Chapter 1 & 2 Rules To Remember

#1. Latin is an inflected language, which means that word endings rule, as opposed to English, which is an analytical language, where word placement determines the meaning of a sentence.

#2. The heart of a Latin sentence is the verb. The job of all the other words and word groups in the sentence is to modify the verb in some way.

#3. Pronunciation - Say out loud the phrase "Ma Made These Old Boots" and you have the correct Latin pronunciation of all the vowels in order. A, E, I, O, U. Rarely do they change. (Diphthongs are another matter entirely - discussed below.)

#4. Diphthongs - A diphthong is a pair of vowels spoken like one vowel, as in the case of the English word "aisle" where the 'a' and 'i' are pronounced together to make the sound of "eye." Some Latin examples of diphthongs are - ae, au, ei, eu, oe, ui. The pronunciations are as follows with the english equivalent to the Latin sound: "ae = eye" "au = ow" "eu = feud" "oe = oy" and "ui = we"