Latin cheat sheet, Cheat Sheet of Latin language

Download Latin cheat sheet and more Cheat Sheet Latin language in PDF only on Docsity! Latin Pronunciation Guide Latin may be a dead language but it is very much alive when you read it and speak it. It lives in the echo of the words that were spoken long ago by the great men of Ancient Rome. Inscriptional evidence as well as texts from ancient grammarians tell us how the Romans pronounced Latin during the classical period. This simple guide will provide you with the basics.1 You may ask, “Why should I bother to learn the difference between long and short vowels? Why should I bother learning macrons (the long marks)?” Here is the best reply I know: “ ‘Learning macrons’ is a piece of cake if you just learn proper pronunciation—which is important. Macrons simply indicate vowel quantity, just like spelling in English, and that can mean a lot; after all, a cape is a cape, and not a cap (that silent -e); a sheep is a sheep, and not a ship; and a sheet is a sheet and not a . . . well, you get the idea: Easy to learn and important to know.”2 A simplified pronunciation guide is as follows: VOWELS LONG VOWEL SHORT VOWEL ā as in father: māter, grātiās, clāmat, vīllā a as in Dinah: pater, quattuor, salvē, taberna ē as in they: salvēte, trēs, cēna, hodiē e as in pet: bene, septem, vehementer ī as in machine: quīnque, fīlius, scrībit i as in pin: tibi, mihi, nāvis, ita, videt ō as in clover: nōn, octō, leō, mōns, nōmen o as in orb, off: octō, novem, hortus, hodiē ū as in rude: ūnus, ūndecim, tū, salūtat u as in put: ut, unda, culīna, uxor, ululat DIPHTHONGS (combinations of two vowel sounds collapsed together into a single syllable) ae as ai in aisle: puellae, quaesō, saepe au as ou in house: laudat, aut, paulīsper ei as reign: deinde oe as oi in oil: coepit ui as in Latin u + i, spoken as a single syllable like Spanish muy or English gooey, pronounced quickly as a single syllable, and occuring only in the following words: cuius, huius, cui, hui, huic. Otherwise the two letters are spoken separately. CONSONANTS Latin consonants had essentially the same sounds as the English consonants with the following exceptions: 1 For a more detailed account of restored classical pronunciation, see Vox Latina by W. Sidney Allen, Cambridge University Press; Reprint edition (August 17, 1989) ISBN: 0521379369. 2 Richard A. LaFleur, Franklin Professor of Classics, University of Georgia at Athens. The majority of this pronunciation guide is based upon information in Wheelock’s Latin, edited by Richard A. LaFleur. Many of the Latin examples have been changed to words familiar to beginning Latin students (using the Cambridge Latin Course). – Ginny Lindzey, Porter Middle School, January 2004.