Context : Open clusters are very useful targets for examining possible trends in galactocentric distance and age , especially when young and old open clusters are compared .

Aims : We carried out a detailed spectroscopic analysis to derive the chemical composition of seven red giants in the young open cluster NGC 3114 .
Abundances of C , N , O , Li , Na , Mg , Al , Ca , Si , Ti , Ni , Cr , Y , Zr , La , Ce , and Nd were obtained , as well as the carbon isotopic ratio .

Methods : The atmospheric parameters of the studied stars and their chemical abundances were determined using high-resolution optical spectroscopy .
We employed the local-thermodynamic-equilibrium model atmospheres of Kurucz and the spectral analysis code moog .
The abundances of the light elements were derived using the spectral synthesis technique .

Results : We found that NGC 3114 has a mean metallicity of [ Fe/H ] = - 0.01 \pm 0.03 .
The isochrone fit yielded a turn-off mass of 4.2 M _ { \odot } .
The [ N/C ] ratio is in good agreement with the models predicted by first dredge-up .
We found that two stars , HD 87479 and HD 304864 , have high rotational velocities of 15.0 km s ^ { -1 } and 11.0 km s ^ { -1 } ; HD 87526 is a halo star and is not a member of NGC 3114 .

Conclusions : The carbon and nitrogen abundance in NGC 3114 agree with the field and cluster giants .
The oxygen abundance in NGC 3114 is lower compared to the field giants .
The [ O/Fe ] ratio is similar to the giants in young clusters .
We detected sodium enrichment in the analyzed cluster giants .
As far as the other elements are concerned , their [ X/Fe ] ratios follow the same trend seen in giants with the same metallicity .