Latin/Pronunciation

This is a very basic guide to Latin pronunciation. You will get plenty of help in the lessons with audio files.

The good news is that Latin is pronounced quite consistently. The sounds are quite easy to reproduce. As a general guide, Latin would have sounded more like modern Spanish or Italian than English.

Latin is however spoken with two rather different systems, widely called "Classical" and "Ecclesiastical". You should choose according to your needs and preferences. Classical is more widely taught in lessons in Anglophone countries. Ecclesiastical pronunciation is common in Italy's schools.

Vowels

Sounds	Audio	Notes
a, ā e, ē i, ī o, ō u, ū y, ȳ	La-cls-all-vowels	All the vowels together

Vowel	Latin example	Classical^[1]		Ecclesiastical^[2]
Vowel	Latin example	Sounds like	Listen	Sounds like	Listen
a	ballista	father	Audio	father	Audio
ā	fābula	father	Audio	father	Audio
e	September	met	Audio	met	Audio
ē	mēnsis	met	Audio	met	Audio
i	dictātor	machine	Audio	machine	Audio
ī	dīvīsor	machine	Audio	machine	Audio
o	bonus	dog	Audio	dog	Audio
ō	sōl	dog	Audio	dog	Audio
u	lupus	rude	Audio	rude	Audio
ū	lūna	rude	Audio	rude	Audio
y	mysticus	über^[3]	Audio	meet	Audio
ȳ	Dionȳsus	über^[3]	Audio	meet	Audio
All the vowels		Audio		Audio

Practice

Choose your preferred pronunciation method: Classical or Ecclesiastical. Then attempt to pronounce the following words before listening to them. Don't worry about the correct pronunciation of the consonants or syllable stresses at this point; just pay attention to the vowels.

Word	Classical	Ecclesiastical
secundus	Audio	Audio
proximitās	Audio	Audio
perpendiculum	Audio	Audio
dīvīnitās	Audio	Audio
Hēraclītus	Audio	Audio
mīrāculum	Audio	Audio
amygdalum	Audio	Audio
ūmidus	Audio	Audio
pila	Audio	Audio
pīla	Audio	Audio
papȳrus	Audio	Audio
potēns	Audio	Audio
pōtus	Audio	Audio
locus	Audio	Audio
lōcustā	Audio	Audio

Diphthongs

Two vowels together usually are pronounced as distinct vowels. Thus, the word radiī is pronounced ra•di•ī. However, some combinations have a pronunciation in which the first vowel glides into the second vowel: they are diphthongs.

Diphthong	Latin example	Classical^[4]		Ecclesiastical^[5]
Diphthong	Latin example	Sounds like	Listen	Sounds like	Listen
ae	paenīnsula	by	Audio	Pronounce as ē	Audio
au	automaton	how	Audio	how	Audio
eu^[6]	Eurōpa	Pronounce as eū	Audio	Pronounce as eū	Audio
oe	oeconōmia	foil	Audio	Pronounce as ē	Audio
ua, ue, ui, uo after q or ng	aequilībrium	kw + vowel	Audio	kw + vowel	Audio

There are a few exceptions, such as the word āēr, which you might see as aër in Vicipaedia or āër in other books. The marks indicate that the vowels are pronounced separately as ā•ēr, not as the diphthong ae. When we encounter other such words, we'll point them out, otherwise these tables would get very complicated very quickly.

More information

For a much fuller version of this guide, see this Wikibooks page.

Notes

↑ Janson, p. 5
↑ de Angelis, pp. 8-9
↑ English has no equivalent, so we used a German word. You can listen to the basic sound of this vowel on Wikipedia.
↑ Wheelock, p. xli
↑ de Angelis, pp. 9-11
↑ If eu occurs before the last letter in a word, as in -eus or -eum, then this is not a diphthong because the two vowels belong to different syllables: -e•us and -e•um. This will become much more obvious when you get to the chapter on the first and second declension.

Latin

Pronunciation Consonants →

[1] Janson, p. 5

[2] Angelis, pp. 8-9

[3] English has no equivalent, so we used a German word. You can listen to the basic sound of this vowel on Wikipedia.

[4] Wheelock, p. xli

[5] Angelis, pp. 9-11

[6] If eu occurs before the last letter in a word, as in -eus or -eum, then this is not a diphthong because the two vowels belong to different syllables: -e•us and -e•um. This will become much more obvious when you get to the chapter on the first and second declension.

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