Introduction to Italian/Lesson 2
The Italian Alphabet
The Italian alphabet is very similar to the English alphabet:
| Letter | Name | IPA | Letter | Name | IPA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A, a | a | /a/ | N, n | enne | /n/ |
| B, b | bi | /b/ | O, o | o | /o/ or /ɔ/ |
| C, c | ci | /k/ or /tʃ/ | P, p | pi | /p/ |
| D, d | di | /d/ | Q, q | cu | /k/ |
| E, e | e | /e/ or /ɛ/ | R, r | erre | /r/ |
| F, f | effe | /f/ | S, s | esse | /s/ or /z/ |
| G, g | gi | /g/ or /dʒ/ | T, t | ti | /t/ |
| H, h | acca | (silent) | U, u | u | /u/ or /w/ |
| I, i | i | /i/ or /j/ | V, v | vi, vu | /v/ |
| L, l | elle | /l/ | Z, z | zeta | /dz/ or /ts/ |
| M, m | emme | /m/ |
Notice that it lacks the letters j, k, w, x, and y. These are "foreign letters" used only in loanwords.
| Letter | Name | IPA | Letter | Name | IPA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| J, j | i lunga, gèi | /dʒ/ | X, x | ics | /ks/ |
| K, k | cappa | /k/ | Y, y | ipsilon, i greca | /y/ |
| W, w | doppia vi, doppia vu, vi doppia, vu doppia[N 1] | /v/ |
It is important to notice that letters are all feminine nouns.
Vowel pronunciations
Each vowel has basically one pronunciation. They are as follows:
a - pronounced roughly like the a in father or class, like the sound a dentist might have you make when you open your mouth wide. It is usually pronounced in a relaxed way, but hardens when an accent mark is added (à).
e - pronounced like the e in pest or Edward. When it has an accent (è) it is pronounced like the a in plate or the ei in eight.
i - pronounced like the ee in feed or the ea in peak.
o - pronounced like the oa in boat or the oe in toe.
u - pronounced like the o in to or who.
Note on accented vowels
In some languages accented letters are counted as their own letters (for instance, in Swedish the letter ä is considered different from the letter a). In Italian, à and è are just variations on a and e. So in a dictionary, the words ‘‘e’’ and ‘‘ è’’ will appear immediately after one another.
Consonant pronunciations
Most Italian consonants are pronounced the same as they are in English:
| Consonant or consonant combination | Pronunciation |
|---|---|
| b | Same as b in bat. |
| ca, co, cu | Same as c in cat, cot, cut |
| ce, ci | Same as ch in chair, cheese |
| che, chi | Same as k in kay, key |
| d | Same as d in dog |
| f | Same as f in fake |
| ga, go | Same as g in gab, gob |
| ge, gi | Same as g in gem |
| gh | Same as gh in Pittsburgh |
| gla, gle, glo, glu | Same as gl in ugly |
| gli | Same as ll in billion |
| gn | Same as ny in Bunyan |
| gu | Same as gu in anguish |
| h | Same as h in honest |
| l | Same as l in lake |
| m | Same as m in mom |
| n | Same as n in not |
| p | Same as p in post |
| qu | Same as qu in queen |
| r | Same as r in race, but rolled (your tongue should vibrate up and down when you pronounce it) |
| s | Same as s in sorry; sometimes as z as in zoo |
| t | Same as t in time |
| v | Same as v in violin |
| z | Same as z in zoo, but often as dz or tz (think pizza) |
previous lesson  |
next lesson  |
Department  |
Division |
Notes
- ↑ Notice that all the Italian names for "W" mean "double V", instead of the English "double U".