Expert: Maria - 1/16/2012

Question
How do I pronounce "acta deos numquam mortalia fallunt"?

Answer
Hello,

Here’s the Pronunciation Key of “acta deos numquam mortalia fallunt” (Ovid's Tristia, book 1, poem 2, line 97 meaning : “mortal actions never deceive the gods “)

-ACT is pronounced like the English  noun “act”. The accent stands on this A.
-A is pronounced like the first A in “American”


-DE  is pronounced like the DE in  “definite”. The accent stands on the E.
-OS  is pronounced like the OS in “ osteoporosis”


-NUM is pronounced like the NUM in “numeral”. The accent stands on the U.
-QU is pronounced like the QU in “quarter”
-AM  is pronounced like the AM in “American”


-MORT is pronounced like the MORT in “mortal”
-A is pronounced like the  first A in “American”.The accent stands on this vowel.
-LI is pronounced like the LI in "limit"
-A  is pronounced like the   A in “American”

-F is pronounced like the F in “fall”
-A is pronounced like the A in “American”.The accent stands on this vowel.
-LL  is pronounced like the LL in “fall”
-U is pronounced like the OO in “good”
-NT is pronounced like the NT in “mountain”.

As you can see, I’ve specified the pronunciation of each letter or syllable just like they  must be pronounced in classical Latin. Moreover  I’ve specified where the accents fall.

Hope this can be helpful to you.
Best regards,
Maria
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Note that:

-ACTA ( subject in the nominative neuter plural of ACTUM, 2nd.declension) = actions

-DEOS (direct object in the accusative plural of DEUS, 2nd.declension) = the gods

-NUMQUAM (adverb) = never

-MORTALIA (nominative neuter plural of the adjective MORTALIS agreed with ACTA)= mortal

-FALLUNT (3rd.person plural , present indicative of the verb FALLO) = deceive

As you can see, Latin word order can be different from English for Latin is an inflected language where syntactical relationships are indicated by the inflectional endings, not by the order of the words.