Greeting a Roman
A Roman greeted a friend with 'Salve!' — and learning Latin's steady pronunciation and first words is your handshake with a language that shaped half of English.
The sound of Latin
Classical Latin is pronounced much as it is spelled, with steady vowel sounds: a as in father, e as in they, i as in machine, o as in for, u as in rude. The letter v sounds like our w, and c is always hard, like k. So Caesar was spoken closer to KYE-sar.
- Salve! — Hello! (to one person) · Salvete! — Hello! (to several)
- Vale! — Farewell!
- Quid agis? — How are you?
- Gratias — Thank you
Simulation · Vocabulary flashcards
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Vocabulary sticks through repetition. Flip through core words until the meanings come without effort.
Lab · Read it aloud
- Say each vowel sound slowly: a, e, i, o, u (father, they, machine, for, rude).
- Now pronounce salve, vale, and Caesar using the rules (v as w, c as k).
- Greet an imaginary group with the correct form: is it salve or salvete?
- Say goodbye and thank you in Latin from memory.
What you should see: You produced authentic Latin sounds and used greetings correctly for one person versus a group.