[12]. II. Verbs are words which denote action, including existence or condition: as, regit, he guides; est, he is; latet, he is hid.
[13]. III. Conjunctions connect sentences, nouns, or verbs: as, et, and; sed, but.
[14]. Interjections are cries which express feeling, and are not usually a part of the sentence: as, ā, ah; heu, alas.
[15]. There is no Article in Latin: thus, mēnsa may denote table, a table, or the table.
[A. SOUND.]
[ALPHABET.]
[16]. In Cicero’s time, the sounds of the Latin language were denoted by twenty-one letters (DN. 2, 93).
| Character | Name | pronounced |
|---|---|---|
| A | a | ah |
| B | be | bay |
| C | ce | kay |
| D | de | day |
| E | e | eh |
| F | ef | ef |
| G | ge | gay |
| H | ha | hah |
| I | i | ee |
| K | ka | kah |
| L | el | el |
| M | em | em |
| N | en | en |
| O | o | o |
| P | pe | pay |
| Q | qu | koo |
| R | er | air |
| S | es | ess |
| T | te | tay |
| V | u | oo |
| X | ix | eex |
The names given above are those employed by Roman grammarians. The sound indicated by -ay is only approximate; the true sound is that of the French ê in fête; see [39]. The names of the letters are indeclinable; for their gender, see [412].
[17]. Two other letters were also in use to represent Greek sounds in Greek words; these were always called by their Greek names, and were placed at the end of the alphabet; they are Y, named ü ([42]), and Z, named zēta ([71]).