Hi, I'm Alex 👋
Requiem is a tricky word! In this lesson I show you how to say it, what it means and why it’s the perfect name for Resident Evil 9. Repeat after me!
How do you say Requiem? 🎻 It’s the name of Resident Evil 9, and lots of players aren’t sure how to pronounce it. In this video I show you the pronunciation, the meaning, and a monster of a word from the game’s story: unidentifiable.
Tap any line of the interactive script to jump to that moment and repeat after me. Then flip the cards and try the exercises.
▶️ Watch and read along
Say it: Requiem
- Alex: Did you know that the pronunciation of this word is <mark>requiem</mark>? Requiem.
- Alex: That’s the way you pronounce it. Requiem. Repeat after me.
- Alex: Let’s talk about what that word means and what it’s got to do with the game.
- Alex: As you can see, the game will be released on February the 27th, 2026.
- Alex: Have a listen to the pronunciation of the word.
- Alex: That’s British English, but it’s not that different in American English.
What does it mean?
- Alex: Now let’s talk about what it means in English.
- Alex: Requiem is defined by the online Cambridge Dictionary as a <mark>mass</mark>, a Christian ceremony, at which people <mark>honour</mark> and <mark>pray for</mark> a dead person.
- Alex: It also refers to a piece of music written for this ceremony.
- Alex: So you could talk about Mozart’s Requiem.
Un-i-den-ti-fi-a-ble
- Alex: And now let’s read the plot of the game.
- Alex: “Everything is <mark>set in motion</mark> when a body, the victim of an <mark>unidentifiable</mark> disease…”
- Alex: That’s a very difficult combination of words there.
- Alex: It comes from the verb <mark>identify</mark>. You identify something.
- Alex: <mark>Identifiable</mark> means that something can be identified, and unidentifiable means that it can’t be identified.
- Alex: Unidentifiable. Can you repeat after me? Unidentifiable.
- Alex: Unidentifiable disease.
The story of RE9
- Alex: “FBI analyst Grace Ashcroft is <mark>assigned to the case</mark>, but the crime scene is at the very same hotel where her mother died eight years ago.”
- Alex: “Grace prepares to finally <mark>face the past</mark> and makes her way to the scene…”
- Alex: “…but this one case leads to uncovering the hidden truth behind the outbreak in Raccoon City, the biological disaster that <mark>shook the world</mark>.”
- Alex: The final question is: “Will this be the requiem that finally <mark>lays</mark> the memories of that abhorrent disaster <mark>to rest</mark>?”
Closure
- Alex: A requiem, this ceremony to honour and pray for a dead person, gives a person’s life a kind of <mark>closure</mark>.
- Alex: …so that people can go on, can continue with their lives without that person.
- Alex: Will this story, Resident Evil 9, be the event that will finally put an end to the terrible memories of the disaster that happened in Raccoon City?
- Alex: So this game comes to give the Resident Evil story a kind of closure.
- Alex: So the truth will <mark>come to light</mark>, you know, will be discovered.
Short excerpts are quoted for teaching purposes; all rights belong to their owners.
Watch the full lesson on my YouTube channel: RE9: how to pronounce REQUIEM? Why is RE9 called like this?
🗣️ Pronunciation tips
- requiem /ˈrek.wi.əm/: REK-wee-um. Three syllables, stress on the first one. The “qu” sounds like /kw/, as in “queen”.
- identify /aɪˈden.tɪ.faɪ/ → identifiable /aɪˌden.tɪˈfaɪ.ə.bəl/ → unidentifiable /ˌʌn.aɪˌden.tɪˈfaɪ.ə.bəl/. Notice how the main stress moves to “-fy-” when you add -able.
- honour: the H is silent: /ˈɒn.ər/ (UK), /ˈɑː.nɚ/ (US). In American English it’s spelt honor.
🃏 Words from this episode
- requiem: a mass (Christian ceremony) to honour and pray for a dead person, or the music written for it. Say REK-wee-um.
- mass: a Christian religious ceremony, especially in the Catholic Church
- pray for: to speak to God, asking for help for someone
- unidentifiable: impossible to identify or recognise. un + identify + able
- set in motion: to make something start happening
- assigned to the case: officially given a job to investigate (police, FBI, detectives)
- face the past: to deal with painful things that happened before, instead of avoiding them
- lay something to rest: to finally end a worry, memory or rumour; also, to bury a dead person
- closure: the feeling that a sad or difficult experience has ended, so you can move on
- come to light: to become known or be discovered
🔗 Exercise 1: Match the word to its meaning
- requiem
- unidentifiable
- closure
- come to light
- lay to rest
- face the past
✍️ Exercise 2: Fill the gap
- “Everything is set in motion when a body, the victim of an ___ disease…”
- “It comes from the verb ___. You identify something.”
- “FBI analyst Grace Ashcroft is ___ to the case…”
- “Grace prepares to finally ___ the past…”
- “Will this be the ___ that finally lays the memories of that abhorrent disaster to rest?”
- “Will this be the requiem that finally lays the memories of that abhorrent disaster to ___?”
- “…gives a person’s life a kind of ___.”
- “So the truth will come to ___.”
🔽 Exercise 3: Pick the right word
- “Requiem is defined… as a mass, at which people honour and ___ for a dead person.”
- “It also ___ to a piece of music written for this ceremony.”
- “___ means that something can be identified.”
- “…the biological disaster that ___ the world.”
- “The crime scene is at the very same hotel where her mother died eight years ___.”
🧠 Exercise 4: Quick quiz
- Where is the stress in “requiem”?
- Which word means “it can’t be identified”?
- In “honour”, which letter is silent?
- Why is RE9 called Requiem?
- “The truth will come to light” means the truth will be…
- When was the game released?
Now say it with me one more time: REK-wee-um! Which English word do you find hardest to pronounce? Tell me in the comments on YouTube. 🎻
Alex