Graded Latin is Latin written or adapted for learners, and you can read it in books and apps or listen to it in recordings.
That's comprehensible input: Latin where you catch most of the words and meet about one new one per sentence. Reading comes first, and audio helps when you play it as you read. Classical and Church Latin sound different, so check which one a recording uses. The Latin app comparison covers courses and tutors.
Bubblegum
For serious learners, Bubblegum is the best app to learn Latin. You learn from Latin you can mostly understand, which is called comprehensible input.
A Classical Latin learner who wants Roman everyday life gets a short text on it, and a Church Latin learner who goes to Mass gets a prayer exchange. Poppy, your AI tutor, keeps the sentences at the level you chose, and words you save come back in later texts.
- Poppy writes each text for the goal and level you set.
- Lessons have audio in Classical or Church pronunciation, whichever you pick.
- Ask Poppy about a word or a line while you read.
- Regenerative Review™ puts the words you save into new lessons.
- Clear, expressive AI voices read every lesson aloud, with a different voice for each speaker.
- Lessons are written without macrons, the marks that show long vowels.
- You can't turn your own Latin books into lessons. However, you can paste a page in the chat, and Poppy will explain it.
- Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read.
- Regenerative Review™
Mobile
Legentibus
Legentibus lets you read Latin at your level with synced audio. You can slow the audio down or speed it up, and tap a phrase to jump back to it.
- Beginner stories and chapters of Familia Romana, with Fabulae Faciles and Pugio Bruti further up.
- Each text has synced audio, and the line being read is highlighted.
- Texts are sorted from beginner to advanced, and many have English translations and grammar notes.
Mobile
LingQ
LingQ suits a text your teacher or a textbook gave you. Paste it in, and tap each word you don't know.
- Bring in a Latin passage, and read it with its words a tap away.
- Latin lessons with audio and matching transcripts.
- Flashcards
MobileWeb
Credo
Credo works from prayers like the Pater Noster, so you can match each Latin word to a prayer you may already know in English.
- Prayers like the Pater Noster and the Ave Maria, read, heard and explained.
- A full Rosary you can pray in Latin, in English, or in both.
Mobile
Other Apps We Looked At (3)
- Lingua Sacra168 graded reading passages and a Vulgate reader with Latin and English side by side, in Church Latin.
- Declinatio: Latin GrammarTwenty-one Latin texts to read, from Caesar to the Aeneid, with missing words to fill in and hints beside them.
- SermocinandoCharacters from the ancient world answer you in spoken Latin, with subtitles to follow along.
Familia Romana, the main book of the Lingua Latina per se illustrata series, tells the story of a Roman family in 35 chapters, with notes in the margin so you can read without translating. Its audio comes in both Classical and Church pronunciation. The Cambridge Latin Course also teaches through stories, and its fifth edition keeps the reading method at its heart.
For the next step up, Ritchie's Fabulae Faciles is a first Latin reader, and Project Gutenberg hosts it. Latinitium's Pugio Bruti is a crime story in easy Latin. The Paideia Institute's Living Latin is a self-paced online course built around a graded reader of more than 80,000 Latin words. When you are ready for an author, Dickinson College Commentaries gives you the Latin with notes and vocabulary beside it.
Latinitium's audio archive has a variety of short Latin texts to listen to. Vatican News has aired Hebdomada Papae, a weekly news bulletin in Latin with an Italian translation, since 2019. Nuntii Latini was Yle's weekly bulletin from 1989 to 2019, and its recordings can be heard on Yle's site.
| What You Can Follow | Try This | You're Ready to Move On When |
|---|---|---|
| Single words here and there | A beginner story in Legentibus, or the first chapters of Familia Romana | You can say what a short passage is about |
| Simple sentences | A Cambridge Latin Course story, or a Bubblegum lesson on your goal | You can say what happens without looking back |
| Short stories with a dictionary | Pugio Bruti, or a passage from the Latinitium audio archive | You finish a page and look up only a few words |
| Adapted texts | Fabulae Faciles, or Bible stories adapted for learners | You follow the plot without the English beside it |
| Real prose | A selection from Caesar or a speech of Cicero, with a Dickinson College Commentary open | You read a paragraph and understand most of it |
| Verse and Church texts | The Aeneid with a commentary, or the Missal and the Vulgate for Church Latin | You hear the rhythm when you read aloud |
An app's menus can be in your language while its Latin lessons are in English. Try one lesson to see.
| App | Languages You Can Use It In | Full List |
|---|---|---|
| Bubblegum | 74 | Supported language pairs |
| Legentibus | 1 | Full list |
| LingQ | 17 | Full list |
| Credo | 1 | Full list |
| Lingua Sacra | 1 | Full list |
| Declinatio: Latin Grammar | 1 | Full list |
| Sermocinando | 5 | Full list |
Which Latin app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Latin, start with Bubblegum. Poppy, your AI tutor, writes lessons at your level about things you like. A beginner who wants a book can read the first chapters of Familia Romana with its audio, and one who wants prayers can start with Credo.
What does easy Latin look like?
It looks like Marcus est puer. Iulia est puella. (Marcus is a boy. Julia is a girl.) Each sentence is short and says one thing, and the same words come back in the next line.
When should I try a real author?
A selection from Caesar or Cicero crowds many unfamiliar forms into each sentence, so adapted stories come first. Dickinson College Commentaries adds notes and vocabulary once you try the real text.
Is Bubblegum free?
Yes. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read. Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons.
Sources
- Bubblegum: Latin
- Legentibus: the Latin reading and listening app (beginner stories, Familia Romana, Fabulae Faciles, Pugio Bruti)
- Legentibus on the App Store (languages you can use it in)
- LingQ: Learn Latin online
- LingQ on the App Store (languages you can use it in)
- Credo: Catholic Latin learning
- Credo on the App Store
- Lingua Sacra on the App Store (168 graded reading passages, Vulgate reader)
- Declinatio: Latin Grammar on the App Store (twenty-one texts to read)
- Sermocinando on the App Store (spoken Latin with subtitles)
- Hackett Publishing: Lingua Latina per se illustrata series (Familia Romana, 35 chapters)
- Hackett Publishing: Familia Romana audio in Classical or Ecclesiastical pronunciation
- Cambridge School Classics Project: Cambridge Latin Course, 5th edition (reading method)
- Project Gutenberg: Ritchie's Fabulae Faciles, a first Latin reader
- Latinitium: Pugio Bruti, a crime story in easy Latin
- Latinitium: Latin audio archive
- Paideia Institute: Living Latin online course (a graded reader of more than 80,000 Latin words)
- Dickinson College Commentaries
- Vatican News: Hebdomada Papae, news in Latin (launch, 2019)
- Vatican News: Hebdomada Papae with an Italian translation (August 2025 edition)
- Yle: Nuntii Latini, the weekly Latin news from 1989 to 2019
