Latino sine flexione

**Latino sine flexione** ("Latin without inflections"), is an international auxiliary language compiled by the Academia pro Interlingua under chairmanship of the Italian mathematician Giuseppe Peano (1858–1932) in 1887-1914. It is a simplified version of Latin, and retains its vocabulary.

Interlingua-IL was published in the journal *Revue de Mathématiques* (meaning *Mathematical Review*), in an article of 1903 entitled *De Latino Sine Flexione, Lingua Auxiliare Internationale* (meaning *Latin Without Inflection, International Auxiliary Language*), which explained the reason for its creation. The article argued that other auxiliary languages were unnecessary, since Latin was already established as the world’s international language.

## Alphabet and pronunciation

According to Peano's guide to the language in 1931, "most Interlinguists are in favour of the old Latin pronunciation." This gives the pronunciation of vowels as follows:

* a—as in f**a**ther – [a]
* e—as in th**e**y – [e]
* i—as in f**ee**t – [i]
* o—as in t**o**ne – [o]
* u—as in r**u**le – [u]
* y—as French **u** – [y]
* j—as in **y**es – [j]
* ae—as in **eye** – [aj]
* oe—as in b**oy** – [oj]

Consonants are pronounced as in English with the following exceptions:

* b—like English b, but like p if followed by s or t – [b, p]
* g—like g in **g**o, **g**et – [ɡ]
* h—silent in th, ph, ch, rh, otherwise like English h – [h]
* qu—as qu in **qu**arrel – [kʷ]
* r—as in co**rr**ect (trilled) – [r]
* v—like English w. – [w]
* x—as ks. – [ks]
* ch, ph, th—as c, p, t in **c**an, **p**an, **t**an – [kʰ, pʰ, tʰ]
* c—like k always, as in s**c**an, s**c**at – [k] (not aspirated)
* p—as in s**p**an
* t—as in s**t**and

The following simplifications to pronunciation are also allowed:

* y and j—as i in t**i**n – [ɪ]
* ae and oe—as [e] above
* b—always like English b – [b]
* h—silent
* ph—as p or f – [f]
* v—like English v – [v]
* th—as t
* ch—as c

The stress is based on the classical Latin rule:

* Words with two syllables have the stress on the penult.
* Words with three or more syllables have the stress on the penult only if it has a long vowel, otherwise on the antepenult (p. xii).

A secondary accent may be placed when necessary as the speaker deems appropriate.

## Parts of speech

Though Peano removed the inflections of Latin from nouns and adjectives, he did not entirely remove grammatical gender, permitting the option of a feminine ending for occupations. The gender of animals is immutable. All forms of nouns end with a vowel and are taken from the ablative case, but as this was not listed in most Latin dictionaries, he gave the rule for its derivation from the genitive case. The plural is not required when not necessary, such as when a number has been specified, the plural can be read from the context, and so on; however Peano gives the option of using the suffix -s to indicate it when needed. Verbs have few inflections of conjugation; tenses and moods are instead indicated by verb adjuncts. The result is a change to a positional language.

### Particles

Particles that have no inflection in classical Latin are used in their natural form:

* *supra, infra, intra, extra*… (but *superiore, inferiore, interiore, exteriore* from *superior, -oris* and so on.)
* *super, subter, inter, praeter, semper*… (but *nostro, vestro, dextro…* from *noster, -tra, -trum* and so on.)
* *tres, quatuor, quinque, sex, septem, octo, novem, decem*… (but *uno* from *unus, -a, -um*; *duo* from *duo, -ae, -o*; *nullo* from *nullus, -a, -um*; *multo* from *multus, -a, -um*, etc.)

### Nouns

The form of nouns depends on the Latin declensions.

 Latino ending

Those proper nouns written with the Roman alphabet are kept as close to the original as possible. The following are examples: München, New York, Roma, Giovanni.

### Pronouns

* Personal

 2nd person
 3rd person
 Reflexive

* Demonstrative: *illo* (it, far), *isto* (it, near), *ipso* (itself); for conjunction: *que* (*me vide **que** illo es rapide* = I see **that** it is fast)
* Possessive: *meo*, *tuo*, *suo*, *nostro*, *vestro*, (*suo*)
* Relative and conjunctive: *qui* (who, that human), *quod* (which, that thing)
* Reflexive: *se*
* Indefinitive: *un*, *uno* (*One* tells...), *ullo* (any), *omne* or *omni* (all, each, every), *aliquo* (anyone), *nullo* (nothing), *nemo* (noone)

### Verbs

Verbs are formed from the Latin by dropping the final *-re* of the infinitive. Tense, mood, etc., are indicated by particles, auxiliary verbs, or adverbs, but none is required if the sense is clear from the context. If needed, the past may be indicated by preceding the verb with *e*, and the future with *i*.

There are specific endings to create the infinitive and participles:

* basic form: ama (loves)
* infinitive: ama**re** (to love)
* passive participle: ama**to** (loved)
* active participle: ama**nte** (loving)

#### Collateral endings

* imperfectum (past): ama**ba** (loved), lege**ba** (read)
* future: ama**ra** (will/shall love), lege**ra** (will/shall read)
* conditional: ama**re** (would love), lege**re** (would read)

The endings *-ra* and *-re* are stressed in future and conditional.

#### Compound tenses

Composite tenses can be expressed with auxiliary words:

* praeteritum: **habe** ama**to** (have loved)
* future: **debe** ama**re** / **vol** ama**re** / **habe ad** ama**re** (must love / will love / have to love)
* continuous tenses: me **es** scribe**nte** (I am writing)

### Adjectives and adverbs

Adjectives are formed as follows:

* If the nominative neuter ends with -e, the Latino form is unchanged.
* If the nominative neuter ends with -um, the Latino form is changed to -o: novum > novo (new).
* In all other cases adjectives are formed with the ablative case from the genitive, as is the case with nouns.

Adjectives can be used as adverbs if the context is clear, or *cum mente* or *in modo* can be used:

* Diligente (diligent): *Cum mente diligente*, *cum diligente mente*, *in modo diligente*, *in diligente modo* = diligently.

#### Comparative and superlative

* Positive: *illo es tam habile quam te* (it is as handy as you)
* Comparative: *illo es magis habilis quam te* or *illo es plus habilis quam te* (it is handier than you) and *illo es minus habilis quam te* (it is less handier than you)
* Superlative: *maxim de...* and *minim de...*

#### Irregularities

* bono – meliore – optimo
* malo – pejore – pessimo
* magno – majore – maximo
* parvo – minore – minimo

### Articles

As with Latin, neither the definite nor the indefinite article exists in Latino sine flexione. When necessary they may be translated with pronouns or words such as *illo* (it, that) or *uno* (one):

* da ad me libro = give me (the) book
* da ad me hoc libro = give me this book
* da ad me illo libro = give me that book
* da ad me uno libro = give me a book
* da ad me illo meo libro = give me that book of mine
* da ad me uno meo libro = give me a book of mine

### Numerals

* Cardinals: 1 *uno*, 2 *duo*, 3 *tres*, 4 *quatuor*, 5 *quinque* 6 *sex*, 7 *septem*, 8 *octo*, 9 *novem*, 10 *decem*, 20 *viginti*, 30 *triginta*, 40 *quadraginta*, 50 *quinquaginta*, 60 *sexaginta*, 70 *septuaginta*, 80 *octoginta*, 90 *nonaginta*, 100 *centum*, 1,000 *mille*, 1,000,000 *millione*
* Cardinals (cont.): 11 *decem-uno*, 12 *decem-duo*, 19 *decem-novem*, 21 *viginti-uno*, 101 *centum (et) uno*, 102 *centum (et) duo*, 200 *duo cento*, 300 *tres cento*
* Ordinals: 1° *primo*, 2° *secundo*, 3° *tertio*, 4° *quarto*, 5° *quinto*, 6° *sexto*, 7° *septimo*, 8° *octavo*, 9° *nono*, 10° *decimo*, 20° *vigesimo*, 30° *trigesimo*, 40° *quadragesimo*, 50° *quinquagesimo*, 60° *sexagesimo*, 70° *septuagesimo*, 80° *octogesimo*, 90° *nonagesimo*, 100° *centesimo*, 1,000° *millesimo*, 1,000,000 *millionesimo*
* Ordinals (cont.): 45° *quadragesimo quinto* or *quadraginta quinto*, 58° *quinquagesimo octavo* or *quinquaginta octavo*, 345° *tres cento quadraginta quinto*
* Multiplicatives: *uno vice* (once), *duo vice* (twice), *tres vice* (three times)