拉丁语分为古典拉丁语（Latina Classica）和通俗拉丁语（Sermo Vulgaris）。古典拉丁语是古罗马的官方语言，在恺撒和西塞罗的时代成熟。拉丁语后来逐渐化分为法语、西班牙语、葡萄牙语、意大利语、罗马尼亚语等，但同时对亲属关系并不十分相近的英语也产生了相当大的影响。通俗拉丁语以及拉丁语的语言后裔对古典拉丁语做了很多的修改和简化，比如古典拉丁语的中性词在拉丁语的后裔语言中已经不存在了，（罗马尼亚语除外）。本页介绍的是古典拉丁语语法。

欲了解较完整的拉丁语词形变化，可以参见拉丁语词形变化表【西塞罗版】。

Latin grammar is very different from English grammar in that Latin uses inflected words (words with the same root but different suffixes) to give a phrase or sentence meaning. English relies much more on word order. Latin grammar, like that of other ancient Indo-European languages, is highly inflected and so allows for a large degree of flexibility in choosing word order.