Spelling & Pronunciation

VOWELS

The Italian vowels are a, e, i, o, u. They are pronounced as follows:

Letter	Sound	As In	Example
a	ah	bah	🔊 cane (dog)
e	eh	bet	🔊 bene (well)
i	eeh	beet	🔊 vino (wine)
o	oh	bought	🔊 oro (gold)
u	ooh	boot	🔊 uso (use)

In words where the i and u come before or after another vowel (in the same syllable), they are pronounced instead as follows:

Letter	Sound	As In	Example
i	y	yes	🔊 ieri (yesterday)
i	y	say	🔊 mai (never)
u	w	way	🔊 uomo (man)
u	w	cow	🔊 causa (cause)

SINGLE CONSONANTS

Italian uses the Latin alphabet, which results in a language with only 21 letters, because the letters j, k, w, x and y only occur in Italian as part of words imported from other languages.

Additionally, the language has both single and double consonants. The pronunciation of single consonants is summarized in the chart below:

Letter	Sound	As In	Example
b	b	bat	🔊 bene (well)
c (before a, o, u)	k	cat	🔊 cane (dog)
ch (before e, i)			🔊 chi (who)
c (before e, i)	ch	chin	🔊 cena (dinner)
ci (before a, o, u)			🔊 ciao (hi/bye)
d	d	dip	🔊 dopo (after)
f	f	fair	🔊 fare (to do, make)
g (before a, o, u)	g	gas	🔊 gatto (cat)
gh (before e, i)			🔊 ghiaccio (ice)
g (before e, i)	j	gym	🔊 gente (people)
gi (before a, o, u)			🔊 giacca (jacket)
gli	ly	million	🔊 figlio (son)
gn	ny	canyon	🔊 bagno (bathroom)
l	l	love	🔊 latte (milk)
m	m	man	🔊 mano (hand)
n	n	name	🔊 nome (name)
p	p	pen	🔊 pane (bread)
q	k(w)	quick	🔊 qui (here)
r	r	brrrrr	🔊 rosso (red)
s (voiceless)	s	sip	🔊 sale (salt)
		spin	🔊 specchio (mirror)
s (voiced)	z	zip	🔊 casa (house)
			🔊 sbaglio (mistake)
sc (before a, o, u)	sk	skill	🔊 scuola (school)
sch (before e, i)			🔊 schema (scheme)
sc (before e, i)	sh	shave	🔊 scena (scene)
sci (before a, o, u)			🔊 sciarpa (scarf)
t	t	tent	🔊 tanto (much)
v	v	vine	🔊 vino (wine)
z	ts or ds	cats or lads	🔊 zio (uncle)

DOUBLE CONSONANTS

These are not sounded in English, even though double letters are often used (but they represent single consonant sounds).

The Italian double consonants last approximately twice as long as corresponding single ones and are pronounced with more intensity. They occur between vowels or between a vowel and l or r:

Example	Meaning
🔊 arrivederci	good-bye
🔊 basso	short
🔊 bello	beautiful
🔊 caffè	coffee
🔊 camminare	to walk
🔊 faccia	face
🔊 formaggio	cheese
🔊 mamma	mom
🔊 nonno	grandfather
🔊 occhio	eye
🔊 pizza	pizza

SPELLING PECULIARITIES

In general, there is a one-to-one correspondence between a sound and the letter (or letters) used to represent it. The main exceptions are as follows.

Words with a stressed final vowel are written with an accent mark on the vowel. The mark is usually grave. But in some words, especially those ending in -ché, the acute accent mark may be used.

Example	Meaning
🔊 caffè	coffee
🔊 città	city
🔊 perché	why, because
🔊 poiché	since

Words spelled with j, k, w, x, and y are words that Italians have adopted from other languages, especially English.

Example	Meaning
🔊 il jazz	jazz
🔊 il karatè	karate
🔊 il weekend	weekend

The letter h is used only in several present indicative tense forms of the verb avere (to have). It is always silent.

Example	Meaning
🔊 io ho	I have
🔊 tu hai	you have (familiar)
🔊 Lei ha	you have (polite)
🔊 lui / lei ha	he / she has
🔊 loro hanno	they have

As in English, capital letters are used at the beginning of sentences and to write proper nouns (names of people, countries, etc.). However, there are a few different conventions worth noting: the pronoun io (I), titles, months of the year, days of the week, and adjectives and nouns referring to languages and nationalities are not capitalized.

Example	Meaning
🔊 dottore	Dr.
🔊 professore	Professor
🔊 signora	Ms., Mrs.
🔊 cinese	Chinese
🔊 inglese	English
🔊 italiano	Italian
🔊 gennaio	January
🔊 settembre	September
🔊 ottobre	October
🔊 lunedì	Monday
🔊 martedì	Tuesday

On the other hand, the polite pronoun Lei (you) and other corresponding polite forms are capitalized (although this is optional).