L’alfabeto italiano
The Italian alphabet

A  - a
B  - bi
C - ci
D - di
E - e
F - effe
G - gi

H - acca
I – i
L - elle
M - emme
N - enne
O - o
P - pi

Q - cu
R - erre
S - esse
T - ti
U - u
V – vu/vi
Z - zeta

J – i lungo
K – kappa
W – doppia vu
X – ics
Y - Ypsilon

'foreign letters' 
​         - used to spell foreign words, but are not part of the Italian alphabet.

Come si pronuncia… 
​(How to pronounce...)
​
A – like father
E – like elephant
I – like street
O – like open
U – like boot

A, O, and U  are "hard" vowels - they give C and G a hard sound when followed by one of these vowels.

      CA –  like cotton /kah
      CO – like coke                          
      CU – like coop
      CHE - like Kent
      CHI - like key
 
      GA - like Gandhi 
      GO - like gold                           
      GU - like goop
      GHE - like get
      GHI - like piggy

​      SCA - like Ska                          
      SCO - like scope                   
      SCU - like scooter
     SCHE - like skeleton
     SCHI - like ski

* ‘H’ is silent at the beginning of a word; within a word its function is to give the letters C and G a hard sound…
 
ex. ch = k 
      gh = g (like get)

E and I  are "soft" vowels - they give C and G a soft sound when followed by one of these vowels

      CE - like chess                       
      CI - like cheese                      
      CIO - like chosen
      CIU - like choose
      CIA – like cha-cha
 
      GE - like jello                          
      GI - like jeep  
      GIA - like jolly /jah                         
      GIO - like Joseph
      GIU - like June

      SCE - like shell                
      SCI - like sheet   
      SCIA - like shot / ​shah                  
      SCIO - like show
      SCIU - like shoe 
 
 
 
GL creates a LY sound
      maglia > malya                 (sweater/knit shirt)     

      aglio > alyo                         (garlic)       
       
      gli  > lyee     (this can be tricky!)
      [place your tongue behind your upper front teeth and leave it there as you try to say "yee"]
 

 GN creates a NY sound (like ñ in Spanish)
       gnocchi > nyoh-key                   
       bagno >  ba-nyoh

​
S  has a light 'z' sound when it appears between two vowels
       casa > caza                                   
       rosa > roza

RETURN TO BEGINNER MATERIALS