Language/Italian/Grammar/Italian-Alphabet

Italian Grammar - Italian Alphabet and Pronunciation

ALPHABET AND PRONUNCIATION OF THE LETTERS

The Italian 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. Nowadays it is common to use the English alphabet instead of the Italian one since lots of commonly used words contain J, K, W, X and Y.

The modern Italian alphabet includes the following 26 letters:

Letter	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 conjugations of the verb "to have" 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/) (see the paragraph about consonant clusters for this sound) Aparte from all of the cases shown above, when 'i' comes before another vowel and is not stressed and inside the same syllable, 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 are 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" but without any expiration
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 /'kwa-le -- VACUA -> read /'va-kwa/ - QUESTO -> read /'kwe-sto/ -- INNOCUE -> read /i'n-nɔ-kwe/ - QUINDI -> read /'kwin-di/ -- TACCUINO -Z read /tak'-kwi-no/ - QUOTA -> read /'kwɔ-ta/ -- CUORE -> read /'kwɔ-re/
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 teeth; 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"); /s/ is also used between any consonant and a vowel, like in /lsa/, /nsi/, /pso/ etc. - /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 usually 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 can tell 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

Italian language loves geminated consonants. In fact every single vowel sound (except /z/) exists in short version (as an English would pronounce) and in long version. When You see a word that is spelled with a double consonant (-BB-, -DD-, -FF- -ZZ- etc.) that consonant must be pronounced longer, with more effort. In IPA longer sounds are usually written adding ":" after the consonant sounds (see the pronunciation of letter F, S, M, N etc.)

Some words can mean different things if spelled and pronounced with short consonants or with long ones, so missing a long consonants could make the conversation a bit difficult.

The general rule you may follow is: if you see a double consonant it must be pronounced longer.

Anyway here are some examples with all the letters and sounds:

• RUBA /'ruba/ --> he/she/it stoles - GOBBA /'gɔb:a/ --> humpback
• ROCA /'rɔka/ --> raspy (voice) - ROCCA /'rɔk:a/ --> little fortress
• VOCE /'votʃe/ --> voice - FACCIA /'fatʃ:a/ --> face
• SEDERE /se'dere/ --> to sit - ADDIO /ad'dio/ --> goodbye
• AFA /'afa/ --> sultryness (heat and humidity) - STAFFA /'staf:a/ --> bracket
• AGO /'ago/ --> needle - AGGUATO /ag'guato/ --> ambush
• AGIO /'adʒo/ --> ease - MAGGIO /'madʒ:o/ --> May
• ALA /'ala/ --> wing - ALLA /'al:a/ --> to the
• AMA /'ama/ --> he/she/it loves - MAMMA /'mam:a/ --> mum
• NONA /'nɔna/ --> ninth /(eminie singular) - NONNA /'nɔn:a/ --> grandma
• APERTO /a'pɛrto/ --> open - PIOPPO /'pjɔp:o/ --> poplar
• EQUO /'ɛkwo/ --> equal - SOQQUADRO /sok'kwadro/ --> mess
• ERE /'ɛre/ --> eras - ERRE /'ɛr:e/ ..> R (letter "R")
• DISEGNO /di'seɲo/ --> drawing - DISSE /'dis:e/ --> he/she/it said
• LATO /'lato/ --> side - LATTE /'lat:e/ --> milk
• ROVO /'rovo/ --> bush with thorns --> EVVIVA! /'ev'viva/ --> hurray! finally!

As for letter Z, whether its pronunciation is /ts/ or /dz/ and whether it is written once or twice, the correct way to say it is always long:

• RAZIONE /rat'tsjone/ --> ration, portion - PAZZO /'pats:o/ --> mad, crazy
• AZOTO /ad'dzoto --> nitrogen - AZZURRO /ad'dzur:o/

In Italian long consonants can be followed by half vowel sounds or consonants L or R, like in

• SABBIA /'sab:ja/ --> sand
• OCCHIO /'ɔk:jo/ --> eye
• OCCLUDERE /ok'kludere/ --> to occlude, block, close
• APPRESSO /ap'pres:o/ --> with oneself, close to oneself

The Italian sounds /ɲ/, /ʎ/, and /ʃ/ are always double and long as well, so they must be pronounced with strength.

• ASCIUTTO /a'ʃ:ut:o/ --> dry
• IGNOTO /i'ɲ:ɔto/ --> unknown
• FIGLIO /'fiʎ:o/ --> son

You can find some rare words full of geminated consonants, there is no pysical limit:

• APPALLOTTOLASSE /ap:al:ot:o'las:e/ --> he/she/it pelleted, balled, stuffed (in conjunctive mood)

CONSONANT CLUSTERS CREATING DIFFERENT SOUNDS

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.)

VOWEL CLUSTERS CREATING DIFFERENT SOUNDS

In Italian you can find clusters of vowels that should be considered diphthongs, triphthongs or hiatus.

A diphthong is a cluster of vowels inside the same syllable, in which one vowel is the core of the syllable and the other is pronounced slightly differently, most of the times as a half-vowel.

The Italian diphthongs divide themselves into two groups:

• ascending diphthongs: they are composed of I or U + all the other vowels; the I and the U are not stressed and are pronunced as half vowels while the following vowel is pronounced clearly as always, so IA /ja/, IE /je/ or /jɛ/, IO /jo/ or /jɔ/, IU /ju/ and UA /wa/, UE /we/ or /wɛ/, UI /wi/, UO /wo/ or /wɔ/ (sounds /ji/ (II as a diphthong) and /wu/ (UU as a diphthong) do not exist in Italian). These diphthongs are pronounced exactly like in English YEsterday, YAwn, YOrk or WHAtch, WHen, WHIle etc.(you could just imagine to actually replace the I with an English Y and U with an English W)
• discending diphthongs: these are dipthongs in which the clear and stressed vowel is the first one of the coupple while the following one is I or U. So we have AI /ai/, EI /ei/ or ɛi/, II /ii/, OI /oi/ or /ɔi/, UI /ui/ and AU /au/, EU /eu/ (IU, OU, UU with stress on the first vowel do not exist in Italian, while II with stress on the first "I" does exist in many indicative past simple conjugations!).

Italian also uses rare triphthongs combining the two rules or using more than one ascending diphthong. For example:

• triphthong made of ascending + discending diphthong: VUOI /vwɔi/, where we have ascending UO /wɔ/ + discending OI /oi/ (this means "you want")
• triphthong made of ascending + discending diphthong: GUAI /gwai/, where we have ascending UA /wa/ + discending AI /ai/ (this means "trouble")
• triphthong made of two ascending diphthongs: CONTINUIAMO /konti'nwjamo/, where we have ascending UI /wi/ and ascending IA /ja/ (this means "we continue")

Sometimes clusters of vowels must be pronounced separately and considered as the core of different syllables: in some cases this happens between vowels that by nature cannot make a diphthong, while in other occasions this happens even between vowels that could form a diphthong, so this could bring you to pronounce the word in a wrong way. This is called in anycase "hiatus". A hiatus is a suquence of vowel sounds each of which is the core of a different syllable.

• hiatus made between vowels that do not create a diphthong by nature: POETA /po'ɛta/, (it means "poet"). It syllabize as PO-E-TA
• hiatus made between vowels that do not create a diphthong by nature: AEREO /a'ɛɾeo/ (it means "airplain"); this word has two hiatuses, one between A and E and the other between E and O); it is syllabized as A-E-RE-O
• hiatus made between vowels that could make a diphthong: VIA /'via/, (it means "road, street, avenue"); it is syllabized as VI-A, with stress on letter "I"
• hiatus made between vowels that could make a diphthong: BAULE /ba'ule/, (it means "(trasure)chest, trunk"); it is syllabized as BA-U-LE, with stress on letter "U"

ATTENTION! a triphthong made first of a discending diphthong and then by an ascending one does not exist in Italian: the first vowel will be separated from the other two, making Vowel + ascending diphthong, like in MAIALE, where the vowel cluster -AIA- seems to be a discending diphthong /ai/ + an ascending diphthon /ja/, but it is actually considerded as vowel /a/ + diphthong /ja/.

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 accent is the correct one.

They are used:

- to distinguish homophone and monosyllabic 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 (these are called truncated or oxytone words); mandatory for correct spelling

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

- to mark 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 /'dʒi-a/ with a hiatus
• PIÙ -> the stress shows that the word is monosyllaboc and that is pronounced /pju/ and not /'pi-u/ with a hiatus
• GIÙ -> pronounced /dʒu/ and not /'dʒi-u/

- 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"

Very rarely the apostrophe is used at the beginning of a word to write with an informal or a regional inflection

'NA COSA -> 'NA stands for "UNA"

'STO RAGAZZO -> 'STO stands for "QUESTO"

STRESS

In the Italian language stress cannot always be guessed by diacritics like in Greek, Spanish or Portuguese. It does not even fall always on a specific syllable like in French (always on the last) or in Icelandic or Finnish (always on the first). Even if the tendence is to pronounce words with the stress on the last but one syllable, many commonly used words do not follow this rule. Plus, when a word ends with more than one vowel, it is always difficult to syllabize correctly so getting to now the "right stressed syllable" isn't useful. When learning Italian, I suggest you always mark in written form the stressed vowel and to repeat the new words you have learnt out loud once or twice.

According to the stress rule, plurisyllabic words can by divided into 4 types:

- Parole tronche (truncated or oxytone words): words where the stress falls on the last syllable like in English "re-WARD" (a graphic accent must always be written for correct spelling when the syllable ends with a vowel, that is to say almost always!)

• caf-fè, ve-ri-tà, po-trò, co-li-brì, bel-ze-bù

- Parole piane (flat or paroxytone words): words where the stress falls on the penultimate syllable like in English "MU-sic" (a graphic accent is not required for correct spelling)

• ca-de-re, pa-laz-zo, co-sto-so, a-pri-le, fiu-me

- Parole sdrucciole (proparoxytone words): words where the stress falls on the ante-penultimate syllable like in English "CI-ne-ma" (a graphic accent is not required for correct spelling unlike Castellano or Portuguese)

• de-bo-le, ca-vo-lo, for-bi-ce, bri-cio-la, nu-vo-la

- parole bisdrucciole: words with stress on the fourth syllable counting from the end. In fact the Italian language also has words where the stress falls way back towards the starting syllables and still having other three syllables after them. These words are almost always conjugated verbs, sometimes with pronouns attached in the end (a graphic accent is not required for correct spelling unlike Castellano or Portuguese). For example:

• me-ri-ta-no, dan-do-glie-lo, pro-vo-ca-no, mol-ti-pli-ca-no, cen-tu-pli-ca-no

As you can see, only troncated words require a graphic accent (acute or gave), but in the middle of a word accents are almost never written, so it is quite difficult to guess where the stress falls in Italian. Many words follow a specific pattern that repeats itself, so guessing the stress of some new words will be easier, but for many other it won't.

SYLLABIZING

The rules to syllabize correctly are very different from one language to the other and are strictly connected to pronunciation and spelling.

Let us start from how words are built in Italian.

Italian words are usually composed of an alternation of consonants and vowels ending almost always with a vowel, like BANANA (c-v-c-v-c-v), PAROLA (c-v-c-v-c-v)

They can also begin with a vowel and continuing with the alternation like EDERA (v-c-v-c-v), ANATEMA (v-c-v-c-v-c-v)

Sometimes you can find clusters from two to three consonants (very rarely a cluster of 4 consonants). They can be found at the beginning or in the middle of the word, like CREDERE (cc-v-c-v-c-v), STRADA (ccc-v-c-v) LABBRA (c-v-ccc-v), ATTRAVERSARE (v-ccc-v-c-v-cc-v-c-v) IGNOTO (v-cc-v-c-v) etc. INSTRADARE (v-cccc-v-c-v-c-v)

The last case you can find is a cluster of vowels (from two to three, very rarely four) that con behave in different ways: In fact when vowels are attached to one another they can form a diphthong, a triphthong or they can be pronounced separately forming a hiatus. This cannot be guessed from the writing and may be hard to hear when Italians speak so it must be learnt by heart most of the times, like AIUTARE (vvv-c-v-c-v), CIAO (c-vvv), POETA (c-vv-c-v), AIUOLE (vvvv-c-v).

In order to syllabyze corretly you should be quite good in pronouncing and understanding the language; anyway follow the rules below:

1. First step is recognizing vowels and consonants; Italian only has 5 vowels, A, E, I, O, U, while the other letters are all consonants
2. A consonant always needs a vowel after it so the most typical Italian syllable is made of consonant plus vowel, like BA, PE, SU, RI, CO, ZE etc.
3. A consonant can be followed only by one other consonant before its vowel, but only if it is L or R, like in BRA, PRE, CLO, FLU etc.
4. A consonant can be preceded only by letter S inside the same syllable like in STO, SLE, SFA, SBI etc.
5. the two rules above con be applied together, so we can find syllables like STRA, SFRE, SCLU etc.
6. The vowel core of the syllable can me made not only of just one vowel: if the vowel is a part of a dipthong or a triphthong, this will stick together inside the syllable, so we'll have syllables like PIA, /pja/ (rule 2 + ascending d.), CUI /kui/ (rule 2 + discending d.), VUOI /vwɔi/ (rule 2 + triphthong made of ascending + discending d.), PRIA /prja/ (rule 3 + ascending d.), VREI /vrɛi/ (rule 3 + discending d.), SCUO /skwɔ/ (rule 4 + ascending d.), SBRAI (rule 5 + discending d.) etc.. Unfortunately only pronunciation can clarify whether a group of vowels sounds like a diphthong/triphthong or a hiatus
7. A hiatus must always be separated, like in O-E, E-O, etc. and many vowel clusters that may look like a diphthong or a triphthong but which components are pronounced separately as different vowel cores
8. There are some special clusters of letters that cannot be separated since together they make a new different sound:
   1. CIA, CIE (rare), CIO, CIU /tʃa/, /tʃe/, /tʃo/, /tʃu/: I is needed to create sound /tʃ/ before hard vowels (and with E in some words) and cannot be separated from them
   2. GIA, GIE (rare), GIO, GIU /dʒa/, /dʒe/, /dʒo/, /dʒu/: same as before but considering sound /dʒ/ instead of /tʃ/
   3. SCIA, SCE, (SCIE rare), SCI, SCIO, SCIU /ʃa/ /ʃe/ /ʃi/ /ʃo/ /ʃu/: SC + I or E is the only way to write sound /ʃ/ in Italian, thus these letters cannot be separated
   4. GLIA, GLIE, GLI, GLIO, GLIU /ʎa/ /ʎe/ /ʎi/ /ʎo/ /ʎu/: GL + I (+ other vowel) is the only way to write sound /ʎ/ in Italian thus these letters cannot be separated
   5. GNA (GNIA rare), GNE, GNI, GNO, GNU /ɲa/ /ɲe/ /ɲi/ /ɲo/ /ɲu/: GN + vowel is the only way to write sound /ɲ/ in Italian, thus these letters cannot be separated
   6. PN and PS: these are clusters coming from Greek (only used in Italian for technical o scientific terms) and must not be separated
   7. ATTENTION! Even inside these clusters, exceptions can be found. Consider syllables CI, GI, SCI or GNI: they already make a syllable by themselves, but can also be followed by other vowels transforming letter I into a silent vowel; but smetimes the stress of a word can fall exactly on letter I, so a hiatus is born between it and the following vowel, making the syllable separate into two different vowel cores. For example: ENERGIA (meaning energy): the word is pronounced /e-ner-'dʒi-a/ making the I perfectly clear and audible, and the A separating into a new syllable; FARMACIA (meaning pharmacy, drug store): the word is pronounced /far-ma-'tʃi-a/ making the same effect as explained above; same goes for COMPAGNIA /kom-pa-'ɲi-a/
9. Any other group of letters must be separated: geminated consonants are very typical of the Italian language (B-B, D-D, G-G, F-F, Z-Z etc.: since they don't follow the above rules, they must always be separated; the same goes for any other combination like N-T, R-B, R-T, L-V and many others; thinking by exclusion may be the best way to syllabize
10. after you have found your consonant cluster and its vowel core, you can separate it from the letters before.

Examples where the stressed vowel is bold in order to help you with the correct pronunciation:

CREDERE: C needs the following E and accepts R between them, D needs the second E and R needs the third E; separate the groups from the letters before

• CRE - DE - RE

ASPRAMENTE: SPR is a cluster of three letters beginning with an S and ending with an R so they stick together and need a vowel after them, the second A; M needs the vowel after it, the first E; N and T don't like to be together so they separate making the N belonging with the previous syllable and T needing the vowel after, that is to say the second E; letter A stands by it self because SPRA is already good with its vowel core

• A - SPRA - MEN - TE

INFLORESCENZA: we have the cluster NFL, looking for a vowel core after it: as a consonant accepts L between itself and the vowel core, F accepts L and O, while N gets separated and stays behind; R looks for the first E; SCE is the typical syllable for sound /ʃe/ and cannot be separated; cluster NZ cannot stick toghere since the first is not an S and the second is nor L or R, so they get separated and N stays behind while Z looks for its vowel core, that is to say A

• IN - FLO - RE - SCEN - ZA

CONTI NUO: C looks for the first O; NT gets separated so N stays with CO, while T looks for I; N looks for the following vowel core which is an ascending diphthong /wo/ so they stay together

• CON - TI - NUO

PUOI: P looks for a vowel but finds three of them: this is a triphthong made of the ascending UO /wɔ/ and the discending OI /oi/ so it is a monosyllable

• PUOI

MAGIA: M looks for the following vowel A, G looks for the following vowel that seems to be part of a cluster of letters the makes sound /dʒa/: however the stress is exactly on I so this creates a hiatus between it and A and the two must be separated (G will only take I)

• MA - GI - A

CONCLUSIONS

Even if most Italians say that "you pronounce Italian exactly as you wirte it and viceversa", this isn't always true. Compared to other languages, like English or French, the spelling is more corrispondent to how the pronounciation is, but compared to others, like Finnish for example, Italian is less consistent. For example:

• we have 3 letters that are pronounced /k/, C, K, Q
• letter I is sometimes silent for different reasons
• letter H is always silent but must be used anyway in some words and for some sounds that don't have a specific letter
• stress cannot be guessed so easily, especially if your motherlanguage shares the same word but it is pronounced differently (compare English A-PRIL and Italian A-PRI-LE)
• S, Z, E and O have two prouncinations that change from city to city and from region to region according to dialect inflections
• Correct pronounced Italian (meaning Italian spoken without any dialect inflection) does exists but it is an artifical language spoken only by television presentators, radio speakers, voice actors, while common people, including every single Italian teacher, has a regional inflection, which can make the spelling harder to guess sometimes

However Italian people love to talk, usually try to understand foreigners even if their pronounciation is bad and this will allow You to be submerged by the language. Learning Italian is considered to be easy, but there are a few steps that you shouldn't consider while learning:

• Italian is a language that must be written and studied on books, not only spoken with friends: you should practice logical analysis now and then, because the Italian syntax is quite different from the English one and can be quite tricky sometimes
• pronouncing words out loud is a must: in Italian every single vowel (except the silent "I" according to the rules I explained in this file) must be pronounced clearly whether it is stressed or not; no vowel can become silent apart from "I"
• Listening to movies or animated cartoons in Italian is another activity you should definitely do: to polish your pronunciation and to take a breath from heavy regional accents you may listen to, watch a movie! Italian has a great tradition in voiceacting and almost every single movie and animated cartoon is doubled. You can easily have examples of correct pronunciation and translation (most of the times) about a Netflix show or a film you love. This will help you learning even better.

Have fun!

Sources

• The Italian alphabet
• Italian language - Wikipedia
• Italian Grammar lesson 1 - Alphabet
• https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/accento-grafico_(Enciclopedia-dell'Italiano)/
• https://accademiadellacrusca.it/it/consulenza/divisione-in-sillabe/302

Videos

Spelling the ITALIAN ALPHABET with CITY NAMES - YouTube

Table of Contents - Italian Course - 0 to A1

• Course Presentation

Introduction to Italian Language

• Italian Alphabet
• Nouns and Articles
• Present Tense of Regular Verbs
• Adjectives and Adverbs
• Present Tense of Irregular Verbs

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Daily Life Expressions

• Greetings and Introductions
• Foods and Drinks
• Transportation
• Numbers and Dates

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Italian Culture and Tradition

• Italian Regions and Cities
• Italian Cuisine and Wine
• Italian Art and Music
• Italian Festivals and Celebrations

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Past and Future Tenses

• Passato Prossimo
• Futuro Semplice
• Imperfect Tense
• Condizionale Presente

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Social and Work Life

• Family and Relationships
• Work and Employment
• Shopping and Services
• Tourism and Hospitality

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Italian Literature and Cinema

• Famous Italian Writers and Poets
• Italian Cinema Industry
• Italian Contemporary Art

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Subjunctive and Imperative Moods

• Present Subjunctive
• Imperative Form
• Simple Past Subjunctive
• Conditional Subjunctive

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Science and Technology

• Computer and Technology
• Science and Research
• Environment and Ecology

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Italian Politics and Society

• Contemporary Italian Politics
• Italian Society and Customs
• Religion and Believes

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Compound Tenses

• Trapassato Prossimo
• Trapassato Remoto
• Futuro Anteriore
• Congiuntivo Passato

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Arts and Design

• Fashion and Design
• Music and Performing Arts
• Visual Arts

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Italian Language and Dialects

• Italian Language Variations
• Italian Language in the World
• Italian Language as a Second Language

Next Lesson — Nouns and Articles ▶️