Latin Pronunciation

Latin pronunciation is similar to that of Italian. The vowels can be long or short, and this affects stress. In a trisyllabic word, the stress falls on the second syllable if the vowel is long and on the first syllable if the vowel of the second syllable is short.

Before ae, e, oe and i, a few consonants become soft. The letter c is then pronounced as ch in English, the sc is pronounced as in sheep, the g is pronounced as in gentle, the gn as in onion and ti when followed by another vowel is pronounced as the ts in cats.

The r in Latin is trilled as in Italian and consonants can be short and long. Unlike Italian, Latin has many words which end with consonants and more consonant clusters.

The pronunciation of Latin is regular and can be learned quickly. In fact, it does not differ so much from Italian. However, the grammar of Latin is more complicated.