# Meam Vitam Ago In Tributum



## sno-old

I know this means "my life lived in tribute" my question is if someone could please spell this out to me how it sounds, if properly pronunciated.  Or tell me a website i could got to to find how to properly pronunciate this quote.  As i am getting this as a tattoo to honor a friend of mine that died, and i cant get a tattoo that i cant even say properly.
any help is greatly appreciated, ive searched everywhere and found nothing except individual letter pronunciation.
thanks, sno
.


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## Malakya

I don't know how to help you to pronunciate it, but I think there's something strange in that phrase, my latin is rutsy, so take this as a guess:

meus = masculine
vita = feminine

I think you should use "mea" instead of "meus"
But wait for some other opinion.

Bye
Malakya


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## sno-old

I will look into that i dont know much on the masculine or feminine attachment to words, I only speak english(stupid me). I just put the phrase i wanted into a translator( a few different ones) and they all gave this back. So i researched each word individually and it all seemed right, but ill be positive before its permanent
Thank You
.


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## Malakya

Yeah, Latin is a bit different from English, you have to conjugate every word.
So you should wait for a good translation, a tattoo is forever, it's better if it's correct! 

Bye
Malakya


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## judkinsc

It would be "mea," like Malakya suggests: "Mea Vita Ago In Tributum." It literally means, "I lead my life in tribute."


Pronunciations are difficult to write without using the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet). But...
May-Ah
Wee-tah  (Classical Latin uses a "W" sound for "V." You can use "v" if you want. It's a later version and is standard for medieval and church Latin.
Ah-go
In
Trib-yu-tum


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## Joca

judkinsc said:


> It would be "mea," like Malakya suggests: "Mea Vita Ago In Tributum." It literally means, "I lead my life in tribute."
> 
> 
> Pronunciations are difficult to write without using the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet). But...
> May-Ah
> Wee-tah (Classical Latin uses a "W" sound for "V." You can use "v" if you want. It's a later version and is standard for medieval and church Latin.
> Ah-go
> In
> Trib-yu-tum


 
May I ask if "mea vita" is in the Accusative case or not? If this is Accusative, then it should read "Meam vitam".


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## judkinsc

Joca said:


> May I ask if "mea vita" is in the Accusative case or not? If this is Accusative, then it should read "Meam vitam".




Good point. I got sidetracked looking at the pronunciation. "Meam Vitam Ago In Tributum" would be better.


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## sno-old

Thank you both for your input, it's very helpful, and I'll try to find out about the IPA.
So if I'm understanding correctly "meam vitam ago in tributum" would correctly translate to "I lead my life in tribute" agreed?
Thanks Again

.


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## judkinsc

sno said:


> Thank you both for your input, it's very helpful, and I'll try to find out about the IPA.
> So if I'm understanding correctly "meam vitam ago in tributum" would correctly translate to "I lead my life in tribute" agreed?
> Thanks Again
> 
> .



It's correct.  There's no real need for you to learn the IPA.


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