puellas

Puellas is the accusative plural form of the Latin noun puella, a feminine noun of the first declension meaning "girl" or "young woman." The singular forms are puella (nominative), puellae (genitive and dative), puellam (accusative), and puellā (ablative). The plural forms are puellae (nominative), puellarum (genitive), puellis (dative), puellas (accusative), and puellis (ablative). Puellas specifically marks the group as the direct object in a sentence.

In use, puellas is the form employed when the girls are the object of a verb or other transitive action. For example: Puellas videt, meaning "He sees the girls," or Puellas laborant, meaning "The girls are working." The form is common in classical Latin texts and in Latin grammar instruction, where it serves to illustrate the accusative plural of a first-declension noun.

Notes on context and related forms: puella is a standard, everyday Latin word for a girl, appearing across a wide range of genres from poetry to prose. It contrasts with puer (boy) and vir (man) to denote female youths. The nominative plural is puellae, while the genitive plural is puellarum; distinguish puellas (accusative plural) from puellae (nominal plural) and puellarum (genitive plural). As a staple example in introductory Latin, puella provides a clear case study of first-declension noun declension and agreement with adjectives and verbs.