Latin/Pronunciation Consonants

Consonants

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Consonant Latin example Classical[1] Ecclesiastical[2]
Sounds like Listen Sounds like Listen
b barbaria bob
Audio
bob
Audio
c followed by e, i, ae, oe, y caelestis cat
Audio
chat
Audio
c otherwise cattus cat
Audio
cat
Audio
d dīrēctus dad
Audio
dad
Audio
f fānāticus fun
Audio
fun
Audio
g followed by e, i, ae, oe, y genus gag
Audio
gerbil
Audio
g otherwise gubernātor gag
Audio
gag
Audio
h herba honey
Audio
honor[3]
Audio
i at beginning of word, j[4] Jēsūs yes
Audio
yes
Audio
k Kalendae keep
Audio
keep
Audio
l littera loll
Audio
loll
Audio
m maximus mom
Audio
mom
Audio
n numerus nun
Audio
nun
Audio
p populus pop
Audio
pop
Audio
q quantum quiet
Audio
quiet
Audio
r[5] religiō roar
Audio
roar
Audio
s miser sassy
Audio
sassy
Audio
t followed by i and another vowel and preceded by any letter other than s, t, x differentia tatter
Audio
tsetse
Audio
t otherwise toga tatter
Audio
tatter
Audio
v[6] vīvārium wow
Audio
vine
Audio
x in words beginning with ex followed by a vowel, h, or s exhālō axe
Audio
eggs
Audio
x otherwise extrā axe
Audio
axe
Audio
z zōdiacus adze
Audio
adze
Audio

More information

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

Notes

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  1. Wheelock, p. xlii
  2. de Angelis, pp. 13-21
  3. h is always silent except in the words mihi and nihil, where it is pronounced as k.
  4. There was no letter J in the old Latin alphabet; instead the letter I was used. In fact, J was not even formally considered a separate letter from I in English until 1828 (Sacks, pp. 186, 196). In this book, we will not use J, and so we will use Iēsūs and not Jēsūs. Vicipaedia also does not use J.
  5. Use the alveolar trill (hear this on Wikipedia), and not the retroflex approximant (hear this on Wikipedia).
  6. As with J, the letter V was not considered distinct from U in English until 1828 (Sacks, p. 327). We will use V throughout this book. Vicipaedia also uses V.