THE ITALIAN ALPHABET

ITALIANO ALFABETO

PRONOUNCING ITALIAN VOWELS

Italian vowels (i vocali) are short, always pronounced very clearly, and
are never drawn out. The "glide" with which English vowels frequently
end should be avoided. It should be noted that a, i, u, are always
pronounced the same way; e and o, on the other hand, have an open
and a closed sound that may vary from one part of Italy to the other.
Also, when vowels are grouped together in a word, they are always
pronounced separately.
The approximate English equivalents are as follows:

a-A: This letter denotes a single sound, whose pronunciation is

always similar to an English a in cat, fact, black; an "o" in how,
cloud, house, mouse. Also, It sounds like the word a in the
English word ah! Examples:

Casa house.

Amore love.

Fama fame.

Pasta pasta, dough, pastry.

e-E: This vowel has two pronunciations:

As an English a in hay, layer, may (this is popularly called a narrow

"e" or closed "e")
o

Bere to drink.

e and.

Fede faith.

Me me.

As an English "e" in send, met, tent, hen (this one is popularly called a
wide "e" or open "e").

Bene well.

Vento wind.

is.

Festa party; holiday.

i-I: This vowel always sounds as an English y in yellow, troyan. A

similar sound is that of English ee in fleet, seem, but the length
of the Italian sound is shorter. Examples:
o

Invidiare to envy.

Bimbo child.

Libro book.

Vino wine.

o-O: This vowel has two pronunciations:

Always as an English "o", in some cases with a "narrow" or "closed"

sound as in blow, soul, row. Examples:
o

Dono gift.

Nome name.

o or.

Sometimes with a "wide" or "open" sound as in cloth, spot, dog.

Examples:

Moda fashion.

No no.

Olio oil.

u-U: This vowels sound is similar to an English "u" in rule or "w"

in win, rowing. But u is a vowel, while w is a consonant.
Examples:
o

Fungo mushroom.

Luna moon.

Lungo long.

Uno one.

Pronouncing Easy Consonants

Italian has the same consonants that English does. You pronounce
some of them the same way, but the rest have noteworthy differences.

Additionally, the modern Italian alphabet has less letters than the
English one: J, K, W, X and Y do not occur in native terms.
The consonants b, f, m, n, v are pronounced as in English. The
approximate English equivalents are as follows:

B Always as an English b. Example:

Bene well.

Bambino Child

F Always as an English f in fame, knife, flute, but never as in of.

Example:

Fare To make

Famoso famous

H is completely soundless; never as in house, hope, hammer; but

as in heir, honest. H is written in some form of the verb avere to
have, in few other Italian words, and mainly in foreign words and
names. Examples:

Ho (I) have.

Hai (you) have.

Ha (he / she / it) has.

Hanno (they) have.

Ahi! (interj) ouch!.

Hotel hotel.

L is sharper and more forward in the mouth than in English,

similar to l in link. Examples:

Olio oil

Lingua language

Sale salt

Lungo long

Melone melon

Luna moon

Scuola school

M Always as an English m. Examples:

Madre Mother

N Always as an English n. Examples:

No No

Nonna Grandmother

P is as in English, but without the aspiration that sometimes

accompanies this sound in English. Examples:

Pane bread

Patata potato

Pepe pepper

Pap dad

Popone melon

Ponte bridge

T is approximately the same as in English, but no escaping of

breath accompanies it in Italian. Examples:

Contento glad

Carta paper

Arte art

Matita pencil

Turista tourist

Antipasto appetizer

Telefono telephone

Testa head

V Always as an English v. Examples:

Vino Wine.

Voglio (I) want.

Consonantic Digraphs

CH (found only before e or i): Its sound is like the English "k"
sound; as "ki" sound in king. Examples:

Chiave key.

Chiesa church.

Anche also.

Che that, what.

Chi who.

Perch because.

GH (found only before e or i): Its sound is like the "g" in get,
gift, gitar. Examples:

Spaghetti spaghetti.

Ghiaccio ice.

Ghirlanda wreath.

Funghe (he) escapes.

Ghetto ghetto.

Laghi lakes.

Maghi magicians..

GLI : This sound is approximately like "ll" in million. Examples:

Aglio garlic.

Bottiglia bottle.

Famiglia family.

Meglio better.

GN: This sound is pronounced as the English "ny" like in canyon.

The sound is actually the same as in the Spanish word "seorita"
(seh-nyoh-ree-tah) (miss). Examples:

Bagno bath.

Signora lady.

Signore gentleman.

Signorina young lady.

SCH: This occurs only before e or i, and is pronounced like the

English sk in diskette, sky, asking (remember the sound of italian
vowels). Examples::

Dischi disks, records.

Fiaschi flasks.

Lische fishbones.

Tasche pockets.

Important: When ci, gi, and sci are followed by a, o, or u, unless the
accent falls on the i, the i is not pronounced. The letter i merely
indicates that c, g, and sc are pronounced, respectively, like the
English ch, g (as in gem), and sh.

Arancia orange.

Giornale newspaper.

Ciliegia cherry.

Salsiccia sausage.

Camicia shirt.

Lasciare to leave.

Scienza science.

Special Clusters
Certain consonant clusters have special sounds in Italian. Their
pronunciation changes when they come together and form one syllable
(monosyllabic clusters).

CE, CI, CIA, CIE, CIO, CIU: While ca, co and cu are pronounced
as in English, ce and ci have a soft sound (palatal pronunciation),
like in English che and chi.

When the cluster ci is followed by a further vowel, the i loses its sound,
and becomes merely graphic (only to show that c has to be
pronounced as English "ch"). Therefore, cia sounds like cha (not chya),
cie is pronounced che, cio as cho, and ciu as chu.

Cibo food

Certo Certainly

Ciao Hello, goodbye

Cioccolata Chocolate

Ciuccio Babys pacifier

GE, GI, GIA, GIE, GIO, GIU: The clusters ga, go and gu are
pronounced like in English, but ge and gi have a "soft" sound
(palatal pronunciation), like English je and jy (or jih).

Also in this case, when cluster gi is followed by a further vowel, i

becomes mute, and the English "j" sound is followed by the second
vowel, thus gia sounds like ja (not jya), gie is pronounced je, gio as jo,
and giu as ju.

Giorno Dia

Giacca Jacket

Gioco Game

Giudice Judge

GLIA, GLIE, GLIO, GLIU: When gl is followed by vowel i, it has

the same sound as ll in Spanish words like caballo, lluvia, etc.

When gli is followed by vowels a, e, o and u, the sound of i is lost; glia

sounds like Spanish lla (close enough to English llya, but y should not
be heard much), glie as Spanish lle, glio as Spanish llo, and gliu as
Spanish llu.
Instead, when gl (without an i) is followed by vowels a, e, o and u, it is
simply pronounced as in English, in words like glass, glove, glue.

SC, SCA, SCO, SCU, SCE, SCI, SCIA, SCIE, SCIO, SCIU: The
cluster sc only has a special sound when followed by vowels e
and i, in which case it sounds like an English sh in sharp, shelf,
cash, shop.

Scena scene

Scesa descent

Scimmia monkey

Conoscere to know

Crescere to grow

Pesce fish

Scena scene

In any other case (sca, sco, scu) the pronunciation is like the English
one in scar scorpion, scub, scootera.

Scala scale

Sconto discount

Scuola school

Ascoltare to listen

Pesca peach

Scaloppine cutlets

Scarpa shoe

When the cluster sci is followed by a vowel (scia, scie, scio, sciu), the
sound of i is lost; thus scia sounds like English sha, scie is pronounced
she, scio as sho, and sciu as shu.

Fascia diaper

Sceicco sheik

Scialle Scarf

Sciroppo Syrup

Sciare Sky

Double Consonants
In Italian, all consonants except h can be doubled. Double consonants
(i consonanti doppie) are pronounced much more forcefully than single
consonants. With double f, l, m, n, r, s, and v, the sound is prolonged;
with double b, c, d, g, p, and t, the stop is stronger than for the single
consonant. Double z is pronounced almost the same as single z.
Double s is always unvoiced.
In most cases they are followed by a vowel, as in:
Dubbio doubt.

Albicocca apricot.

Gatto cat.

Bello beautiful.

Babbo dad.

Filetto filet.

Evviva hurrah.

Anno year.

Bistecca beefsteak.

Basso short.

Espresso espresso coffee.

Tavolozza palette.

Spaghetti spaghetti.

Ragazzo boy.

Mamma mama.
However, in some cases they may be followed by r, as in

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Labbra lips.

Attrito friction, etc.

Instead, another consonant can never come before a double

consonant.
Only one word exists with a double q, soqquadro (disorder, confusion,
muddle).
The consonants j, k, w, x, y do not belong to the Italian alphabet,
therefore they can only be double in foreign words.
The consonant h is never doubled, because it is always soundless.
When it belongs to a cluster (chi, che, ghi, ghe), a doubling may
concern the c or the g, but not the h:

...cchi, as in occhi (eyes).

...cche, as in bocche (mouths).

Double vowels are uncommon in Italian, though possible in a few

words. They are always pronounced as the ordinary individual ones,
but in these cases a longer sound should be heard:

Cooperare to cooperate.

Zii uncles.

Veemenza vehemence.

Riinserire to insert again.

When you encounter double consonants in Italian, you have to

pronounce each instance of the consonant or lengthen the sound. The
difficult part is that you dont pause between the consonants. Doubling
the consonant usually changes the meaning of the word. So, to make
sure that your Italian is understandable, emphasize doubled
consonants well. Examples:
Nono ninth

Capello hair

Nonno grandfather
Cappello hat
Dont worry too much about your pronunciation of double consonants,
though, because in a conversation, the context helps people

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understand you

NUMBERS/NUMERO
0
zero
zero

1
one
uno

8
9
eight nine
otto nove

16
sixteen
sedici

2
two
due

3
three
tre

4
four
quattro

5
five
cinque

6
six
sei

7
seven
sette

10
11
12
13
14
15
ten eleven twelve thirteen fourteen fifteen
dieci undici
dodici
tredici quattordici quindici

17
seventeen
diciassette

18
eighteen
diciotto

19
nineteen
diciannove

20
twenty
venti

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21
22
twenty-one twenty-two
ventuno
ventidue
50
fifty
cinquanta

60
sixty
sessanta

30
thirty
trenta

31
thirty-one
trentuno

40
forty
quaranta

70
seventy
settanta

80
eighty
ottanta

90
ninety
novanta

100

101
one hundred and
one hundred
one
cento
centouno
1,000
one
thousand
mille

200

300

two hundred
duecento

three hundred
trecento

2,000

1,000,000

2,000,000

two thousand
due mille

one million
un milione

two million
due milione

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