The Latin alphabet is likely familiar to you. It's the basis for English, Portuguese, Spanish, and many other languages. The classical alphabet, however, was a little different from the one we use today. It had 23 letters, lacking J, U, and W.

The letter K was rarely used, C taking its place. Y and Z were borrowed from Greek to write Greek words. The letters J and U were later developments from I and V to distinguish between their vowel and consonant sounds. W is a more modern invention altogether. For our purposes, we'll focus on the sounds of the classical period.

One of the easiest parts of learning Latin pronunciation is that the vowels are consistent. Unlike English, where a letter like 'a' can sound completely different in 'cat', 'father', and 'late', Latin vowels have predictable sounds. Each vowel has a long and a short version, but the quality of the sound is similar.

The main difference between the long and short vowels is the duration you hold the sound. Think of it like a musical note—a long vowel is held for two beats, while a short vowel is held for one. In most texts for beginners, long vowels are marked with a macron, a line above the letter, like this: ā, ē, ī, ō, ū.

Most Latin consonants sound just like their English, Spanish, or Portuguese counterparts. However, a few key letters have distinct pronunciations that you need to master. Getting these right is the key to sounding authentic.

This means the famous Roman orator Cicero's name was pronounced Kikero. Likewise, the letter G is always hard, like in the word 'go'. It's never soft like the 'g' in 'gem'.

Another major difference is the letter V. In Classical Latin, V was pronounced like the English W. So the famous phrase veni, vidi, vici (I came, I saw, I conquered) would have sounded like weni, widi, wiki.

Here's a quick guide to the other consonants that might trip you up.

Finally, the letter combinations CH, PH, and TH, borrowed from Greek, were pronounced as aspirated sounds. Think of the normal C, P, and T sounds, but with an extra puff of air, like the 'p' in the English word 'pot'.

Ready to test your knowledge? This quiz will cover the key vowel and consonant sounds we've just discussed.

With these rules, you have a solid foundation for reading Latin aloud. The best way to get comfortable is to practice, so try speaking the words as you encounter them. It connects the text to the sound and makes the language feel much more alive.