Rules for Accentuation

General Rules for Latin Accentuation

Index

1. Accent the second-to-last syllable, unless that syllable is short:

for- TÛ-na a-MÂ-mus Ro-MÂ-ni.

2. Accent the third-to-last syllable if the second-to-last syllable is short:

phi-lo-SO-phi-a pe-CÛ-ni-a HO-mi-nis

Hint:

The last syllable is never accented. If the word has only two syllables, the accent must be on the first syllable: magna cum lau-de; car-pe di-em; ex post fac-to; al-ma ma-ter.

Hint:

With words of more than two syllables you will only have the choice of second-to-last or third-to-last. Pick the second-to-last if it is long.

Hint:

You will only have to look at the second-to-last syllable to determine the accent of the word. The length of the third-to-last syllable does not matter. It receives the accent whether it is short or long, only on the basis of a short second-to-last syllable.

Remember the phrase mystérium treméndum. The -ri-is not a long syllable, so the accent falls back to the third-to-last syllable. The -en- is long by the rules below, so it takes the accent.

General rules for Syllable Length

1. Syllables are long if they contain a long vowel (often indicated by a punctuation mark): ser-vâ-re.

2. Syllables are long if they contain a "double-vowel sound" (diphthong): sae-pe; lau-das.

3. Syllables are long if their vowel sound is placed before two consonant-sounds (including doubled consonants):

pu-el-la ter-ra a-du-les-cen-ti-a sum-ma

But see the exceptions below.

Exceptions to the Syllable-length Rules

1. Double-sounds like the letter X count as two consonant-sounds.

2. Single-sounds even if written with two letters, count as one sound (ch, ph, th).

3. A stop (p, b, t, d, c, g) plus a liquid (l, r) can count as one consonant: te-nebra.

Hint: Learn the rules in the first section above before you go on to learn those of the second; learn rules of the third section last. But you will need to know all these rules to accentuate Latin correctly.