Latin

Writing System

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V X

Geographical Distribution

Spoken throughout the Roman Empire, but especially in Latium and Pynarum.

Phonology

Vowels: A E I O U
Consonants: B C D F G H J K L M N P Q R S T V X

Morphology

Nouns:

Latin nouns have number, case, gender, and declension. All Latin words have a stem (the main part of the word) and then a termination (the last letter or two that ends the word). For example, for the word garden, hortus, comes from the stem (hort-) and has a singular masculine termination (-us). In most cases, the stem remains unchanged and the termination indicates number, case, and gender.

• Number: Nearly all Latin nouns have a singular and a plural value. Example: (Girl) Puella (sing.), Puellae (pl.).
• Case: Latin nouns have different forms depending on the noun's role in a sentence. Unlike English, which usually has one or two cases, Latin recognizes six cases: Nominative (subjective), Genitive (possessive), Dative (indirect object), Accusative (direct object), Ablative (indirect following "with"), Vocative (used when addressing someone). Each case has a singular and plural form. A noun may therefore have as many as 12 forms. For example, as a subject, the word for girl would be written puella. As a direct object plural, it would be written puellis. Exactly how the suffix of the word changes depends on the declension.
• Gender: Latin recognizes three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. In general, -us terminations signal male words, -a terminations signal female words, and -um terminations signal neuter words, although the specifics depend on the declension.
• Declension: There are five classes of words in Latin, which determine how the stem and terminal behave, and the exact form of the terminal for the various cases and number. First declension nouns are usually feminine and have an -a terminal for the nominative singular. Second declension nouns are usually masculine (-us terminal) or neuter (-um terminal). Third declension words are from all three genders and usually have a plural -es terminal, although there are many exceptions (e.g., nomen, which has the plural nomina). Fourth declension nouns are usually masculine, and end in -us both for singular and plural nominative cases (the plural is a long u instead of a short one). Fifth declension nouns are usually feminine and have an -es terminal for both the singular and plural nominative cases.

Verbs:

Latin verbs, like English, have various tenses (past, present, future, and the like). Additionally, each verb has a different ending based on number of nouns performing the action (singular and plural), and on person (first, second, or third). Anyone familiar with the romance languages will find this unsurprising as these languages take many of their verb conjugation rules from Latin.

Adjectives:

As in English, adjectives modify nouns. However, unlike English, adjectives in Latin matched to the number, case, and gender of the noun being modified. For example, the adjective "Roman" (stem: Roman-) will take different forms depending on the noun modified. The word "Empire" is a neuter noun in Latin, so the "Roman Empire" would be written as Imperium Romanum, with the adjective taking the neuter case. However, the word "girl" is a feminine noun, so "Roman girl" would be written as puella Romana. Similarly, if you are giving a book to the girl, who then is a direct object of the sentence, the adjective would take the objective case, i.e. "to the girl" would translate as puellam Romanam.

Adverbs:

Many adverbs are made by simply altering the ending of an adjective. For example, fortis (brave) becomes fortier (bravely). Other words are only adverbs, such as saepe (often). For adjective-based adverbs, all the rules of number, gender, and case apply (one declines the adjective and then applies the adverb terminal). For pure adverbs, only three forms: positive, comparative, and accusative. For example, saepe (often - positive), saepius (more often - comparative), and saepissime (most often - superlative).

Syntax

Because Latin nouns have multiple cases (for possessive, direct object, and the like), the order of words typically does not matter in a Latin sentence. In Latin, the sentence "I am a Roman citizen" can be written multiple ways, all of which are syntactically correct. "I am" translates to sum; the adjective "Roman" translates to Romanus because the noun for "citizen" is masculine; and because we put the word for citizen, civis, in its nominative singular case, the reader knows that this is the subject of the sentence. Thus, in Latin, the sentence could be written as sum Romanus civis; Romanus sum civis; civis Romanus sum; and so forth. All are equally valid.
However, that said, typically in Latin syntax, one begins the sentence with the subject (plus modifiers such as adjectives), followed by objects, and the verb is placed last. Thus, the preferred way of stating "I am a Roman citizen" would be Civis Romanus sum. The verb is left for the end of the sentence is to build suspense -- until you get to the end of the sentence, you know a subject did something, but what he or she did is only revealed at the last possible moment.

Phonetics

A - As in "father" or "about"
B - As in "boy"
C - As in "carpet" (never as in "ice" or "cello")
D - As in "domicile"
E - As in "pet" or "they"
F - As in "flavor"
G - As in "get" or "sing" (never as in "gene")
H - As in "hope" or "uphill" (never as in "honor" or "lithe")
I - As in "beep" or "blip" (never as in "bite")
J - As the "y" in "you" (never as "just")
K - As in "kettle"
L - As in "link"
M - As in "motel"
N - As in "not"
O - As in "only" or "off"
P - As in "person"
Q - As in "quick"
R - As in "rex"
S - As in "severe"
T - As in "top"
U - As in "true" or "hood" (never as in "up")
V - As the "w" in "wet" (never as "villain")
X - As in "axe" (never as in "xylophone")
AE - As in "eye" (never as in "lay")
AU - As in "ouch" (never as in "fraught")
EI - As in "ray" (never as in "stein")

Common Phrases

Senatus Populusque Ramanus (abbr. SPQR) - The Senate and the People of Rome
Civis Romanus sum - I am a Roman citizen.
Veni vidi vici - I came; I saw; I conquered.
Indices duodecim - The twelve tables (laws)
Pax Romana - The Roman Peace

Common Female Names

Appia, Aula, Caesula, Decima, Fausta, Gaia, Gnaea, Hosta, Lucia, Maia, Mamerca, Mania, Marcia, Maxima, Mettia, Mino, Nona, Numeria, Octavia, Paulla, Postuma, Prima, Procula, Publia, Quarta, Quinta, Secunda, Septima, Servia, Sexta, Spuria, Statia, Tertia, Tiberia, Titia, Tulla, Vibia, Volusa, Vopisca

Common Male Names

Agrippa, Appius, Aulus, Caeso, Decimus, Faustus, Gaius, Gnaeus, Hostus, Lucius, Mamercus, Manius, Marcus, Mettius, Nonus, Numerius, Octavius, Opiter, Paullus, Postumus, Proculus, Publius, Quintus, Septimus, Sertor, Servius, Sextus, Spurius, Statius, Tiberius, Titus, Tullus, Vibius, Volesus, Vopiscus