Old Latin
Early inscriptions and literatureSpelling and morphology differ from later Classical norms.
LANGUAGE
From written signs to everyday conversation.
Mandarin Chinese / Taiwan
Bopomofo / Zhuyin
注音符號A set of phonetic symbols used to show Mandarin pronunciation. Syllables are assembled from an initial, a medial or final, and a tone.
The first version was created in 1913 and released in 1918. It remains a practical reading, dictionary, and keyboard tool in Taiwan.
- SYMBOLS
- 37
- TONES
- 5
- ALSO CALLED
- Zhuyin / Zhuyin Fuhao
Initials
21Medials
3Finals
13Tones
5Latin: periods, registers and pronunciation
Historical varieties and pronunciation traditions are two different axes. Classical grammar can be read aloud in reconstructed Classical or ecclesiastical pronunciation, but the sound systems differ.
Classical Latin
Late Republic and early imperial literary modelsThe present course’s main grammar baseline. Read case endings, vowel quantity and clause structure.
Vulgar / spoken Latin
Diverse spoken registers across time and placeNot one uniform alternative textbook language; important to the development of Romance languages.
Late and Medieval Latin
Christian, administrative, scholarly and literary textsVocabulary and construction vary by author, period and region.
Renaissance / Neo-Latin
Early modern and later learned useContinued productive writing, including scientific and literary work.
Ecclesiastical pronunciation
A modern church reading conventionSoft c before e/i contrasts with reconstructed Classical /k/. This is not a separate ancient dialect.
Try it: Does choosing ecclesiastical pronunciation change puella’s case endings?
Show the answer
No. A pronunciation convention is distinct from a grammatical paradigm; texts may independently belong to different historical registers.
References: Dickinson College Commentaries grammar ↗ Latin, UT Austin ↗
LATIN / CLASSICAL STARTER COLLECTION
Latīna
Read the endings. Build the thought.
Meet the language in its world.
Read it. Say it. Understand it.
Reading and classroom conversation, with historical context and modern limits made explicit.
Pronunciation & how to use these phrases
Macrons mark long vowels. Classical and ecclesiastical pronunciation differ: Classical c is consistently k, while ecclesiastical c before e/i is like English ch. The existing lessons focus on Classical Latin. A device voice, if available, may follow a different convention.
Latin is not the everyday service language of a modern destination. This guide supports reading inscriptions and simple conversation in a Latin-speaking group. Food and help phrases are classroom/conversational models; modern airports and taxis require the local living language. Imperatives here address one person unless marked otherwise.
22 phrases
Basics
Communication
Food & drink
Places & needs
Reading signs
LATIN / GRAMMAR REFERENCE
9 chaptersForms, rules & structure
Classical Latin foundations, with macrons to mark long vowels. Later Latin may differ in syntax and vocabulary.
Grammar terminology
- Noun
- A word used to name or classify an entity: person, place, object, substance, idea.
- Adjective
- A word that describes a property; its form and position depend on the language.
- Pronoun
- A form used to refer to a participant or entity without repeating a full noun phrase.
- Determiner
- A word such as an article, demonstrative or possessive that helps specify a noun phrase.
- Verb
- A word heading a predicate, often describing an action, event or state.
- Conjugation
- A pattern of verb forms expressing grammatical distinctions such as person, tense or mood.
- Declension
- A pattern of noun, pronoun or adjective forms, often marking case, number and gender.
- Case
- A distinction marking a noun phrase’s grammatical role or its relationship to a governing word.
- Gender
- A grammatical classification of nouns; it need not match sex or have a transparent meaning.
- Agreement
- A form changes to match features of another expression, such as person, number, gender or case.
- Tense
- A grammatical way of locating a situation relative to a time of reference.
- Aspect
- How a situation is viewed: for example ongoing, habitual, completed or prior to a reference point.
- Mood
- A grammatical distinction associated with assertion, possibility, commands, wishes or other clause functions.
- Finite form
- A verb form that can serve as a clause’s main inflected verb, contrasting with infinitives and participles. The precise criteria vary by language.
- Participle
- A verb-derived form used in constructions such as modifiers, compound tenses or passives; its roles vary by language.
- Infinitive
- A nonfinite verb form in languages that have one; it is not automatically equivalent to English “to + verb”.
- Subject / object
- Grammatical relations in a clause, not universal synonyms for “doer” and “receiver”.
- Clitic
- A short grammatical form that depends phonologically on a neighboring word.
- Transitive
- Describes a verb construction that takes a direct object.
- Register
- A variety of expression associated with context, relationship or level of formality.
Noun gender & declension classes
- Latin nouns have masculine, feminine or neuter gender and belong to declensions conventionally identified by the genitive singular. Learn nominative, genitive and gender together.
- There are no articles corresponding to a/the. The ending of a noun marks its number and case, but many endings are shared by multiple cases.
| Declension | Nominative | Genitive singular | Gender example |
|---|---|---|---|
| first | puella | puellae | feminine |
| second masculine | servus | servī | masculine |
| second neuter | bellum | bellī | neuter |
| third | rēx | rēgis | masculine |
| fourth | manus | manūs | feminine |
| fifth | rēs | reī | feminine |
Worked examples
Puella librum legit.
A/the girl reads a/the book.
How it works: Puella is nominative subject and librum accusative object; context supplies definiteness.
Read the endings
Latin uses noun endings to show a word’s job. The nominative commonly marks the subject; the accusative commonly marks the direct object. Puella poetam videt means “The girl sees the poet.”
Puella poetam videt.The girl sees the poet.
Poeta puellam videt.The poet sees the girl.
Agricola aquam portat.The farmer carries water.
Because endings carry this information, Latin word order can move for emphasis. Begin with subject–object–verb, but always inspect the endings.
Try it yourself
1 / 3 · 0 correctChoose the direct object.
Puella poetam videt.
All words · vocabulary quiz
1 / 24 · 0 correctChoose the English meaning.
salvē
salvēhello (to one person)
Salvē, amīce!Hello, friend!
salvētehello (to several people)
Salvēte, amīcī!Hello, friends!
valēgoodbye / be well
Valē et mēmentō.Goodbye and remember.
quaesōplease / I ask
Aquām, quaesō.Water, please.
grātiās tibi agōthank you
Grātiās tibi agō.I give thanks to you.
ita / nōnyes / no
Ita, intellegō.Yes, I understand.
amīcusfriend
Amīcus meus adest.My friend is here.
magisterteacher / master
Magister docet.The teacher teaches.
discipulusstudent
Discipulus librum legit.The student reads a book.
familiahousehold / family
Familia in urbe habitat.The family lives in the city.
urbscity
Urbs magna est.The city is large.
domushome / house
Domum redeō.I return home.
viaroad / way
Via longa est.The road is long.
forumforum / marketplace
Forum plēnum est.The forum is full.
aquawater
Aquam bibō.I drink water.
pānisbread
Pānem emō.I buy bread.
liberbook
Librum legō.I read a book.
tempustime
Tempus fugit.Time flies.
sumI am
Hīc sum.I am here.
habeōI have
Tempus habeō.I have time.
videōI see
Lūnam videō.I see the moon.
veniōI come
Cum amīcō veniō.I come with a friend.
legōI read
Latīnē legō.I read in Latin.
discōI learn
Latīnam discō.I learn Latin.
Between the words
Useful expressions, literary phrases, and details from Roman public and daily life. Macrons mark long vowels; many printed texts omit them.
salvē / salvēte
Hello — literally, be wellUse salvē for one person and salvēte for more than one. The forms are imperatives of salveō, “to be well.”
Salvēte, amīcī!
Classical Latin distinguishes singular and plural addressees here.
Read the situation
1 / 6 · 0 correctYou greet several friends. Which form fits?
Practice scores last for this visit.Latin audio is unavailable on this device. All exercises work without audio.