Latin Pronunciations

Pronunciation of Vowels

Single Vowels

Latin vowels are written like English vowels but generally are pronounced differently. The following list was developed by Lynn Guindon of the University of Kentucky. Practice the sounds and listen to them and practice again. (Because of typographic limitations I have resorted to using the French circumflex to indicate long vowels.)

â as in the English wand, never as in say. Latin parâta 'prepared'
a as in the English what, never as in cat. Latin parâta 'prepared'
ê as in English seance, never as in the. Latin cêna 'dinner'
e as in English bet. Latin festînat 'he/she/it is hurrying'
ô as in English pole. Latin labôrat 'he she or it is working'
o as in English pore, never as in pot. Latin mox 'soon'
û as in English tune, never as in cute. Latin cûr 'why?'
u as in English put, never as in but. Latin ambulat 'he she or it walks'
î as in English marine, never as in sigh. Latin festînat 'he/she/it is hurrying'
i as in English bit. Latin intrat 'he she or it is entering'
y rare, borrowed from Greek. It has both a long and a short version, both of which are pronounced like 'i' above, but with the lips pursed (as for -u-): the names Scylla and Psychê.

Diphthongs

A diphthong consists of two vowels pronounced as one. The following are common diphthongs in Latin:

ae as in English 'I' or 'eye'. Latin laeta 'happy'
au as in English how, never as in Maud. Latin laudat 'he, she or it praises'
ei as in English weigh, never as in seize. Latin deinde 'then'
eu not found in English; short -e- + short -u-. Latin heu 'sigh'
oe as in English boy. Latin coepit 'he,she or it is beginning'
ui not found in English; short -u- + short -i-. Latin cui 'to whom'

Review the list again, practice the sounds and then listen to them.

Long or Short?

At some time near the end of the Republic, Romans began to indicate long vowels with a symbol similar to the French circumflex or by doubling the vowel. Eventually a mark (such as the French acute) was added to words. But the long mark was never included in the spelling of a word in the way that accent marks in modern languages appear. In fact, the macron or long mark used in most Latin texts today did not appear until the invention of the printing press. So how do we know which vowels are long? Our understanding of the length of vowels is an inexact science. Scholars used lines of poetry to determine sounds of Latin words. In the 16th century a physician named Smets organized a dictionary based on their findings, and his work has been revised over the centuries. (Source: W. Sydney Allen, Vox Latina, pp 64-65.)

Latin vowels, unlike English vowels, have only two sounds: long or short. Some vowels are long by nature, some are made long by their position in a word. When no macrons are in place to help you determine whether a vowel is long or short, use these rules:

If a word has two syllables, the first vowel is stressed. Roma is Ro ma, fides is fi des
If a word ends in i, o or u, the last vowel is long. Thus, masculine nominative plurals of the 2nd declension end in a long vowel. All ablative singular form endings of the 2nd (-o) and 4th declensions (-u) are long, as are dative singular forms of the 2nd (-i), 3rd (-i), 4th (-i), and 5th (-i) declensions.
Ablative singulars of the 1st (-a) and 5th declension (-e) are long.
If a word ends in the consonant 's', the last vowel is long. These include accusative plurals of the 1st, 2nd (masculines), 3rd, 4th and 5th declensions (-as, -os, -es, -us, -es); nominative plurals and genitive singulars of the 4th declension (-us). Nominative plural of the 5th declension (-es). Exceptions to this rule are nominative singular forms (e.g., corpus, hortus, manus, dies).
If a word has three or more syllables, the last syllable is called the ultima, the second to last is the penult (penultimate) and the one before it the antepenult. (penult is a combination of paene and ultima...'almost last'). Stress is placed on the penult if it is long and on the antepenult if the penult is short.
Determine the length of the vowel by the Rule of Two Consonants. A vowel followed by two consonants is long. Example: acquiescat. ac qui es cat. The stress is placed on the penult - acquiescat and the first syllable is pronounced with an 'ah' sound of a long 'a'. Note:
- that in a line of poetry two consonants need not be in the same word to lengthen a vowel.
- that each of the letters X and Z is considered by itself as two consonants.
- that the two-letter combinations of ch, ph, th, qu (and sometimes gu and su) are considered as single consonants because of their sound; thus making the preceding vowel short.
- except that a vowel is not lengthened before the -nt- of a present active participle, as in amantis or docentis;
  or before the -nd- of a gerund(ive), as in amandus, docendus.
When an enclitic, such as -ne, -que, or -ve, is in place, the preceding vowel is stressed.
If a syllable contains a diphthong - caedam, praemia, praecipium - the syllable is stressed.
Verbs
- The 'a' of a 1st conjugation verb is long. example: ambulabat.
- The 'e' of a 2nd conjugation verb is long. example: docebimus
- The 'i' of a 4th conjugation verb is long. example: audimus
- The 'ba' of the imperfect veni e b a mus - Note that there are several long vowel sounds here so the stress goes on the antepenult.

Want more details about Latin pronunciation? Visit Allen and Greenough's New Latin Grammer on the Perseus site. Scroll down to Sections 7-12 for information on syllable quantity, pronunciation, and accent.

Joan Jahnige 1999

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