Diphthongs
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Latin has the following six diphthongs, combinations
of two vowel sounds that were collapsed together into a
single syllable:
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ae as in ai in aisle: cārae,
saepe |
|
au as ou in house: aut,
laudō |
|
ei as ei in reign: deinde |
|
eu as Latin e + u, pronounced rapidly
as a single syllable: seu. |
(The sound is not found in English and is
rare in Latin.)
|
oe as oi in oil: coepit,
proelium |
|
ui as in Latin u + i, spoken as a single
syllable like Spanish muy, or like English gooey,
pronounced quickly as a single syllable. This diphthong
occurs only in: huius, cuius, huic,
cui, hui. |
|
Elsewhere the two letters are spoken separately as
in: fuit, frūctuī |
|