Page:Latin for Beginners.djvu/14



1. The Latin alphabet contains the same letters as the English except that it has no w and no j.

2. The vowels, as in English, are a, e, i, o, u, y. The other letters are consonants.

3. I is used both as a vowel and as a consonant. Before a vowel in the same syllable it has the value of a consonant and is called I consonant.

Thus in Iū-li-us the first i is a consonant, the second a vowel.

4. Latin was not pronounced like English. The Romans at the beginning of the Christian era pronounced their language substantially as described below.

5. The vowels have the following sounds: Rh