A Quick Guide to Pronunciation in Latin
Remember a few things:
Every letter is pronounced
Every vowel or diphthong is a syllable
Vowels:
a is pronounced like the a in father
ā is pronounced like “aaaahhhh”
e is pronounced like the e in pet
ē is pronounced like the sound in “hay”
i
ī
is pronounced like the i in pit
is pronounced like the sound in “bee”
o does not have a familiar sound
ō is pronounced like the sound in “boat”
u does not have a familiar sound
ū is pronounced like the sound in “food”
ae is pronounced like the word “eye”
au is pronounced like the sound in “ouch”
oe is pronounced like the sound in “boil”
Consonants:
V makes a W sound
C makes a hard sound like the letter K or the c in cat
G makes a hard sound like in the word gear
J
is sometimes used in front of a vowel instead of an I to make a y sound
Gu and qu work just like they do in English (like in guava and quiet)