rēgīna est fīlia deae.	reh-GIHN-a est FIH-li-a DE-ai.
īnsulam vidēre possum.	IHN-ssu-lam wi-DEH-re POSS-ssum.
dominō est liber.	DO-mi-noh est LI-ber.

c	always hard, like k	cat	cēdō	KEH-doh
ch	hard k sound plus an h-like little puff of air	back-hoe	pulcher	PUL-k+her
g	always hard g	get	ager	A-ger
"consonantal" a.k.a. "semivocalic" i	before a(nother) vowel, mostly only at the start of a word, y (occasionally in other syllables)	young	iubeō	YU-be-oh
ph	regular p sound plus an h-like little puff of air	tap-hammer	philosophia	p+hi-lo-SSO-p+hi-a
q	always followed by "semivocalic" u (see below); together, they sound like kw	queen	quidem	KWI-dem
s	always unvoiced s	hiss	causa	KOW-ssa
th	regular t sound plus an h-like little puff of air	hot-head	thēsaurus	t+heh-SSOW-russ
"consonantal" a.k.a. "semivocalic" u (also printed with a pointy bottom, v)	before a(nother) vowel, anywhere in a word, w	win	videō amāvī	WI-de-oh a-MAH-wih
z	a rare consonant in Latin (in Greek names and loan-words); voiced sibillant with maybe a little voiced dental in front of it, z or dz	tzatziki	Zephyrus	DZE-phy-russ

Vowels: come in short or long (printed texts, when they mark long vowels, typically use a straight line over the vowel, called a macron, Greek for "long", since ancient Romans modeled their grammatical theory after ideas Greek scholars had worked out)

short	the basic sound of the vowel	as in	Latin example				long	the same vowel-sound, for twice the time	as in	Latin example
a	between English hard short a and momentary conversational uh	alike	ager				ā	thoughtful ah	father	fāma
e	English hard short e	get	bellum				ē	long interrogative eh, close to American long a	they	poēta
i	English hard short i	sit	agricola				ī	close to English long e	machine	rēgīna
o	English short o	hot	oppidum				ō	English long o	home	cōnsilium
u	English short oo	put	īnsula				ū	English long oo; never any initial y-sound	super	cūra
y	a rare vowel in Latin (in Greek names and loan-words); combines English long oo and ih, as in French u or German ü	tu (Fr.); über (Ger.)	Polyphēmus				ŷ	likewise rare; still combining English long oo and ih, for a longer time	tu (Fr.); über (Ger.), with emphasis	Pŷthia

Diphthongs: two vowels sounded together; Latin uses fewer than English

ae	ah-eh, compressed, yields the sound of English long i	aisle	laetus	LAI-tuss
au	ah-oo, compressed, is one of the sounds English makes with ou or ow	out	audiō	OW-di-oh
ei	eh-ih, compressed, yields the sound of English long a	reign, hey	Pompeius	pom-PEY-uss
eu	eh-oo, compressed, yields the sound made in some parts of Canada for ou; American doesn't use this sound much	house (hewse)	heu	HEOO
oe	oh-eh, compressed, yields the sound of English or Yiddish oy	boil	poena	POY-na
ui	oo-i, compressed, yields a drawn-out semivowel, as if for emphasis, plus short i, wwi	I *quit*!	huic	HWWIK

a single consonant is sounded with the vowel that follows it, unless it's the last sound of the word and there's no other place for it h, as a breath-sound in Latin, not a consonant, does not interfere	vi-dē-mus phi-lo-so-phi-a
a double consonant splits to sound one with the following vowel, one with the previous vowel ("closing" the preceding syllable); x functions as a one-letter double consonant, effectively k+s	bel-lum au>-<i-li-um (auk-ssi-li-um)
the combination of "mute" (consonant for which the vocal tract is stopped, blocking all air-flow: c, g; p, b; t, d) FOLLOWED BY "liquid" (l or r) MAY or MAY NOT "close" the syllable as a double consonant	ag-ri-co-la or a-gri-co-la

"penult" means the second-to-last syllable of a word (because it is "almost-the-ultimate" syllable, from Latin paene, "almost," + ultima, "the last")
if the penult is "short", as a syllable (see further below), the word-accent goes on the syllable before it, the "antepenult" (literally, "before the second-to-last" syllable)	oppidum	OP-pi-dum
if the penult is "long", as a syllable (see further below), the word-accent goes on the penult	rēgīna	reh-GIH-na

a syllable is "long" if:	it contains a long vowel	rēgīna	reh-GIH-na
	it contains a dipthong: dipthongs, as double vowels, are naturally sounded a longer time	Athēnaeus	a-t+heh-NAI-uss
	it contains a short vowel but is "closed" by having two (or more) consonants or the double-consonant x (=ks) follow the vowel	pu-el-la	pu-EL-la
a syllable is "short" if:	it contains a short vowel and is "open" (not "closed"; the breath-sound h does not make enough of a sound to close syllables)	philosophia	p+hi-lo-SSO-p+hi-a

• "Latin Pronunciation Demystified" by Michael Covington, Program in Linguistics, University of Georgia
• Latin Recitations by members of Harvard University's Department of Classics

Revised 25 July 2024 by jlong1@luc.edu
http://www.luc.edu/classicalstudies/