Well if we ignore poetry, which you just get a feel for (some syllables are long because ofposition in a poem, for the sake of the meter) it isn´t too hard
1. Dipthongs are always long 2. Vowels before a double consonant are generally long 3. Letters like x are considered double consonants 4. But a mute/liquid is not, so lobusta the ust is long, but in tenebræ the ne is short, because "br" is liquid
Then of course there are simply vowels you would have to memorise....as hora in the ablative the a is long, but in the nominative it is short, though spelled the same.
But long/short is not that important in ecclesiatical latin and is more for the sake of accenting. Since that is the case, you only have to look at the penultimate syllable and the rules I gave should suffice (in poetry where the rules are broken, the accents still follow what they would have been normally)
_________________ Quoniam sapientia aperuit os mutorum, et linguas infantium fecit disertas.
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