about Italian sounds
Like other Romance languages, Italian descends from Latin. Italian pronunciation has changed a lot since ancient times. Still, pronouncing the language is a relatively straightforward affair.
Unlike English, it's possible to determine the pronunciation of most Italian words based on their spelling. There are a few tricky points, however. Pay attention as you read through my notes about vowels, consonants and how to put them together. At the same time, try to gain an ear for the language by imitating the pronunciation of the words you hear.
On this site, you will find explanations, sound files and practice activities to help you learn Italian pronunciation. This page is divided into the following sections:
the vowels
Italian words have one syllable that's stressed - meaning spoken louder than the other syllables in that word (like we do in ho-tel or I-ta-ly). In most Italian words, the syllable before the last is accented: Ro-ma, spa-ghet-ti, i-ta-li-a-no, la dol-ce vi-ta.
The vowels "a", "i" and "u" sound the same whether they're stressed or unstressed.
| Italian vowel | example | translation |
| a | casa | house |
| i | dimmi | tell me |
| u | cultura | culture |
When stressed, the vowels "e" and "o" can stand for two distinct, contrastive sounds. Listen and learn to differentiate them.
| close | example | open | example |
| e (é) | segno | e (è) | sette |
| sign | seven | ||
| o (ó) | porta | o (ò) | uomini |
| door | men |
Listen again, this time to the final, unstressed "e" in sette and the unstressed "o" in segno. Unstressed "e" and "o" always has this close pronunciation.
Some Italian words aren't accented (stressed) on the second-to-last syllable. When a final vowel is accented, you'll see a written accent mark (as in libertà). When the third-to-last syllable is accented, no help is given, and you must learn the irregular accent along with the spelling (though some beginner books write accent marks).
Listen for the irregularly stressed syllables:
| già | already |
| uomini | men |
| caffè | cafe |
Practice Exercise
Pronounce these Italian words aloud, according to what you know so far:
the consonants
The majority of Italian consonants sound a lot like their English counterparts. Italian "p", "t" and "c" aren't aspirated as in English (pronounced with a puff of air) - pronouncing them with an "h" sound gives your foreign accent away. Instead, pronounce them as in 'speak' (p), 'stay' (t), and 'sky' (c).
| Italian consonant | example | translation |
| c | casa | house |
| p | porta | door | t | tavolo (say "tàvolo") | table |
"c" and "g" have both hard (velar) and soft (palatalized) pronunciations. Listen to how these letters sound before "a" "o" and "u" (back vowels) vs. "e" and "i" (front vowels).
| Italian consonant | example | translation |
| c + a/o/u | casa | house |
| c + e/i | cinque | five |
| ci + a/o/u | ciao | hi/bye |
| g + a/o/u | gola | throat |
| g + e/i | oggi | today |
| gi + a/o/u | già | already |
Listen again. As you can hear, "ci" and "gi" also serve the purpose of spelling those "soft" sounds before another vowel (as in ciao and già). They're a lot like 'ch' and 'j' in English.
Now, sometimes g and c have a hard pronunciation before front vowels "i" and "e". Rather than leave the spelling ambiguous - like we do with 'give' vs. 'gene' - Italians spell sounds in that environment "gh" and "ch" to avoid confusion.
| Italian consonant | example | translation |
| ch + e/i | chiamo | I call |
| gh + e/i | ghiaccio | ice |
The cluster "sc" behaves similarly in Italian. Pay attention to its unique 'sh' sound when it's soft.
| consonant cluster | example | translation |
| sc + a/o/u | scatola | box |
| sc + e/i | pesce | fish |
| sci + a/o/u | lasciare | to allow |
| sch + e/i | scherzo | joke |
In "gu" and "qu" before another vowel, the "u" always represents a 'w'-like sound (as in 'quick').
| consonant cluster | example | translation |
| gu + vowel | lingua | language |
| linguista | linguist (language-ist) | |
| qu + vowel | quando | when |
| cinque | five |
"r" has a flap sound, like American 'tt' in 'ladder'.
| consonant | example | translation |
| r | cultura | culture |
| porta | door |
A few Italian words start with an "h". It's silent.
| consonant | example | translation |
| h | loro hanno | they have |
Between vowels or before voiced consonants, "s" may represent [z]. Otherwise, it's the sound [s]. In some dialects, certain words contrast voiced or voiceless "s" between vowels.
| consonant | example | translation |
| s [z] | casa | house |
| s [s] | sette | seven |
| s [z] | francese | French |
| s [s] | inglese | English |
"z" spells the affricate 'ts' in 'hats' or 'ds' in 'ads'. Some words have the first pronunciation, others the second (the sounds are contrastive). "zz" is the same.
| consonant | example | translation |
| z / zz [ts] | sforzo | effort |
| z / zz [dz] | mezzo | medium |
Practice Exercise
These Italian words contain consonants you learned to pronounce above:
dipthongs: putting vowels together
Dipthongs form from two or more vowels side by side in the same syllable. In standard Italian, these involve an unstressed "i" or a "u" with another vowel. This unaccented "i" and "u" takes on a "y"-sound (for "i") or "w"-sound (for "u").
| diphthong | example | translation |
| vowel + u | auto | car |
| vowel + i | aiuto | help |
Practice Exercise
These Italian words contain diphthongs. Noting that dipthongs count as one syllable, break each word into syllables:
2, 1, 4, 2, 2, 3
Consonant combinations
Italian double consonants (geminates) are pronounced as long.
| consonants | example | translation |
| ll & ss | bellissima | so beautiful |
| ff | caffè | cafe |
| tt | sette notti | seven nights |
"ss" has the sound of /s/ (suite), not /z/ (zenith). Again, the sound is held out longer, as [ss].
| consonants | example | translation |
| ss | cassa | cash register |
Except in the far north (like Milan), words ending in a stressed vowel (including monosyllabic words that ended in a consonant in Latin) trigger doubled pronunciation of the following consonant. This isn't normally reflected in spelling.
| consonants | example | translation |
| cc | più caro | more expensive |
| nn | a Napoli | to Naples |
| mm | dimmi (di + mi) | tell me |
Note: a, from Latin ad
As mentioned above, "z" and "zz" have the same length: they're always long (doubled in length).
Practice Activity
Say these words out loud in Italian:
Further resources & about the author
You may wish to refer to the menus on the upper right side of this page. I've handpicked a few recommended websites, books & other learning materials to help you learn Italian. Each of those resources spend at least some time teaching you how to pronounce the language.
This guide's author has written books on linguistics and language learning, including Native Grammar: How Languages Work.
