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Next Lesson — Nouns and Articles ▶️

Italian Grammar - Italian Alphabet

Italian's alphabet contains 21 letters (5 vowels and 16 consonants). The letters J, K, W, X, and Y are only used in foreign words, and in scientific or technical terms of foreign origin. Nowadays it is common to use the English alphabet instead of the Italian one.

Once you've mastered this lesson, take a look at these related pages: Conditional Subjunctive & Definite Articles.

Italian Alphabet

The Italian alphabet includes the following 26 letters:

Italian	Name of the letter /IPA/	Pronunciation in words /IPA/	Comparison with other languages
A	/a/	/a/	like in Castellano "pAdre"; the English 'a' has many pronunciations according to what letters come before or after it: the closest sound to the Italian one could be the /ʌ/ sound in "cUp".
B	/bi/	/b/	like in English "Brave"
C	/tʃi/	/tʃ/ or /k/	like in English "CHurCH" (/tʃ/) before 'e' or 'i'; like in English "Car" (/k/) before 'a', 'o', 'u' or any other consonant. See letter 'h' and 'i' for more details
D	/di/	/d/	like in English "Dog"
E	/e/ or /ɛ/	/e/ or /ɛ/	like in English "red" (/ɛ/) or in Castellano "buEno" (/e/). In Italian pronouncing /e/ or /ɛ/ is not as import as in French: choosing one sound or the other does not compromise the communication. In fact every Italian uses them according to regional inflections: even if this letter may be pronounced in two ways by most Italians, it is always considered as a single vowel
F	/'ɛf:e/	/f/	like in English "Fish"
G	/dʒi/	/dʒ/ or /g/	like in English "Gem" (/dʒ/) before 'e' or 'i'; like in English "Gum" (/g/) before 'a', 'o', 'u' or any other consonant. See letter 'h' and 'i' for more details
H	/ˈak:a/	/-/ (silent)	is always silent like in Castellano In Italian it is used to maintain sounds /k/ and /g/ before soft vowels 'e' and 'i'. In fact: - CE -> read /tʃe/ -- CHE -> read /ke/ - CI -> read /tʃi/ -- CHI -> read /ki/ - GE -> read /dʒe/ -- GHE -> read /ge/ - GI -> read /dʒi/ -- GHI -> read /gi/ Letter 'h' is also used in front of some persons of the verb "to have" conjugated in present indicative to distinguish them from homophone words: - HO -> I have -- O -> or - HAI -> you have -- AI -> "to the" (preposition plus definitive article) - HA -> he/she/it has -- A -> "to" (preposition) - HANNO -> they have -- ANNO -> year
I	/i/	/i/, /j/, /-/ (silent)	like in English "mEEt". 'i' is also used to maintain sounds /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ before hard vowels 'a', 'o', 'u' as long as they are considered inside the same syllable. In these cases 'i' is silent. In fact: - CA -> read /ka/ -- CIA -> read //tʃa/ (it's pronounced /'tʃao/ and not /'tʃjao/) - CO -> read /ko/ -- CIO -> read //tʃo/ - CU -> read /ku/ -- CIU -> read //tʃu/ - GA -> read /ga/ -- GIA -> read /dʒa/ - GO -> read /go/ -- GIO -> read /dʒo/ - GU -> read gu/ -- GIU -> read /dʒu/ In Italian some words require a silent 'i' in syllables CIE, GIE or SCIE, even if vowel 'e' is already soft by itself. In fact you may find: - CIE -> read as CE - GIE -> read as GE - SCIE -> read as SCE (/ʃe/) When 'i' comes before another vowel and is inside tha same syllable (apart from the case mentioned above!) it is pronounced 'j' like in English "Yesterday"
J	/dʒej/ or /i 'luŋga/	/j/ or /dʒ/	only in foreign words, mostly pronounced as in the native language
K	/'kap:a/	/k/	only in foreign words, mostly pronounced as in the native language
L	/'ɛl:e/	/l/	like in English "Lion"
M	/'ɛm:e/	/m/	like 'in English "Mouse"
N	/'ɛn:e/	/n/, /ŋ/ or /ɱ/	like in English "Nice"; it changes to /ŋ/ before sounds /k/ or /g/ and to /ɱ/ before sounds /f/ or /v/. These should natural allophones of sound /n/ for most languages.
O	/ɔ/ or /o/	/ɔ/ or /o/	like in English "mOre" /o/ or in English /lOt/ /ɔ/ In Italian pronouncing /o/ or /ɔ/ is not as import as in other monosyllabic languages: choosing one sound or the other does not compromise the communication. In fact every Italian uses them according to regional inflections: even if this letter may be pronounced in two ways by most Italians, it is always considered as a single vowel
P	/pi/	/p/	like in English "Pen"
Q	/ku/	/k/	like in English "Quit" /k/. It is only used when followed by U+VOWEL (-QUA- /kwa/, -QUE /kwe/-, -QUI /kwi//-, -QUO- /kwo/) inside the same syllable. Letter 'q' is quite tricky in Italian: in fact it has the same sound as letter 'c' when found in the same position inside a word. Notice how the syllables with letter 'q' or 'c' in the following words have the same pronunciation but different spelling: - QUALE -> read /'kwale -- VACUA -> read /'vakwa/ - QUESTO -> read /'kwesto/ -- INNOCUE -> read /i'n:ɔkwe/ - QUINDI -> read /'kwindi/ -- TACCUINO -Z read /ta'k:wino/ - QUOTA -> read /'kwɔta/ -- CUORE -> read /'kwɔre
R	/'ɛr:e/	/r/ or /ɾ/	like in Castellano "Rosa". Italian 'r' is pronounced with a rolling sound made by rapidly flipping the end of the tongue up and down against the roof of the mouth); It may be softer like /ɾ/ between vowels or at the beginning of a word (like Americans usually pronounce 't' between vowels, for example in "iT is" /ɪɾɪz/)
S	/'ɛs:e/	/s/ or /z/	like in English "Sun" /s/ or in English "boyS" /z/. Unlike Castellano, Italian 's' has two pronunciations. - /s/ before dull consonant sounds (/sk/, /sp/, /st/, /sf/ or at the beginning of a word when followed by a vowel (exactly like in English "Silence") - /z/ before vibrant consontant sounds (/zg/,/zb/, /zd/, /zv/, /zl/, /zm/, /zn/) or between two vowels (/aza/, /uzo/, /ezu/ etc.) These are just general rules: according to regional inflections you may hear different ways Italians pronunce this letter, but choosing one sound or the other does not compromise the communication
T	/ti/	/t/	like in Castellano "Tener"; the English 't' is usually followed by an expiration at the beginnig of a word when followed by a vowel (like in the word "time") which does not exist in Italian
U	/u/	/u/ or /w/	like in English "cOOl"; letter 'u' can be found as a half consonant or half vowel sound when followed by another vowel inside the same syllable, in which case it is pronounced /w/ like in English "What"
V	/vi/ or /vu/	/v/	like in English "Very"
W	/vu 'dop:ja/	/w/ or /v/	only in foreign words, mostly pronounced as in the native language
X	/iks/	/ks/	only in foreign words, mostly pronounced as in the native language
Y	/'ipsilon/	/j/ or /i/	only in foreign words, mostly pronounced as in the native language
Z	/'dzɛta/	/dz/ or /ts/	like in English "geTS" or like a fast pronounciation of the English "reD Zone"; The Italian 'z' is quite tricky: the correct pronunciation should be learnt by heart since there is no rule at all that could teach you when to say /ts/ and when to say /dz/. In fact every Italian, according to their regional inflection choose to use one sound or the other for each word: this does not compromise our communication anyway.

CLUSTERS OF LETTERS INSIDE THE SAME SYLLABLE

Some sounds do not have a specific letter, but a cluster of letters

GN: this cluster is always followed by a vowel and must be pronounced /ɲ/ (GNA /ɲa/, GNE /ɲe/, GNI /ɲi/, GNO /ɲo/, GNU /ɲu/). This cluster is prounced as /gn/ only in some technical or scientific terms. Notice that in rare cases syllable GNA must be spelled GNIA even if letter I is silent. (example: DISEGNIAMO, REGNIAMO etc.)

GLI: this cluster is always followed by vowel 'I' alone or 'I + other vowels' and must be pronounced /ʎ/ (GLIA (ʎa), GLIE (ʎe), GLI (ʎi) GLIO (ʎo), GLIU (ʎu). This cluster is pronounced as /gl/ almost only in technical or scientific terms

SCI/SCE: 'SC' plus soft vowels 'E' and 'I' is pronounced /ʃ/; to reproduce sound /ʃ/ before other vowels, letter 'I' must always be used (SCIA /ʃa/, SCE /ʃe/, SCI /ʃi/, SCIO /ʃo/ SCIU /ʃu/); notice that syllable SCE must sometimes be spelled SCIE even if its pronunciation does not change. (example: SCIENZA, SCIENZIATO, SCIENTIFICO etc.)

Accents and Diacritics

ACCENTS

Every language uses accents for different purposes and in different ways.

Nowadays the Italian language uses two accents which are placed only above vowels.

One is the acute accent which may be found only on É and Ó and the other one is the grave accent which may be found on any vowel À È Ì Ò Ù.

As you can see, only E and O admit two types of accent: you should pick the grave accents on these vowels only when they are pronounced open /ɛ/ or /ɔ/, while you should use the acute accent when they are pronounced closed /e/ or /o/. For the other vowels only the grave accents is the correct one.

They are used:

- to distinguish homophone words that have a different grammar role (like in Castellano or French); mandatory for correct spelling

LA -> feminine singular article -- LÀ -> adverb "there"
SI -> pronoun for "itself, himself, herself" -- SÌ -> "yes"
NE -> pronoun that means "of this, that, these, those" -- NÉ -> "nor, neither"
DA -> preposition "from" -- DÀ -> he/she/it gives (verb)
E -> "and" -- È -> it, she, he is (verb)

- to mark the stress of a plurisyllabic word when it falls on the very last letter; mandatory for correct spelling

VERITÀ -> stress on 'a'
PERÒ -> stress on 'o'
VIRTÙ -> stress on 'u'
COMPÌ -> stress on 'i'

- marking the stress of a monosyllabic word when it contains I + VOWEL and the stress falls on this very last vowel: in these cases you know you must not pronounce the vowels as a hiatus; mandatory for correct spelling

GIÀ -> the stress shows that the word is monosyllabic and that is pronounced /dʒa/ and not /'dʒia/ with a hiatus
PIÙ -> the stress shows that the word is monosyllaboc and that is pronounced /pju/ and not /'piu/ with a hiatus
GIÙ -> pronounced /dʒu/ and not /'dʒiu/

- to distinguish homograph words that only differs for the stress; NON mandatory for correct spelling

ÀNCORA -> "anchor" -- ANCÓRA -> "one more time" or "again"
PRÌNCIPI -> "princes" -- PRINCÌPI -> "principles"

In Italian the circumflex accent and the umlaut accent were used once but nowadays they are never used by Italians (with some very rare exceptions).

APOSTROPHE

The Italian language uses the apostrophe like French or English. It usually stands at the end of a word when some of the final letters are dropped for phonetic reasons.

L'AQUILA -> "L' " stands for "LA" in front of words beginning with a vowel

UN'OCA -> UN' stands for "UNA" in front of words beginning with a vowel

UN PO' -> PO' stands for "POCO": this is a very common Italian expression which can be translated as "a little, a bit"

TUTT'ALTRO -> TUTT' stands for "TUTTO"

C'È -> C' stands for "CI": This expression means "there is"

Conclusion

Learning the Italian alphabet is an important and necessary first step in becoming proficient in Italian. The good news is that the Italian alphabet has a lot in common with English, which means that some letters are pronounced the same in both languages. While the accent marks and diacritics might seem challenging, once you understand their use and meaning, they will become second nature. In next lessons, we'll learn about nouns and articles, which will be the next step in communicating effectively in Italian. Have fun learning!

Sources

Having concluded this lesson, consider checking out these related pages: Accent mark to distinguish a word & Imperfect Tense.

Videos

Learn the Italian Alphabet: letters and sounds (Italian Pronunciation ...

L'ALFABETO ITALIANO - Italian Alphabet & Phonetics - YouTube

Spelling the ITALIAN ALPHABET with CITY NAMES - YouTube

Learn Italian Alphabets Pronunciation With Examples - YouTube

Table of Contents - Italian Course - 0 to A1

Course Presentation

Introduction to Italian Language

Daily Life Expressions

Italian Culture and Tradition

Past and Future Tenses

Social and Work Life

Italian Literature and Cinema

Subjunctive and Imperative Moods

Science and Technology

Italian Politics and Society

Compound Tenses

Arts and Design

Italian Language and Dialects

Next Lesson — Nouns and Articles ▶️

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+<span pgnav>
+{| class="wikitable pg_template_nav"
-{{Italian-Page-Top}}
+|[[Language/Italian/Grammar/Nouns-and-Articles|Next Lesson — Nouns and Articles ▶️]]
+|}
+</span>
+{{Italian-Page-Top}}
+<div class="pg_page_title">Italian Grammar - Italian Alphabet</div>
-== Introduction ==
+__TOC__
-Benvenuti nel nostro corso di lingua italiana!
-In questo primo modulo, ci concentreremo sull'alfabeto italiano. Impareremo a conoscere tutte le lettere dell'alfabeto italiano, la loro pronuncia e la loro ortografia.
-L'alfabeto italiano è composto da 21 lettere, e molte di esse suonano in modo diverso rispetto a quelle dell'alfabeto inglese. Tuttavia, non preoccupatevi: impareremo tutto passo dopo passo!
-Durante questo corso prenderemo in considerazione tutte le componenti della grammatica italiana, dalle basi elementari ai meccanismi più complessi. Il nostro obiettivo è portarvi dal livello 0 (principiante totale) al livello A1.
-C'è tanto da imparare, quindi mettetevi comodi, divertitevi e preparatevi a scoprire le meraviglie della lingua italiana!
-=== History of the Italian alphabet ===
-Per prima cosa, diamo un'occhiata alla storia dell'alfabeto italiano. L'alfabeto italiano ha avuto origine dall'alfabeto latino, che è stato introdotto in Italia circa 2000 anni fa. L'alfabeto latino che è stato utilizzato in Italia non differiva molto da quello utilizzato altrove, ma nel corso del tempo si è consolidato nella forma che conosciamo oggi.
-Verso il 1100 d.C. furono aggiunti nuovi simboli all'alfabeto latino, tra cui la K, la Y e la W. Questi simboli furono usati solo per scrivere parole di derivazione straniera, come "kilometro". Tuttavia, nel 2004 furono ufficialmente introdotte nel sistema dell'alfabeto italiano, sebbene siano ancora meno utilizzate rispetto alle altre lettere.
+Italian's alphabet contains 21 letters (5 vowels and 16 consonants). The letters J, K, W, X, and Y are only used in foreign words, and in scientific or technical terms of foreign origin. Nowadays it is common to use the English alphabet instead of the Italian one.
-=== Single letters and sounds ===
-L'alfabeto italiano consiste di 21 lettere, alcune delle quali hanno suoni diversi rispetto a quelli dell'alfabeto inglese. Impareremo a conoscere tutte le lettere una per una, pronunciandole e identificando i loro suoni. Vedremo anche come queste lettere sono utilizzate nella scrittura italiana, e come possono essere utilizzate per scrivere parole diverse.
+<span link>Once you've mastered this lesson, take a look at these related pages: [[Language/Italian/Grammar/Conditional-Subjunctive|Conditional Subjunctive]] & [[Language/Italian/Grammar/Definite-Articles|Definite Articles]].</span>
+== Italian Alphabet ==
-Ecco l'elenco delle 21 lettere dell'alfabeto italiano:
+The Italian alphabet includes the following 26 letters:
 {| class="wikitable"
-! Italian !! Pronunciation !! English
+! Italian !! Name of the letter /IPA/
+!Pronunciation in words /IPA/!! Comparison with other languages
 |-
-| A || a || a
+| A || /a/
+|/a/|| like in Castellano "pAdre"; the English 'a' has many pronunciations according to what letters come before or after it: the closest sound to the Italian one could be the /ʌ/ sound in "cUp".
 |-
-| B || bi || b
+| B || /bi/
+|/b/|| like in English "Brave"
 |-
-| C || ci || c
+| C || /tʃi/
+|/tʃ/ or /k/|| like in English "CHurCH" (/tʃ/) before 'e' or 'i'; like in English "Car" (/k/) before 'a', 'o', 'u' or any other consonant. See letter 'h' and 'i' for more details
 |-
-| D || di || d
+| D || /di/
+|/d/|| like in English "Dog"
 |-
-| E || e || e
+| E || /e/ or /ɛ/
+|/e/ or /ɛ/|| like in English "red" (/ɛ/) or in Castellano "buEno" (/e/).
+In Italian pronouncing /e/ or /ɛ/ is not as import as in French: choosing one sound or the other does not compromise the communication. In fact every Italian uses them according to regional inflections: even if this letter may be pronounced in two ways by most Italians, it is always considered as a single vowel
 |-
-| F || effe || f
+| F || /'ɛf:e/
+|/f/|| like in English "Fish"
 |-
-| G || gi || g
+| G || /dʒi/
+|/dʒ/ or /g/|| like in English "Gem" (/dʒ/) before 'e' or 'i'; like in English "Gum" (/g/) before 'a', 'o', 'u' or any other consonant. See letter 'h' and 'i' for more details
 |-
-| H || acca || h
+| H || /ˈak:a/
-|-
+|/-/ (silent)|| is always silent like in Castellano
-| I || i || i
-|-
-| L || elle || l
+In Italian it is used to maintain sounds /k/ and /g/ before soft vowels 'e' and 'i'. In fact:
-|-
-| M || emme || m
+- CE -> read /tʃe/ -- CHE -> read /ke/
-|-
-| N || enne || n
+- CI -> read /tʃi/ -- CHI -> read /ki/
-|-
-| O || o || o
+- GE -> read /dʒe/ -- GHE -> read /ge/
-|-
-| P || pi || p
+- GI -> read /dʒi/ -- GHI -> read /gi/
-|-
-| Q || cu || q
-|-
+Letter 'h' is also used in front of some persons of the verb "to have" conjugated in present indicative to distinguish them from homophone words:
-| R || erre || r
-|-
+- HO -> I have -- O -> or
-| S || esse || s
-|-
+- HAI -> you have -- AI -> "to the" (preposition plus definitive article)
-| T || ti || t
-|-
-| U || u || u
-|-
-| V || vu || v
-|-
-| Z || zeta || z
-|}
-Ricorda che in italiano ogni lettera ha la sua pronuncia speciale, che dovrai conoscere e imparare bene.
+- HA -> he/she/it has -- A -> "to" (preposition)
-=== Double letters and digraphs ===
+- HANNO -> they have -- ANNO -> year
-Oltre alle singole lettere dell'alfabeto, ci sono anche alcune combinazioni di lettere chiamate "doppi" o "digrafi", che rappresentano suoni specifici. Impareremo come utilizzare queste combinazioni di lettere nella scrittura italiana.
+|-
+| I || /i/
+|/i/, /j/, /-/ (silent)|| like in English "mEEt".
-Ecco alcuni esempi:
-* "CH": rappresenta un suono simile alla "k" inglese seguita dalla "i". Esempio: "chiuso" (closed).
+'i' is also used to maintain sounds /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ before hard vowels 'a', 'o', 'u' as long as they are considered inside the same syllable. In these cases 'i' is silent. In fact:
-* "GH": rappresenta un suono gutturale simile alla "g" inglese in "get". Esempio: "ghetto".
-* "GLI" e "GN": rappresentano un suono simile alla "ny" inglese. Esempio: "gnocco" (dumpling) o "gli" (the).
-* "SC": rappresenta un suono simile alla "sh" inglese. Esempio: "scena" (scene).
-* "CI" e "CE"/"GI" e "GE": rappresentano rispettivamente suoni come "ch" e "j". Esempio: "ciao" (hello) o "gelato" (ice-cream).
-Ci sono anche molte altre combinazioni di lettere che rappresentano suoni specifici. Le esamineremo tutte durante il corso.
+- CA -> read /ka/ -- CIA -> read //tʃa/ (it's pronounced /'tʃao/ and not /'tʃjao/)
-=== Special characters and accents ===
+- CO -> read /ko/ -- CIO -> read //tʃo/
-In italiano ci sono anche alcuni segni diacritici, ovvero caratteri speciali che vengono inseriti sopra o sotto le lettere per indicare una diversa pronuncia o un diverso significato. Impareremo a riconoscere e utilizzare questi caratteri nella scrittura italiana.
+- CU -> read /ku/ -- CIU -> read //tʃu/
-Ecco alcuni esempi:
+- GA -> read /ga/ -- GIA -> read /dʒa/
-* L'accento acuto (´) viene utilizzato sulla "e" e sulla "o" per indicare la posizione accentata. Esempi: "café" (caffè) e "perciò" (therefore).
+- GO -> read /go/ -- GIO -> read /dʒo/
-* La tilde (~) viene utilizzata sulla "n" per indicare una pronuncia particolare, specifica di alcune parole spagnole o sudamericane adottate in Italia. Esempio: "piñata".
-* L'umlaut (¨) viene utilizzato sulla "u" per indicare la separazione delle vocali "gu" o "qu". Esempi: "pingüino" (penguin) o "aiguilla" (aquila).
-Ci sono anche altre incidences speciali che impareremo durante il corso.
+- GU -> read gu/ -- GIU -> read /dʒu/
-=== Common words and phrases ===
-Per finire, vediamo alcuni esempi di parole e frasi che useremo spesso durante questo corso. Imparare queste parole e frasi ci aiuterà a iniziare a parlare e scrivere in italiano.
+In Italian some words require a silent 'i' in syllables CIE, GIE or SCIE, even if vowel 'e' is already soft by itself. In fact you may find:
-* "Ciao": Saluto informale, si usa comunemente per dire "hello" o "bye".
+- CIE -> read as CE
-* "Buongiorno": Saluto formale utilizzato durante la giornata o come inizio di una conversazione.
-* "Arrivederci": Saluto formale utilizzato come congedo.
-* "Grazie": Grazie.
-* "Prego":  di niente/you're welcome.
-* "Mi chiamo...": Mi chiamo..., usato per presentarsi.
-* "Come stai?": Come stai?, usato per chiedere come sta una persona.
-* "Bene, grazie": Bene, grazie, la risposta formale alla domanda "come stai?".
-=== Conclusion ===
+- GIE -> read as GE
-In questa lezione abbiamo visto una breve introduzione all'alfabeto italiano. Abbiamo iniziato a conoscere le lettere dell'alfabeto, la loro pronuncia e l'ortografia. Inoltre, abbiamo esaminato alcuni doppi, le speciali incidences di cui ci si può trovare nelle parole italiane e alcune parole e frasi comuni del italiano.
+- SCIE -> read as SCE (/ʃe/)
-Nella prossima lezione impareremo a distinguere tra sostantivi maschili e femminili e ad utilizzare gli articoli in modo corretto. Buon lavoro! 👏🏼🇮🇹💻
-=== History of the Italian alphabet ===
-Per prima cosa, diamo un'occhiata alla storia dell'alfabeto italiano. L'alfabeto italiano ha avuto origine dall'alfabeto latino, che è stato introdotto in Italia circa 2000 anni fa. L'alfabeto latino che è stato utilizzato in Italia non differiva molto da quello utilizzato altrove, ma nel corso del tempo si è consolidato nella forma che conosciamo oggi.
+When 'i' comes before another vowel and is inside tha same syllable (apart from the case mentioned above!) it is pronounced 'j' like in English "Yesterday"
+|-
+|J
+|/dʒej/ or /i 'luŋga/
+|/j/ or /dʒ/
+|only in foreign words, mostly pronounced as in the native language
+|-
+|K
+|/'kap:a/
+|/k/
+|only in foreign words, mostly pronounced as in the native language
+|-
+| L || /'ɛl:e/
+|/l/|| like in English "Lion"
+|-
+| M || /'ɛm:e/
+|/m/|| like 'in English "Mouse"
+|-
+| N || /'ɛn:e/
+|/n/, /ŋ/ or /ɱ/|| like in English "Nice"; it changes to /ŋ/ before sounds /k/ or /g/ and to /ɱ/ before sounds /f/ or /v/. These should natural allophones of sound /n/ for most languages.
+|-
+| O || /ɔ/ or /o/
+|/ɔ/ or /o/|| like in English "mOre" /o/ or in English /lOt/ /ɔ/
-L'alfabeto latino originale che è stato utilizzato nella penisola italiana consisteva in 21 lettere, le stesse del latino classico. Tuttavia, durante il Medioevo ci furono alcune modifiche apportare all'alfabeto  latino, inizialmente apportate dai monaci irlandesi che facevano parte della missione di San Colombano. Queste modifiche includevano l'introduzione delle lettere "J" e "W" e l'allungamento delle lettere "I" e "U".
-Il primo alfabeto italiano vero e proprio è stato creato nel XIV secolo, quando il poeta humanista Francesco Petrarca ha deciso di utilizzare solo le lettere dell'alfabeto latino classico e ha eliminato le lettere "J", "K", "W", "X" e "Y". In seguito, l'alfabeto è stato modificato nuovamente per adattarsi alla pronuncia della lingua italiana.
+In Italian pronouncing /o/ or /ɔ/ is not as import as in other monosyllabic languages: choosing one sound or the other does not compromise the communication. In fact every Italian uses them according to regional inflections: even if this letter may be pronounced in two ways by most Italians, it is always considered as a single vowel
+|-
+| P || /pi/
+|/p/|| like in English "Pen"
+|-
+| Q || /ku/
+|/k/|| like in English "Quit" /k/. It is only used when followed by U+VOWEL (-QUA- /kwa/, -QUE /kwe/-, -QUI /kwi//-, -QUO- /kwo/) inside the same syllable.
+Letter 'q' is quite tricky in Italian: in fact it has the same sound as letter 'c' when found in the same position inside a word. Notice how the syllables with letter 'q' or 'c' in the following words have the same pronunciation but different spelling:
-Nel XIX secolo, l'alfabeto italiano è stato ancora una volta modificato per adattarsi alla nuova pronuncia che aveva avuto luogo con l'unione delle diverse regioni italiane. In questa nuova forma, tutte le lettere dell'alfabeto latino erano presenti, oltre alla "J", "K", "W", "X" e "Y", che vengono utilizzate solo per scrivere parole di origine straniera.
+- QUALE -> read /'kwale -- VACUA -> read /'vakwa/
-Oggi, l'alfabeto italiano è scritto in modo moderno, tuttavia, ci sono ancora alcune regole da seguire quando si scrive in italiano. La conoscenza dell'alfabeto italiano è la base per tutte le altre componenti della lingua italiana, e quindi è di fondamentale importanza per diventare completamente flu
+- QUESTO -> read /'kwesto/ -- INNOCUE -> read /i'n:ɔkwe/
+- QUINDI -> read /'kwindi/ -- TACCUINO -Z read /ta'k:wino/
+- QUOTA  -> read /'kwɔta/ -- CUORE -> read /'kwɔre
+|-
+| R || /'ɛr:e/
+|/r/ or /ɾ/|| like in Castellano "Rosa". Italian 'r' is pronounced with a rolling sound made by rapidly flipping the end of the tongue up and down against the roof of the mouth); It may be softer like /ɾ/ between vowels or at the beginning of a word (like Americans usually pronounce 't' between vowels, for example in "iT is" /ɪɾɪz/)
+|-
+| S || /'ɛs:e/
+|/s/ or /z/|| like in English "Sun" /s/ or in English "boyS" /z/. Unlike Castellano, Italian 's' has two pronunciations.
+- /s/ before dull consonant sounds (/sk/, /sp/, /st/, /sf/ or at the beginning of a word when followed by a vowel (exactly like in English "Silence")
+- /z/ before vibrant consontant sounds (/zg/,/zb/, /zd/, /zv/, /zl/, /zm/, /zn/)  or between two vowels (/aza/, /uzo/, /ezu/ etc.)
+These are just general rules: according to regional inflections you may hear different ways Italians pronunce this letter, but choosing one sound or the other does not compromise the communication
+|-
+| T || /ti/
+|/t/|| like in Castellano "Tener"; the English 't' is usually followed by an expiration at the beginnig of a word when followed by a vowel (like in the word "time") which does not exist in Italian
+|-
+| U || /u/
+|/u/ or /w/|| like in English "cOOl"; letter 'u' can be found as a half consonant or half vowel sound when followed by another vowel inside the same syllable, in which case it is pronounced /w/ like in English "What"
+|-
+| V || /vi/ or /vu/
+|/v/|| like in English "Very"
+|-
+|W
+|/vu 'dop:ja/
+|/w/ or /v/
+|only in foreign words, mostly pronounced as in the native language
+|-
+|X
+|/iks/
+|/ks/
+|only in foreign words, mostly pronounced as in the native language
+|-
+|Y
+|/'ipsilon/
+|/j/ or /i/
+|only in foreign words, mostly pronounced as in the native language
+|-
+| Z || /'dzɛta/
+|/dz/ or /ts/|| like in English "geTS" or like a fast pronounciation of the English "reD Zone";
+The Italian 'z' is quite tricky: the correct pronunciation should be learnt by heart since there is no rule at all that could teach you when to say /ts/ and when to say /dz/. In fact every Italian, according to their regional inflection choose to use one sound or the other for each word: this does not compromise our communication anyway.
+|}
-==Italian Grammar - Italian Alphabet==
-Italian is a Romance language and is the official language in Italy, San Marino, and Vatican City. Understanding the Italian alphabet is the foundation any language learner needs to begin their journey to fluency. Italian has 21 letters with five vowels and 16 consonants.
+'''CLUSTERS OF LETTERS INSIDE THE SAME SYLLABLE'''
-===Italian Alphabet===
+Some sounds do not have a specific letter, but a cluster of letters
-The Italian alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet used by the Romans but with some changes. The following are the letters in the Italian alphabet in alphabetical order:
+'''GN''': this cluster is always followed by a vowel and must be pronounced /ɲ/ (GNA /ɲa/, GNE /ɲe/, GNI /ɲi/, GNO /ɲo/, GNU /ɲu/). This cluster is prounced as /gn/ only in some technical or scientific terms. Notice that in rare cases syllable GNA must be spelled GNIA even if letter I is silent. (example: DISEGNIAMO, REGNIAMO etc.)
-A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, Z.
+'''GLI''': this cluster is always followed by vowel 'I' alone or 'I + other vowels' and must be pronounced /ʎ/ (GLIA (ʎa), GLIE (ʎe), GLI (ʎi) GLIO (ʎo), GLIU (ʎu). This cluster is pronounced as /gl/ almost only in technical or scientific terms
-Note: J, K, W, X and Y are not included in the Italian alphabet except for some borrowed words.
+'''SCI/SCE''': 'SC' plus soft vowels 'E' and 'I' is pronounced /ʃ/; to reproduce sound /ʃ/ before other vowels, letter 'I' must always be used (SCIA /ʃa/, SCE /ʃe/, SCI /ʃi/, SCIO /ʃo/ SCIU /ʃu/); notice that syllable SCE must sometimes be spelled SCIE even if its pronunciation does not change. (example: SCIENZA, SCIENZIATO, SCIENTIFICO etc.)
-The vowels are: A, E, I, O, U.
+== Accents and Diacritics ==
-Note: The letter “H” is silent in Italian, except for some borrowed words.
+'''ACCENTS'''
-===Pronunciation===
+Every language uses accents for different purposes and in different ways.
-While learning the Italian alphabet, it is important to know how to pronounce each letter. Here is a guide to the pronunciation of Italian letters:
+Nowadays the Italian language uses two accents which are placed only above vowels.
-A - ah
+One is the '''acute accent''' which may be found only on É and Ó and the other one is the '''grave accent''' which may be found on any vowel À È Ì Ò Ù.
-B - bee
+As you can see, only E and O admit two types of accent: you should pick the grave accents on these vowels only when they are pronounced open /ɛ/ or /ɔ/, while you should use the acute accent when they are pronounced closed /e/ or /o/. For the other vowels only the grave accents is the correct one.
-C - cheh
+They are used:
-D - dee
+- to distinguish homophone words that have a different grammar role (like in Castellano or French); '''mandatory for correct spelling'''
-E - ey
+* LA -> feminine singular article -- LÀ -> adverb "there"
+* SI -> pronoun for "itself, himself, herself" -- SÌ -> "yes"
+* NE -> pronoun that means "of this, that, these, those" -- NÉ -> "nor, neither"
+* DA -> preposition "from" -- DÀ -> he/she/it gives (verb)
+*E -> "and" -- È -> it, she, he is (verb)
-F - effeh
+- to mark the stress of a plurisyllabic word when it falls on the very last letter; '''mandatory for correct spelling'''
-G - jee
+* VERITÀ -> stress on 'a'
+* PERÒ -> stress on 'o'
+* VIRTÙ -> stress on 'u'
+* COMPÌ -> stress on 'i'
-H - ah-kkah
+- marking the stress of a monosyllabic word when it contains I + VOWEL and the stress falls on this very last vowel: in these cases you know you must not pronounce the vowels as a hiatus; '''mandatory for correct spelling'''
-I - ee
+* GIÀ -> the stress shows that the word is monosyllabic and that is pronounced /dʒa/ and not /'dʒia/ with a hiatus
+* PIÙ -> the stress shows that the word is monosyllaboc and that is pronounced /pju/ and not /'piu/ with a hiatus
+* GIÙ -> pronounced /dʒu/ and not /'dʒiu/
-L - ell-eh
+- to distinguish homograph words that only differs for the stress; '''NON''' '''mandatory for correct spelling'''
-M - emmeh
+* ÀNCORA -> "anchor" -- ANCÓRA -> "one more time" or "again"
+* PRÌNCIPI -> "princes" -- PRINCÌPI -> "principles"
-N - enn-eh
-O - oh
-P - pee
+In Italian the circumflex accent and the umlaut accent were used once but nowadays they are never used by Italians (with some very rare exceptions).
-Q - koo
-R - err-eh
+'''APOSTROPHE'''
-S - ess-eh
+The Italian language uses the apostrophe like French or English. It usually stands at the end of a word when some of the final letters are dropped for phonetic reasons.
-T - tee
+L'AQUILA -> "L' " stands for "LA" in front of words beginning with a vowel
-U - oo
+UN'OCA -> UN' stands for "UNA" in front of words beginning with a vowel
-V - voo
+UN PO' -> PO' stands for "POCO": this is a very common Italian expression which can be translated as "a little, a bit"
-Z - zed
+TUTT'ALTRO -> TUTT' stands for "TUTTO"
-===Practice===
+C'È -> C' stands for "CI": This expression means "there is"
-To practice the Italian alphabet, download an Italian alphabet chart and learn how to pronounce each letter correctly. Listen to Italian native speakers and try to match their pronunciation.
+== Conclusion ==
+Learning the Italian alphabet is an important and necessary first step in becoming proficient in Italian. The good news is that the Italian alphabet has a lot in common with English, which means that some letters are pronounced the same in both languages. While the accent marks and diacritics might seem challenging, once you understand their use and meaning, they will become second nature. In next lessons, we'll learn about nouns and articles, which will be the next step in communicating effectively in Italian. Have fun learning!
+<span class='maj'></span>
 ==Sources==
+* [https://www.thinkinitalian.com/the-italian-alphabet/ The Italian alphabet]
+* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_language Italian language - Wikipedia]
+* [https://www.learnita.net/italian-grammar-alphabet/ Italian Grammar lesson 1 - Alphabet]
+*https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/accento-grafico_(Enciclopedia-dell'Italiano)/
-* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_language Italian language]
-* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_alphabet Italian alphabet]
+<span link>Having concluded this lesson, consider checking out these related pages: [[Language/Italian/Grammar/Accent-mark-to-distinguish-a-word|Accent mark to distinguish a word]] & [[Language/Italian/Grammar/Imperfect-Tense|Imperfect Tense]].</span>
 {{#seo:
 |title=Italian Grammar - Italian Alphabet
-|keywords=Italian grammar, Italian alphabet, Italian language, vowels, consonants, pronunciation
+|keywords=Italian, Alphabet, Pronunciation, Diacritics, Accents, Italian Language
-|description=Understanding the Italian alphabet is the foundation any language learner needs to begin their journey to fluency. Learn the Italian alphabet pronunciation and more in this lesson.
+|description=Learning the Italian alphabet is a crucial element in becoming proficient in Italian. This lesson will teach you everything you need to know, including pronunciation, accents, and diacritics.
 }}
+==Videos==
+===Learn the Italian Alphabet: letters and sounds (Italian Pronunciation ...===
+<youtube>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF1nqgmXwew</youtube>
+===L'ALFABETO ITALIANO - Italian Alphabet & Phonetics - YouTube===
+<youtube>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1P50kb9G74</youtube>
+===Spelling the ITALIAN ALPHABET with CITY NAMES - YouTube===
+<youtube>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEUgx9-Qx4Q</youtube>
+===Learn Italian Alphabets Pronunciation With Examples - YouTube===
+<youtube>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMTEqtgBzZc</youtube>
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+<span links></span>
+<span pgnav>
+{| class="wikitable pg_template_nav"
+|[[Language/Italian/Grammar/Nouns-and-Articles|Next Lesson — Nouns and Articles ▶️]]
+|}
+</span>