A Beginner’s Guide to
Latin
Pronunciation, Grammar, and Syntax
By Matthew Dorough
Contents
Contents
Introduction................................................................................................. v
Chapter I – Pronunciation
Alphabet............................................................................................ 3
Vowels .............................................................................................. 4
Consonants ....................................................................................... 5
Diphthongs ........................................................................................ 5
Chapter II – Grammar
Nouns ............................................................................................... 9
Verbs .............................................................................................. 12
Chapter III – Syntax
Word Order ..................................................................................... 17
Adjective Agreement ........................................................................ 17
Chapter IV – Repository
Common Phrases ............................................................................. 21
Conjunctions .................................................................................... 24
Prepositions ..................................................................................... 24
Index ....................................................................................................... 25
iii
Introduction
v
Introduction
“Mille viae ducunt homines per saecula Romam”
All roads lead to Rome: the Roman Empire was the primary political, cultural, economic, and
martial influence over the Mediterranean and West Europe for approximately one thousand
years. Even after the dissolution of the Roman Empire in the West, the legacy of Rome
continued to shape the politics, culture, economy, and military of future empires and nations.
One has to look no further than the Neoclassical architecture of the Capitol Building in
Washington D.C. as a tangible manifestation of Rome’s enduring influence.
A Dead Language?
Latin is commonly considered a dead language by many people, which is understandable. After
all, Latin is not the official, or de jure, language of any modern country and is certainly not the
de facto language of any place. Despite this, Latin is still relevant today: Latin is used not just in
the study of the Classics to read primary source documents on ancient history and literature, but
also in the fields of science, medicine, and law.
Whether using binomial nomenclature in biology to classify an organism (such as Homo Sapiens,
Latin for “wise man”), the almost endless list of Latin phrases, such as modus operandi (mode of
operating), caveat emptor (let the buyer beware), and pro bono publico (for the public good), in
the courtroom, or the Latin abbreviations used in everyday writing (for example, etc. is an
abbreviation of et cetera, which is Latin for “and others”), Latin is all around us. Look at the
nearest, ubiquitous “EXIT” sign: exit translates to “he/she goes out.” Pull a coin out of your
pocket: the motto of the United States, E Pluribus Unum, is Latin for “from many one.”
Still Not Convinced?
As Rome is such a powerful influence over our culture, the study of ancient Rome is necessary to
understanding our modern world. In the pursuit of this study, the knowledge of the language of
ancient Rome is highly useful, even if that knowledge is just a working knowledge of common
Latin phrases and the fundamentals of the language.
This is to say nothing of the value of knowing the language for the sake of language: Latin
provides literally thousands of words for the English language through its cognates. With even
limited knowledge of Latin, new perspectives appear on the English language, giving new facets
of meaning to even common words. Take the words “inspiration” and “spirit;” these two English
words are cognates of the Latin verb spirare, meaning “to breathe.”
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A Beginner’s Guide to Latin
Via Appia
After reading through and studying this guidebook, you will have taken the first step along your
own road, one that will lead you inexorably to the ancient crossroads of our culture, Rome. As
the saying goes, all roads lead to Rome; once there, all roads are open before you.
Please note that this guide is primarily intended for the neophyte Latin student, or as a concise
reference guide to the fundamentals of Latin for the more experienced classicist. As such, this
guide will restrict itself to discussion of the indicative, the subjunctive lying outside the scope of
the guide. Similarly, this guide will be limited to only the first and second noun declensions and
the present, past, and future tenses when conjugating verbs. Examples may include other
declensions, but will always be in present tense.
Chapter I
Pronunciation
Chapter 1
3
Pronouncing Latin
Introduction
Go ahead and say Caesar’s famous line, “Veni, vidi, vici.” You’ve most likely heard it and you
may even know that it translates to, “I came, I saw, I conquered.” Did you also know that, more
likely than not, you’ve never heard it pronounced correctly?
There is nothing more basic to a language than proper pronunciation. Before learning grammar
or syntax, it is imperative to have knowledge of how the language sounds. Latin, fortunately, is
relatively simple to pronounce, having relatively simple rules with virtually no exceptions. The
hardest part, as with any language, will be to train yourself to adhere to Latin’s rules of
pronunciation without reverting back to English pronunciation.
Alphabet
Though we use the Roman alphabet today, as does most of the world, we do not use the exact
same alphabet the Romans used:
Roman:
ABCDEFGHI
KLMNOPQRST
V
XYZ
English:
ABCDEFGHI JKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
As you can see, the Romans did not possess the letters j, u or w. You will not encounter these
letters while looking at ancient Latin text.
However, in English transliteration of Latin, you will see the letter u when a vowel is used, and
the letter v when a consonant is used; there is a difference in pronunciation, so Romans had to
modify the sound of their v based on location of the letter within the word. Fortunately for us, we
have the letter u, and no longer need to make such a fine distinction.
As for j and w, there is no correlation in Latin. The letter j is merely an elongated i and w is, as
the name implies, a double u in name and a double v in form.
On a related note, Latin text makes no distinction between capital and lower case letters: Latin
text is in all capitals. Also, there is no spacing in Latin, though some inscriptions use “bullets” to
separate words. Again, modern students of Latin do not need to worry about these because
English transliteration of Latin uses both lower case letters and spacing.
4
A Beginner’s Guide to Latin
Vowels
Latin has the same vowels as English (a, e, i, o, and u). Each vowel is pronounced the same way
in all instances, the only reservation being that each vowel can be pronounced both long and
short.
The following table provides examples of both short and long vowel sounds. Remember, these
vowel sounds are immutable.
A
E
I
O
U
Short vowel
aqua, casa
et, deus, exit
nihil, ignis
corpus, toga
dux, dum, urbs
Long vowel
crās, extrā
dē, dēfendo
virī, īra, īnferior
prō, sōl, agō
cūra, iūstus
As in English
“father”
“establish”
“technique”
“tome”
“put”
As you can see from the Latin
inscription to the left, which is
located in the Coliseum, there are
no spaces and there are no lower
case letters. Also take note of the
lack of the letters j, u, and w. The
inscription below makes use of
bullets to space its words.
Chapter 1
5
Consonants
Latin consonants are similarly simple to pronounce and likewise immutable. The biggest
difference between English and Latin pronunciation is that Latin always uses the hard consonant
sound, never the soft sound.
The following table notes exceptions to English consonant pronunciation.
C
G
H
Q
V
X
Rule
Always pronounced as k
Never pronounced as j
Never silent
Never pronounced as k
Pronounced as w
Never pronounced as z
Example
Caesar = ky∙ sar
magistra = ma∙ gee∙ stra
herba = hayr∙ ba
qui = kwee
Veni, vidi, vici = we∙ nee, wee∙ dee, wee∙ kee
Ulixes = ool∙ eecks∙ es
Diphthongs
Latin has six diphthongs that, again, are only pronounced one way.
ae
au
ei
eu*
oe
ui**
English Equivalent
ai as in aisle
ou as in mouse
ei as in feign
Not found in English
oi as in boil
Can be heard in “chewy”
Latin Example
Caesar
laudo
deinde
Seleucid
proelium
huius, cuius, huic, cui, hui
*Rarely found in Latin. The sound is made by quickly combining the two vowel sounds.
**The examples given constitute the exhaustive list of words that use this diphthong.
Chapter II
Grammar
Chapter 2
9
The Fundamentals of Latin Grammar
Introduction
Latin grammar is actually relatively simple to learn: it is a rather formulaic system with very few
exceptions. Latin, like English, is a language that uses a combination of nouns and verbs linked
by conjunctions and prepositions to describe objects and actions, place and possession.
Endings and Stems
The most prominent aspect of Latin is its system of endings: the end of a noun will tell you if the
noun is the subject or direct object and the end of a verb will tell you who is doing the action.
Navigamus ad insulam.
We sail to the island.
In the above example, the ending –mus tells us that the verb is in first person plural, and the
ending –am on the noun tells us that the island is the direct object. This system often means that
Latin words will be relatively long, but that the sentences will contain relatively few words, as
each word carries multiple ideas and performs multiple roles. Taking the above example again,
the verb, navigamus, carries the pronoun (we), the action (sail), and the tense (present). From
that one word, we know that we are currently sailing.
We know where to add these endings based on the stem of a noun or verb. These stems will be
discussed with more detail later in the chapter.
Nouns
Declension and Feminine, Masculine, and Neuter Endings
Latin divides its nouns into five different declensions. For our sake, we will only look at the two
most commonly used declensions, the first and second; the third, fourth, and fifth declensions are
rarely seen, as they mostly encompass nouns that fall outside of the first and second declension
as exceptions. The first declension contains mostly nouns which have the feminine ending and
the second declension contains mostly nouns which have masculine and neuter endings. This is
merely a convenient rule of thumb: it is important to bear in mind that a noun’s gender does not
determine its declension.
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A Beginner’s Guide to Latin
Noun Declension
Noun declension describes the process and system whereby Latin nouns achieve a specific
meaning. Each noun has a gender and a stem: the gender determines which declension is needed,
and the stem is the root where each ending is attached.
The ending is determined by how the noun is functioning in the context of its use, which will
determine number and case: number is whether or not the noun is singular or plural, and case is
the noun’s function in the sentence. There are five cases in Latin: nominative, genitive, dative,
accusative, and ablative. The stem is best determined by dropping the genitive singular ending
off of a noun.
Nominative case is used when a noun is the subject of a sentence; that is, the noun that is
performing the action.
Vir scribet litteras.
The man writes the letter.
In this example, the man, vir, is the noun performing the action of writing the letter, thus it is in
the nominative case.
Genitive case is used when a noun possesses another; that is, the noun that owns is the one that
is declined in the genitive, not the noun that is owned.
Nuntius portat litteras viri.
The messenger carries the man’s letter.
In this example, letter belongs to the man, viri; man is therefore in the genitive case. The
possessed noun is generally followed by its owner.
Dative case is used when a noun is the indirect object; that is, the noun that receives the verb’s
action.
Nuntius donat litteras regi.
The messenger gives the letter to the king.
In this example, the messenger gives the letter to the king, regi. The king is the indirect recipient
of the action: the letter is acted upon, but the king receives the consequence.
Accusative case is used when a noun is the direct object; that is, the noun that the verb directly
acts upon.
Rex leget litteras.
The king reads the letter.
In this example, the king reads the letter, litteras, which makes the letter the direct recipient of
the action.
Ablative case is used to modify a noun in time, place, or manner. It is frequently used with
adverbs and prepositions.
Chapter 2
11
Rex ducet milites in bello.
The king leads the soldiers in war.
In this example, the king leads the men in war, bello. War is conjugated in the ablative because it
is modified by the preposition in.
First Declension
Feminine – endings highlighted
Singular
Nominative
ter´ra
Genitive
ter´rae
Dative
ter´rae
Accusative
ter´ram
Ablative
ter´rā
Plural
ter´rae
ter´rārum
ter´rīs
ter´rās
ter´rīs
Second Declension
Masculine – endings highlighted
Singular
Nominative
por´tus
Genitive
por´tī
Dative
por´tō
Accusative
por´tum
Ablative
por´tō
Plural
por´tī
portō´rum
por´tīs
por´tōs
por´tīs
Neuter – endings highlighted
Nominative
Genitive
Dative
Accusative
Ablative
Singular
cae´lum
cae´lī
cae´lō
cae´lum
cae´lō
Plural
cae´la
caelō´rum
cae´līs
cae´la
cae´līs
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A Beginner’s Guide to Latin
Verbs
The Infinitive
Verbs are also dependent on endings and stems. The stem of a verb is simpler to determine than
that of a noun: merely drop the –are, -ere, or –ire off the infinitive. The infinitive form is the
default form for a verb, and means to + action. For instance, celebrare means “to celebrate,”
currere means “to run,” and scire means “to know.”
Present Indicative Conjugation
Each verb can be conjugated to relate a different tense, such as present, past, or future. Like a
noun, each ending within a tense relates information on number. A verb ending will also tell you
who is performing the action. The present indicative is the most basic verb conjugation in Latin
and, as the name denotes, expresses that an action is currently taking place.
First Person
Second Person
Third Person
Singular
-ō = I
-s = you
-t = he, she, it
Plural
-mus = we
-tis = you
-nt = they
Example of a Present Indicative Conjugated Verb
Begin with the infinitive vidēre, which means “to see.” Drop the -ēre ending and add the present
indicative verb endings:
Videō
I see, am seeing, do see
Vides
you see, are seeing, do see
Videt
he, she, it sees, is seeing, does see
Videmus
we see, are seeing, do see
Videtis
you see, are seeing, do see
Vident
they see, are seeing, do see
Chapter 2
13
Perfect Indicative Conjugation
The perfect indicative expresses actions that took place in the past. The perfect tense uses a
different stem than the present or future tenses.
First Person
Second Person
Third Person
Singular
-ī
-istī
-it
Plural
-imus
-istis
-ērunt
Example of a Perfect Indicative Conjugated Verb
Vidi
I saw, have seen, did see
Vidisti
you saw, have seen, did see
Vidit
he, she, it saw, has seen, did see
Vidimus
we saw, have seen, did see
Vidistis
you saw, have seen, did see
Viderunt
they saw, have seen, did see
Future Indicative Conjugation
The future indicative expresses actions that will take place in the future.
First Person
Second Person
Third Person
Singular
-bō
-bis
-bit
Plural
-bimus
-bitis
-bunt
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A Beginner’s Guide to Latin
Example of a Future Indicative Conjugation
Videbo
I shall see
Videbis
you will see
Videbit
he, she, it will see
Videbimus
we shall see
Videbitis
you will see
Videbunt
they will see
Chapter III
Syntax
Chapter 3
17
Word Order
Easy to Learn…
Latin has no strict rules on sentence structure or word order since the endings on nouns and verbs
take care of most of each sentence’s content. No matter how scrambled a sentence becomes, the
meaning can still be derived by determining the number and case of each noun, and the number
and tense of each verb.
Signum demonstrat viam.
The sign shows the way.
Viam demonstrat signum.
The sign shows the way.
Demonstrat signum viam.
The sign shows the way.
While it is recommended that words that modify each other be grouped together within the
sentence, it is by no means necessary.
Hard to Master
Because Latin lacks a stringent set of syntax rules, there are times where it is difficult to decipher
what is going on if words are not grouped well. While ancient Latin writing is what it is, when
writing your own sentences, try to follow the form of an English sentence, so as to minimize
confusion and ambiguity.
In general, adjectives should be next to the noun they modify, the possessed object ought to
precede its owner, and what follows a preposition must be the object that the preposition
modifies.
Adjective Agreement
Latin adjectives have no gender. Instead, they change gender depending on the noun they
modify, and must agree with that noun in number and case.
Via bona
Good road
Bona facta
Good deeds
Bonus cibus
Good food
Chapter IV
Repository of Useful Terms
Chapter 4
21
Repository
Common Phrases
A
a fortiori,
a posteriori,
a priori,
ab absurdo,
ad absurdum,
ad hoc,
ad hominem,
ad infinitum,
Agnus Dei,
alias,
alibi,
alma mater,
alter ego,
Anno Domini (A.D.),
annuit coeptis,
ante bellum,
from the stronger
from the latter
from the former
from the absurd
to the absurd
to this
to the man
to infinity
Lamb of God
at another time, otherwise
elsewhere
nourishing mother
another I
the year of our Lord
he nods at things being begun, he approves our undertakings
before the war
B
bona fide,
good faith
C
caput mundi,
carpe diem,
cave canem,
caveat emptor,
circa,
cogito ergo sum,
Corpus Christi,
corpus delecti,
cui bono,
cum grano salis,
cum laude,
curriculum vitae,
head of the world
sieze the day
beware of the dog
let the buyer beware
around
I think, therefore I am
body of Christ
body of the offence
good for whom?
with a grain of salt
with praise
course of life
D
de facto,
de jure,
de novo,
by deed
by law
from the new
22
deus ex machina,
dum spiro spero,
A Beginner’s Guide to Latin
a god from a machine
while I breathe, I hope
E
e pluribus unum,
Ecce Homo,
emeritus,
ergo
et alii (et al.),
et cetera (etc.),
ex ante,
ex gratia,
ex post,
excelsior,
one from many
Behold the Man
veteran
therefore
and others
and the rest
from before
from kindness
from after
higher
F
fac simile,
make a similar thing
G
genius loci,
spirit of place
H
habeas corpus,
you should have the body
I
Ibidem (ibid),
id est (i.e.),
incognito,
in medias res,
in toto,
in vitro,
in vivo,
inter alia,
ipso facto,
in the same place
that is
with one’s identity concealed
into the middle of things
in all
in glass
in life
among other things
by the fact itself
M
Magna Carta,
magna cum laude,
magnum opus,
mea culpa,
memento mori,
modus operandi,
Great Charter
with great praise
great work
my fault
remember you will die
method of operating
Chapter 4
23
N
nemo,
non sequitur
no one
it does not follow
O
orbis non sufficit,
the world is not enough
P
pro bono publico,
for the public good
Q
quid pro quo,
this for that
R
re,
requiescat in pace,
res gestae,
rigor mortis,
in the matter of
let him/her rest in peace
things done
stiffness of death
S
S.P.Q.R.,
semper fidelis,
sic,
spiritus mundi,
statim,
status quo,
stet,
sub poena,
The Senate and the People of Rome
always faithful
thus, just so
spirit of the world
immediately
the situation in which
let it stand
under penalty
T
tabula rasa,
tempus fugit,
terra firma,
tu quoque,
blank slate
time flees
solid land
you too
V
veni, vidi, vici,
verbatim,
versus,
veto,
via,
vice versa,
vox populi,
I came, I saw, I conquered
word for word
towards
I forbid
by the road, by way of
with position turned
voice of the people
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A Beginner’s Guide to Latin
Conjunctions
aut,
aut… aut
dum,
et,
et… et
neque,
neque… neque
quod,
sed,
si,
or
either… or
while
and
both… and
nor
neither… nor
because
but
if
Prepositions
ab,
ad,
ante,
circa,
circum,
contra,
cum,
de,
ex,
extra,
in,
inter,
non,
ob,
per,
post,
pro,
prope,
sine,
sub,
super,
trans,
versus,
by
to
before
about
around
against
with
from
from
outside, beyond
in, into, on, upon
between, among
not
toward, because of
through
after
for, in behalf of, in front of
near
without
under
over, above
across
towards
Index
A
Ablative case, 10
Accusative case, 10
adjective, 17
alphabet, 3
C
capital, 3
Conjugation, 12
consonants, 5
D
Dative case, 10
declension, 9, 10
diphthongs, 5
direct object, 9, 10
E
ending, 9, 10, 12
F
feminine, 9
future indicative, 13
G
Genitive case, 10
grammar, 3, 9
I
infinitive, 12
L
lower case, 3
M
masculine, 9
N
neuter, 9
25
26
Nominative case, 10
P
perfect indicative, 13
present indicative, 12
S
subject, 9, 10
V
vowels, 4
A Beginner’s Guide to Latin