puer\ the e\ remains all the way through, while in ager\ it is present only in the nominative.  In puer\ the e\ belongs to the base, but in ager\ (base agr-) it does not, and was inserted in the nominative to make it easier to pronounce.  Most words in -er are declined like ager\. _The genitive shows whether you are to follow_ puer\ or ager\.

_93._ Masculine adjectives in -er of the second declension are declined like nouns in -er.  A few of them are declined like puer\, but most of them like ager\.  The feminine and neuter nominatives show which form to follow, thus,

  MASC.  FEM.  NEUT.
  liber libera liberum (free)
    is like puer\
  pulcher pulchra pulchrum (_pretty_)
    is like ager\

For the full declension in the three genders, see Sec. 469._b._ c.

94. Decline together the words vir liber\, terra libera\, frumentum liberum\, puer pulcher\, puella pulchra\, oppidum pulchrum\

95. ITALIA[1]

First learn the special vocabulary, p. 286.

Magna est Italiae fama, patriae Romanorum, et clara est Roma, domina orbis terrarum.[2] Tiberim,[3] fluvium Romanum, quis non laudat et pulchros fluvio finitimos agros?  Altos muros, longa et dura bella, claras victorias quis non laudat?  Pulchra est terra Italia.  Agri boni agricolis praemia dant magna, et equi agricolarum copiam frumenti ad oppida et vicos portant.  In agris populi Romani laborant multi servi.  Viae Italiae sunt longae et latae.  Finitima Italiae est insula Sicilia.