How to pronounce the Latin of the Mass

Church Latin is pronounced the Roman way, much like Italian: c before e or i sounds like ch, and ae like a plain e. Classroom (classical) Latin rebuilds the speech of ancient Rome, while the Church kept the later, Italian-style sound used in Rome.

The table below sets out the rules that matter most at Mass.

The vowels

Each vowel has one clear sound and keeps it. None of them slides into a second sound the way English vowels do.

Vowels in Roman pronunciation
Letters	Said as	Example
a	ah, as in father	pater PAH-ter · father
e	eh, as in met	Deus DEH-oos · God
i	ee, as in machine	filius FEE-lee-oos · son
o	oh, as in for	Dominus DOH-mee-noos · Lord
u	oo, as in moon	unus OO-noos · one
ae, oe	eh, the same as e	caelum CHEH-loom · heaven
au	ow, as in out	laudamus low-DAH-moos · we praise
y	ee, the same as i	Kyrie KEE-ree-eh · Lord

The consonants that differ from English

Any consonant not listed here is said as in English.

Consonants in Roman pronunciation
Letters	Said as	Example
c	ch before e, i, ae and oe. Otherwise k.	caelum, caritas CHEH-loom, KAH-ree-tahs · heaven, charity
cc	t-ch before e or i	ecce ET-cheh · behold
g	soft, as in gem, before e and i. Otherwise hard, as in go.	angelus, virgo AHN-jeh-loos, VEER-go · angel, virgin
gn	ny, as in canyon	agnus AH-nyoos · lamb
h	silent. In mihi and nihil it is said as k.	hodie, mihi OH-dee-eh, MEE-kee · today, to me
j	y, as in yes. Many books print it as i.	cujus KOO-yoos · whose
ti	tsee before a vowel, unless s, t or x comes just before it	gratia GRAH-tsee-ah · grace
sc	sh before e and i. Otherwise sk.	descendo deh-SHEN-doh · I go down
xc	ksh before e and i	excelsis ek-SHEL-sees · the highest
ch	k	Christus KREES-toos · Christ
th	t	thronus TROH-noos · throne
ph	f	propheta proh-FEH-tah · prophet
qu	kw	quoniam KWOH-nee-ahm · because
r	lightly rolled on the tip of the tongue	terra TEHR-rah · earth
Double letters	both are sounded	hosanna oh-SAHN-nah · hosanna

Where the stress falls

A word of two syllables is stressed on the first: Deus, pater. In longer words, missals and chant books print an accent over the stressed vowel, as in Dóminus and misericórdia, so you never have to guess.

Hear the rules

Tap any of these words from the Mass to hear the rules at work, in AI-generated audio.

The audio is made with ElevenLabs, with an Italian voice and the rules above applied to each word. No person recorded it. These rules follow the Roman usage set out in the preface of the Liber Usualis. Where your choir or your priest says a word differently, follow them.

Reading rules only goes so far. The five free cards on the home page let you hear whole words and phrases from the Mass and turn each one over, with no account needed.

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