§68. Pure i-Stems
In Neuters the Nominative is the same as the stem, with final i changed to e: as, mare, stem mari-. But most nouns1 in which the i of the stem is preceded by āl or ār lose the final vowel and shorten the preceding ā: as, animăl, stem animāli-.2
a. Neuters in -e, -al, and -ar have -ī in the ablative singular, -ium in the genitive plural, and -ia in the nominative and accusative plural: as, animal, animālī, -ia, -ium.
J. H. Allen and J. B. Greenough, New Latin Grammar (Boston: Ginn, 1903). Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities.