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Language/Italian/Grammar/Articles

2024-06-21T10:50:18Z

Davide93: /* CONCLUSIONS */

{{Italian-Page-Top}}
<div class="pg_page_title">DEFINITE, INDEFINITE AND PARTITIVE ARTICLES IN ITALIAN</div>

== WHAT'S AN ARTICLE ==
If you come from a language which does not use articles, these grammar elements could be quite difficult to understand.

An article is a word that marks a noun, giving the listener or the reader an important information about how specific or known this noun is, or, on the other hand, how general or unknown it is.

In fact, there are two main kinds of them: the definite articles, usually used to mark specific and known things, and the indefinite articles, usually used to mark general and unknown things. A third kind of articles is also used to mark a part or a certain amount of a thing, that is to say the partitive articles.

Articles are a variable part of the sentence and must be inflected according to gender and number. They are usually put immediately before the noun: sometimes (not so often really), an adjective or a very short little description can stand between the article and its noun.

However, not every noun should always be marked with an article: sometimes it must not be used.

Let us see how articles work in Italian.

== DEFINITE ARTICLES ==
Definite articles are called "Articoli determinativi" in Italian and are the most variable ones. They come from Latin demonstrative adjectives like "those" or "that" and have the purpose to mark specific and well known things. In fact a noun is usually preceded by a definite article:

* when we mean a precise speciment of a concept/noun
* when we mean something we've already desbribed before
* when the thing we are talking about is already well known by the listener
* when the listener or the reader is already able to visualize in his or her head the precise thing we are talking about

For example: if I say "MELA" (meaning "apple") any of us will get a picture of an apple on its mind: but what is it like? Big or small? Green or red? Can I give a context to this apple in some way? I will never be sure.

Saying "LA MELA" (where "LA" is an article and means "THE") means giving "a context" to "apple" which has to be obvious to the listener or the reader: in this case we have a precise image of "the" apple we are talking about, or we know the context in which this "apple" is considered. One of the most important role of a definite article is to bring the listener or the reader to think of a specific and contextualized thing, and not "one of the many possible specifiment of that concept".

You could almost imagine the definite articles to stand in place of a sentence like "the well known ..." or "the already mentioned..." or even "the one we've already talked about..." etc.

Definite articles are also used to mark the gender of a word and should always be used when learning a new one, not to forget its gender. In fact there are two genders for nouns in Italian and the same two genders for articles: a masculine noun needs a masculine article and a feminine noun needs a feminine article.

Plus, articles also mark the number of a noun, singular or plural: a singular noun needs a singular article, a plural noun needs a plural article.

So, if we could put all this information inside a table it would look like this:

{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="4" |''DEFINITE ARTICLES''
|-
| colspan="2" rowspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |'''NUMBER'''
|-
|'''Singular'''
|'''Plural'''
|-
| rowspan="2" |'''GENDER'''
|'''Masculine'''
|IL, LO
|I, GLI
|-
|'''Feminine'''
|LA
|LE
|}
So, masculine singular nouns get two masculine singular articles: "IL" or "LO"; masculine plural nouns get the plural masculine "I" or "GLI". Feminine singular nouns need the feminine article "LA", while feminine plural nouns need the feminine plural "LE".

As you can see, masculine nouns are a bit trickier than the feminine ones: while for the latter we just use one article per number, mascluine nouns can use two of them. What article should be used then?

'''MASCULINE ARTICLES'''

First of all it is important to remember that the Italian language does not have a neuter gender and that IL or LO and I or GLI are 100% masculine.

In order to choose the correct masculine article, we should start analyzing the sound the following word begins with. In fact certain sounds cannot stay with article IL and some others cannot stay with article LO.

Plus, notice I wrote "word" and not "noun": in fact, as an article usually stays right before its noun, we could think that a certain noun always requires the same article. However, if I put an adjective between the article and the noun (and in same cases it is correct to do that) I could find myself with a different sound right after the article, which could need to change in order to respect the rule of the sound I mentioned before.

Let us start from '''LO''':

LO must be used before:

* S + Consonant, like before sounds /sk/, /sp/, /st/, /sf/, /zg/, /zb/, /zd/, /sv/, /zm/, /zn/, /zl/, /zr/
* S + C when they create sound /ʃ/
* Z, whether it is pronounced /ts/ or /dz/
* GN /ɲ/
* P + Consonant like in /pt/, /pn/, /ps/: these case are very rare in Italian and come mostly from Greek
*Words beginning with X, pronounced like /ks/ (very rare in Italian)
*Words beginning with J, I or Y pronounced as a half vowel /j/ (like "Yesterday")
* Words beginning with a vowel: in which case LO turns into L' (L + apostrophe)

Let us make a few examples:

* LO SCOIATTOLO --> the squirrel (because we have /sk/)
* LO SQUALO --> the shark (because we have /sk/)
* LO SPORCO --> the dirt (because we have /sp/)
* LO SCIENZIATO --> the scientist (because we have /ʃ/)
* LO ZIO --> the uncle (because we have /ts/)
* LO ZUCCHERO --> the sugar (because we have /ts/)
* LO ZAINO --> the backpack /rucksack (because we have /dz/)
* LO GNOMO --> the gnome (because we have /ɲ/)
* LO PSICOLOGO --> the psychologist (because we have /ps/)
* LO PNEUMATICO --> the tire (because we have /pn/)
* LO IATO --> the hiatus (because we have /j/)
* LO YOGURT --> the yogurt (because we have /j/)
* LO XILOFONO --> the xylophone (because we have /ks/)
* L'ORSO --> the bear (because we have /o/)
* L'ALBERO --> the tree (because we have /a/)
* L'IDOLO --> the idol (because we have /i/)
* L'AIUTO --> the aid / help (because we have /a/)<br />
In any other case, the correct article is '''IL''':

* IL CANE --> the dog (because we have (ka/)
* IL GATTO --> the cat (because we have /ga/)
* IL PROBLEMA --> the problem (because we have /pr/)
* IL PORTONE --> the (big) door (because we have /po/)
* IL TUONO --> the thunder (because we have (twɔ/)
* IL BRACCIO --> the arm (because we have /br/)
* IL SUONO --> the sound (because we have /swɔ/)
* IL SILENZIO --> the silence (because we have /si/)

etc.

In order to better explain how the article isn't strictly connected to the noun, let me show you the following example:

IL CASO --> the case:

Since the word doesn't need the LO article, the right one is IL for exclusion. This noun is used inside the title of a famous book by Robert Louis Stevenson "The strange case of doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde". The Italian translation of this title is literal: "LO strano caso del dottor Jekyll e Mister Hyde". Even if saying "IL CASO" is correct since after the article we find the sound /ka/, once we put another word between article and noun we need to riconsider things: STRANO (meaning "strange") begins with /st/ and befor S + consonant we need to use article LO. Thus we say IL CASO (the case), but LO STRANO CASO (the strange case).

So don't make the mistake of thinking that one article is "more masculine" than the other, or even that one article is neuter and the other is masculine, since, as you could see, they are interchangeable in some occasions.

Letter H represents a special case. Since almost no word beginns with an H in Italian (except for some conjugations of the verb "to have" which is pointless to mark with an article), the words that have an H as first letter are usually loan words. Even if in their origin language the H is pronounced, in Italian they are considered as words with a silent H and beginning with the following letter, which usually is a vowel. Let us see these examples:

* HOBBY /'ɔb:i/
* HOTEL /o'tɛl/
* HORROR /'ɔr:or/
* HABITAT /'abitat/
* HABITUÉ /abitu'e/
* HARAKIRI /ara'kiri/
* HOST /'ɔst/
* HOTSPOT /ɔtspɔt/

All these words are now part of the Italian language and gained a masculine gender, but they are all mispronounced according to the Italian phonetics. If we needed to give an article to these words it would be L' (L + apostrophe), as if they all began with a vowel.

L'HOBBY, L'HOTEL, L'HORROR, L'HOST etc.

There is an exception, though, that happened relatively recently: the title of th movie "The Hobbit" by Peter Jackson was traslated with "LO HOBBIT". More and more people are making the effort of pronouncing the H in foreign words and are realising that is quite impossible to pronounce /l/ + an inspired /h/ at the beginning of a word, so they kept the "O" of LO to pronounce /lo'hɔb:it/. This is just an exception for now, though: the rules say you should use L' (apostrophe) before words starting with H + vowel.

For the plural masculine things couldn't be easier: in the place of every IL stands the plural "I", and in the place of any LO or L' (apostrophe) stands the plural "GLI". For example:

IL CANE --> I CANI (dog, dogs)

IL SUONO --> I SUONI (sound, sounds)

IL PROBLEMA --> I PROBLEMI (problem, problems)

LO ZAINO --> GLI ZAINI (backpack, backpacks)

LO SQUALO --> GLI SQUALI (shark, sharks)

L'HOBBY --> GLI HOBBY (hobby, hobbies)

etc.

The article IL always becomes I and the article LO (L') always becomes GLI.

Exceptions to this rule are very few. Some Italian words (called "parole promiscue"), due to their latin origin, change gender in plural form, passing from IL or LO (L') to LE. Remember that in this case the gender of the entire word change, so it could never keep a masculine plural article

L'UOVO --> LE UOVA ("the egg" is masculine in italian, but "the eggs" is feminine, due to its latin origin)

IL BRACCIO --> LE BRACCIA ("the arm" is masculine in italian, while "the arms" when considered as "human arms", and not those of a machine, are feminine, always due to its latin origin)

There is one noun that is highly irregular and behaves in a special way:

IL DIO --> GLI DEI (and not "i dei"; the god, the gods). The story of this word is as follow: DIO (meaning "god" was always preceded by article "IL" which was slowly incorporated by the noun, which became "IDDIO /id'dio/; the plural (irregular) form "DEI" (gods) thus became "IDDEI", which was preceded (following the phonetic rules above) by article "GLI"; GLI IDDEI then changed to GLI DEI due to the apheresis phomenon. Nowadays, due to this, we have this only exception.

'''FEMININE ARTICLES'''

Feminine articles are easier.

Once you know a word is feminine you should just use article "LA", which becomes L' (apostrophe) in front of words beginning with a vowel.

LA CASA (the house, home)

LA SPALLA (the shoulder)

LA SCIENZIATA (the female scientist)

LA ZIA (the aunt)

L'ONDA (the wave)

L'IDEA (the idea)

L'ALA (the wing)

L'ELICA (the propeller, rotor, blade of helicopter)

You don't need to consider the sounds that follow, but only to notice if the following word begins with a vowel.

As you may notice, both LO and LA become L' (apostrophe) in front of words beginning with a vowel. When you encounter a new word preceded by L' be sure to check for the gender of that word, because you could not guess it from the article.

For every singular LA we use the plural LE

LE CASE

LE SPALLE

LE SCIENZIATE

LE ZIE

LE ONDE

LE IDEE

LE ALI

LE ELICHE

Notice that LE always stays LE (it never gets the apostrophe) even in front of words beginning with another E): LE ELICHE is pronounced /le'ɛlike/

== INDEFINITE ARTICLES ==
Indefinite articles are the opposite of the definite articles: they mark a noun that is not well known to the reader or the listener and that is not contextualized. The perfect translation of these articles is "a, an, one". Let us use the same example used for the definite articles:

MELA (apple) can be preceded by the definite article LA (since "mela" is feminine in italian); saying LA MELA gives us the idea of a specific apple that we can picture in our head, or a contextualized apple that we can describe in some way; as I said we could replace "LA" with a sentence like "the well known", "the already mentioned", etc.

Let us use the indefinite article though; LA changes to UNA: UNA MELA (where "UNA" means "an").

If I say UNA MELA I mean "one of the many", "one at random", "it doesn matter which". The indefinite articles tell us not to focus on a specific sample of the concept we are talking about; the listener cannot describe the concept properly and cannot contextualize it, as he or she needs to recive more information from the speaker.

In Italian indefinite articles can be only singular and refer only to one generic and random sample of the concept we are talking about: so while we can turn a definite IL, LO or LA into an indefinite article, we cannot turn I, GLI, LE into one of them; for doing this we need the partitive articles which we'll see later.

For now let's learn the indefinite ones:

{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="3" |INDEFINITE ARTICLES
|-
| rowspan="2" |'''GENDER'''
|'''Masculine'''
|UN, UNO
|-
|'''Feminine'''
|UNA
|}
Once again we can see how the masculine gender is a bit more problematic than the feminine one. Masculine nouns can be preceded by two articles, while feminine nouns only by one. But don't worry: the rule you have to follow is always the same as before!
UN is the indefinite "brother" of IL, while UNO is the indefinite "brother" of LO

UNA is the indefinite "sister" of LA. So:

'''IL --> UN'''

IL CANE, UN CANE (the dog, a dog; the following nouns behave in the same way)

IL PORTONE, UN PORTONE

IL PROBLEMA, UN PROBLEMA

'''LO --> UNO'''

LO SCOIATTOLO, UNO SCOIATTOLO

LO ZIO, UNO ZIO

LO GNOMO, UNO GNOMO

'''LA --> UNA'''

LA CASA, UNA CASA

LA ZIA, UNA ZIA

LA SPALLA, UNA SPALLA

ATTENTION: remember how both LO and LA become L' (apostrophe) in front of words beginning with a vowel? As for the indefinite articles, only UNA becomes UN' (apostrophe) in front of words beginning with a vowel, while UNO becomes UN (without the apostrophe, since UN and UN' would be pronounced in the exact same way). So:

L'ALBERO, UN ALBERO (no apostrophe)

L'ORSO, UN ORSO (no apostrophe)

L'IDOLO, UN IDOLO (no apostrophe)

L'IDEA, UN'IDEA (with apostrophe)

L'ALA, UN'ALA (with apostrophe)

L'ELICA, UN'ELICA (with apostrophe)

NOTE: Italians usually forget to write the apostrophe for the feminine UN', but it is quite useful for guessing the gender of a word.

== PARTITIVE ARTICLES ==
Partitive articles are used to show a general and not well specified quantity of a concept, that cannot be contextualised properly by the listener or the reader.
These articles are formed with the help of the preposition DI + a definite article, which will be chosen always according to the sound rules I explained before. However the combination of DI + a definite article gives birth to a new word.

We have:

DI + IL --> DEL

DI + LO --> DELLO (DELL' in front of words beginning with a vowel)

D + LA --> DELLA (DELL' in front of words beginning with a vowel)

DI + I --> DEI

DI + GLI --> DEGLI

DI + LE --> DELLE

Partitive articles are used for both countable and uncountable nouns. For uncountable nouns we use the singular versions DEL, DELLO, DELLA, while for countable nouns we use the plural forms DEI, DEGLI , DELLE. In both cases the best translation for a partitive article is "some":

DEL TEMPO (since we say "IL TEMPO", we use DI + IL = DEL): some time

DELL'ACQUA: some water

DELLO SPORCO: some dirt

DELLE MELE: some apples

DELLE COSE: some things

DEGLI ORSI: some bears

DEI CANI: some dogs

From a certain point of view, plural partitive articles can be considered as the plural form of an indefinite article: in fact the English "a, an" could be replaced with "one" and UN, UNO, UNA, actually mean "one" too! While "some" usually stands in place of "more than one", like the plural form of "a, an".

I ate an apple / I ate some apples --> Ho mangiato una mela / ho mangiato delle mele

== HOW TO USE ARTICLES - A FEW RULES AND EXAMPLES ==
Even learning the theory sometimes is not enough and even if your mother language has articles, they are used differently in each language.

Using articles correctly in Italian is one of the most difficult thing to do. Just look at these few "rules":

'''POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES'''

Italian uses definite articles in front of possessive adjectives unlike English, Spanish or French, but like Portuguese:

IL MIO CANE --> my dog

LE MIE AMICHE --> my female friends

However we don't use them when we talk about relatives:

MIO ZIO --> my uncle

MIA SORELLA --> my sister

but only when singular, because when they are plural we need to use the article:

MIO ZIO / I MIEI ZII --> my uncle / my uncles

MIA SORELLA / LE MIE SORELLE --> my sister /my sisters

However, using the article even with singular relatives is possibile, but it gives a deep feeling of attachment, almost childish love

MIA MAMMA / LA MIA MAMMA --> my mum / my dear mum, my mummy

It maybe strange to hear for some of you, but we can also replace the definite articles with an indefinite or partitive articles meaning "a/some [s.t, or s.o.] of mine":

UN MIO COLLEGA --> a collegue of mine

UNA MIA PAURA --> a fear of mine

DELLE MIE SCARPE --> some shoes of mine

'''NATIONS AND CITIES'''

We use definite articles before every Nation with just a few exceptions

L'ITALIA --> Italy

LA FRANCIA --> France

LA TURCHIA --> Turky (Turkey)

However this is true when the Nation is subject or complement not introduced by preposition IN: in this case articles must not be used:

VIVO IN ITALIA --> I live in Italy (complement introduced by IN)

MI TRASFERISCO IN FRANCIA --> I'm moving to France (complement introduced by IN)

AMO L'ITALIA --> I love Italy (complement not introduced by IN)

However, some Nations are considered as plural nouns (like "the United States" or "the Philipines"): in these cases the article must always be used:

GLI STATI UNITI --> the United States

NEGLI STATI UNITI --> in the United States (NEGLI = IN + GLI)

LE FILIPPINE --> the Philipines

NELE FILIPPINE --> in the Philipines

Some Nations, as I said before, have no article at all and always appear without it:

ISRAELE --> Israel

IN ISRAELE --> in Israel

SAN MARINO --> San Marino

A SAN MARINO --> in San Marino

MALTA --> Malta

A MALTA --> in Malta

With cities we never use articles

PARIGI --> Paris

VIVO A PARIGI --> I live in Paris

Unless the city has an article inside the name like:

IL CAIRO --> Cairo

VIVO AL CAIRO --> I live in Cairo city ( AL = A + IL)

LA VELLA --> La Vella

VIVO ALLA VELLA --I live in La Vella

and unless you want to add information on the city with an adjunct:

LA PARIGI DEGLI ANNI VENTI --> Paris in the '20s

LA ROMA CHE NON HAI MAI VISTO --> The Rome you've never seen

'''TIME'''

The days of the week are preceded by the article only when we mean "every day"

ODIO IL LUNEDÌ --> i hate mondays

IL MARTEDÌ VADO IN PALESTRA --> I go to the gym every tuesday

But we don't use the article when the thing we are talking about is going to happen (or happened) only once on that precise day

CI VEDIAMO GIOVEDI' --> see you on thursday

SABATO SONO ANDATA AD UN CONCERTO --> I went to a concert on saturday

VENERDI' ABBIAMO UNA RIUNIONE --> we have a meeting planned for this friday

Months are never used with articles

ODIO OTTOBRE PERCHE' PIOVE SEMPRE --> I hate october because it's too rainy

A GENNAIO PARTO PER IL CANADA --> In January I'm going to Canada

Years, on the contrary, are always preceded by the article, unlike English

SIAMO NEL 2024 --> it's 2024 (NEL = IN + IL)

FORSE L'AMERICA FU SCOPERTA PRIMA DEL 1492 --> maybe America (notice the article L' !!) was discovered before 1492 (DEL = DI + IL)

IL 2001 E' STATO L'ANNO IN CUI E' NATO MIO FIGLIO --> 2001 was the year my son was born

We also use the article to tell the hour

SONO LE DUE --> it's two o'clock

CI VEDIAMO ALLE QUATTRO --> see you at 4 p.m (ALLE = A + LE)

To tell the day of the month we always use the article:

OGGI E' IL DUE (DI) APRILE --> today it's April the 2nd

L'HO VISTO IL 30 DI GIUGNO --> I saw it on June the 30th

'''GEOGRAPHY'''

Rivers, mountains, lakes, flat lands, archipelagos, sees are always preceded by an article

IL PO --> the Po river

SUL TAMIGI --> on the Thames

IL KILIMANGIARO --> Kilimanjaro

L'OUTBACK AUSTRALIANO --> the Australian Outback

NELL'OCEANO INDIANO --> in the Indian Ocean

AL LAGO MICHIGAN --> to Lake MIchigan (AL = A + IL)

ALLE CANARIE --> in the Canaries

However Islands tend to behave like Nations

LA SARDEGNA / IN SARDEGNA

LA SICILIA / IN SICILIA

LA TASMANIA / IN TASMANIA

But there are many exceptions

CAPRI / A CAPRI --> Capri /in Capri

ISCHIA / A ISCHIA --> Ischia /in Ischia

IL BORNEO / NEL BORNEO (or IN BORNEO) --> Borneo, in Borneo

'''WORDS AS SUBJECTS'''

Words used as subject can never appear without an article at the beginning of a sentence:

GLI UOMINI NON POTRANNO MAI CAPIRE --> Men will never understand

GLI ANIMALI SEGUONO L'ISTINTO --> Animals follow the instinct

LE COSE NON SI METTONO BENE --> things aren't looking good

L'AMORE E' COMPLICATO --> Love is complicated

Every language is full of situations and exceptions. Learning how to use articles in the correct way is all a matter of practice. I suggest you to read and to listen to a mother language as much as you can.
== COMPARISON BETWEEN DEFINITE, INDEFINITE AND PARTITIVE ARTICLES ==
Let us compare similar sentences using the three different kinds of articles:

HO MANGIATO '''UNA''' MELA --> I hate an apple

using UNA will inform the listener that we ate one apple at random, maybe to inform him or her that we ate something healthy or that our stomach is not empty.

HO MANGIATO '''LA''' MELA, HO MANGIATO '''LE''' MELE

using LA will inform the listener that we ate a precise apple known to him or her: imagine someone gave you an apple in the morning and then you ate it. If that person asks you "what have you eaten today?" you will probably answer like this. LA stands for "the one you know about, the one you gave me". If in this case we used UNA, the listener would probably get confused and ask us "did you eat the apple a gave you or another one?". Using LE delivers the same information but about more the one specific apple

HO MANGIATO '''DELLE''' MELE

using DELLE will inform the listener that we ate more than one apple at random. The listener doesn't know anything about these apples. It's up to us to let him or her know if we meant just to inform that we are not hungry anymore or if somthing else happended about these apples.

HO COMPRATO '''UNA''' MACCHINA USATA --> I bought a second-hand car

with this sentence I mean that I bought a car among many others I could buy: it's not important to focus on what car I bought, but that I can finally drive wherever I want on my own. The listener doesn't have a clue of what car it could be, or that I wanted to buy a used one.

HO COMPRATO '''LA''' MACCHINA USATA

with this sentence it is clear to the listener that I'm talking about "that car we've already talked about"; so the listener probably knows the brand, the colour, the engine type (diesel or gasoline) etc.

HO COMPRATO '''DELLE''' MACCHINE USATE

If I were a car re-seller, my job would would be to go searching for used cars around the Country or even abroad. If I had a collegue I could need to explain to him or her that I mangaged to "buy some used cars". The listener doesn't have a clue about what cars they are.

== CONCLUSIONS ==
In Italian articles are overused compared to the English language. Try listening to the Italian language as much as you can and learn with practice.

== SOURCES ==
https://accademiadellacrusca.it/it/consulenza/guida-alla-scelta-dellarticolo/63

Language/Italian/Grammar/Articles

2024-06-21T10:45:51Z

Davide93: /* CONCLUSIONI */

Language/Italian/Grammar/Articles

2024-06-21T10:44:56Z

Davide93: /* CONCLUSIONI */

{{Italian-Page-Top}}
<div class="pg_page_title">DEFINITE, INDEFINITE AND PARTITIVE ARTICLES IN ITALIAN</div>

== WHAT'S AN ARTICLE ==
If you come from a language which does not use articles, these grammar elements could be quite difficult to understand.

An article is a word that marks a noun, giving the listener or the reader an important information about how specific or known this noun is, or, on the other hand, how general or unknown it is.

In fact, there are two main kinds of them: the definite articles, usually used to mark specific and known things, and the indefinite articles, usually used to mark general and unknown things. A third kind of articles is also used to mark a part or a certain amount of a thing, that is to say the partitive articles.

Articles are a variable part of the sentence and must be inflected according to gender and number. They are usually put immediately before the noun: sometimes (not so often really), an adjective or a very short little description can stand between the article and its noun.

However, not every noun should always be marked with an article: sometimes it must not be used.

Let us see how articles work in Italian.

== DEFINITE ARTICLES ==
Definite articles are called "Articoli determinativi" in Italian and are the most variable ones. They come from Latin demonstrative adjectives like "those" or "that" and have the purpose to mark specific and well known things. In fact a noun is usually preceded by a definite article:

* when we mean a precise speciment of a concept/noun
* when we mean something we've already desbribed before
* when the thing we are talking about is already well known by the listener
* when the listener or the reader is already able to visualize in his or her head the precise thing we are talking about

For example: if I say "MELA" (meaning "apple") any of us will get a picture of an apple on its mind: but what is it like? Big or small? Green or red? Can I give a context to this apple in some way? I will never be sure.

Saying "LA MELA" (where "LA" is an article and means "THE") means giving "a context" to "apple" which has to be obvious to the listener or the reader: in this case we have a precise image of "the" apple we are talking about, or we know the context in which this "apple" is considered. One of the most important role of a definite article is to bring the listener or the reader to think of a specific and contextualized thing, and not "one of the many possible specifiment of that concept".

You could almost imagine the definite articles to stand in place of a sentence like "the well known ..." or "the already mentioned..." or even "the one we've already talked about..." etc.

Definite articles are also used to mark the gender of a word and should always be used when learning a new one, not to forget its gender. In fact there are two genders for nouns in Italian and the same two genders for articles: a masculine noun needs a masculine article and a feminine noun needs a feminine article.

Plus, articles also mark the number of a noun, singular or plural: a singular noun needs a singular article, a plural noun needs a plural article.

So, if we could put all this information inside a table it would look like this:

{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="4" |''DEFINITE ARTICLES''
|-
| colspan="2" rowspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |'''NUMBER'''
|-
|'''Singular'''
|'''Plural'''
|-
| rowspan="2" |'''GENDER'''
|'''Masculine'''
|IL, LO
|I, GLI
|-
|'''Feminine'''
|LA
|LE
|}
So, masculine singular nouns get two masculine singular articles: "IL" or "LO"; masculine plural nouns get the plural masculine "I" or "GLI". Feminine singular nouns need the feminine article "LA", while feminine plural nouns need the feminine plural "LE".

As you can see, masculine nouns are a bit trickier than the feminine ones: while for the latter we just use one article per number, mascluine nouns can use two of them. What article should be used then?

'''MASCULINE ARTICLES'''

First of all it is important to remember that the Italian language does not have a neuter gender and that IL or LO and I or GLI are 100% masculine.

In order to choose the correct masculine article, we should start analyzing the sound the following word begins with. In fact certain sounds cannot stay with article IL and some others cannot stay with article LO.

Plus, notice I wrote "word" and not "noun": in fact, as an article usually stays right before its noun, we could think that a certain noun always requires the same article. However, if I put an adjective between the article and the noun (and in same cases it is correct to do that) I could find myself with a different sound right after the article, which could need to change in order to respect the rule of the sound I mentioned before.

Let us start from '''LO''':

LO must be used before:

* S + Consonant, like before sounds /sk/, /sp/, /st/, /sf/, /zg/, /zb/, /zd/, /sv/, /zm/, /zn/, /zl/, /zr/
* S + C when they create sound /ʃ/
* Z, whether it is pronounced /ts/ or /dz/
* GN /ɲ/
* P + Consonant like in /pt/, /pn/, /ps/: these case are very rare in Italian and come mostly from Greek
*Words beginning with X, pronounced like /ks/ (very rare in Italian)
*Words beginning with J, I or Y pronounced as a half vowel /j/ (like "Yesterday")
* Words beginning with a vowel: in which case LO turns into L' (L + apostrophe)

Let us make a few examples:

* LO SCOIATTOLO --> the squirrel (because we have /sk/)
* LO SQUALO --> the shark (because we have /sk/)
* LO SPORCO --> the dirt (because we have /sp/)
* LO SCIENZIATO --> the scientist (because we have /ʃ/)
* LO ZIO --> the uncle (because we have /ts/)
* LO ZUCCHERO --> the sugar (because we have /ts/)
* LO ZAINO --> the backpack /rucksack (because we have /dz/)
* LO GNOMO --> the gnome (because we have /ɲ/)
* LO PSICOLOGO --> the psychologist (because we have /ps/)
* LO PNEUMATICO --> the tire (because we have /pn/)
* LO IATO --> the hiatus (because we have /j/)
* LO YOGURT --> the yogurt (because we have /j/)
* LO XILOFONO --> the xylophone (because we have /ks/)
* L'ORSO --> the bear (because we have /o/)
* L'ALBERO --> the tree (because we have /a/)
* L'IDOLO --> the idol (because we have /i/)
* L'AIUTO --> the aid / help (because we have /a/)<br />
In any other case, the correct article is '''IL''':

* IL CANE --> the dog (because we have (ka/)
* IL GATTO --> the cat (because we have /ga/)
* IL PROBLEMA --> the problem (because we have /pr/)
* IL PORTONE --> the (big) door (because we have /po/)
* IL TUONO --> the thunder (because we have (twɔ/)
* IL BRACCIO --> the arm (because we have /br/)
* IL SUONO --> the sound (because we have /swɔ/)
* IL SILENZIO --> the silence (because we have /si/)

etc.

In order to better explain how the article isn't strictly connected to the noun, let me show you the following example:

IL CASO --> the case:

Since the word doesn't need the LO article, the right one is IL for exclusion. This noun is used inside the title of a famous book by Robert Louis Stevenson "The strange case of doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde". The Italian translation of this title is literal: "LO strano caso del dottor Jekyll e Mister Hyde". Even if saying "IL CASO" is correct since after the article we find the sound /ka/, once we put another word between article and noun we need to riconsider things: STRANO (meaning "strange") begins with /st/ and befor S + consonant we need to use article LO. Thus we say IL CASO (the case), but LO STRANO CASO (the strange case).

So don't make the mistake of thinking that one article is "more masculine" than the other, or even that one article is neuter and the other is masculine, since, as you could see, they are interchangeable in some occasions.

Letter H represents a special case. Since almost no word beginns with an H in Italian (except for some conjugations of the verb "to have" which is pointless to mark with an article), the words that have an H as first letter are usually loan words. Even if in their origin language the H is pronounced, in Italian they are considered as words with a silent H and beginning with the following letter, which usually is a vowel. Let us see these examples:

* HOBBY /'ɔb:i/
* HOTEL /o'tɛl/
* HORROR /'ɔr:or/
* HABITAT /'abitat/
* HABITUÉ /abitu'e/
* HARAKIRI /ara'kiri/
* HOST /'ɔst/
* HOTSPOT /ɔtspɔt/

All these words are now part of the Italian language and gained a masculine gender, but they are all mispronounced according to the Italian phonetics. If we needed to give an article to these words it would be L' (L + apostrophe), as if they all began with a vowel.

L'HOBBY, L'HOTEL, L'HORROR, L'HOST etc.

There is an exception, though, that happened relatively recently: the title of th movie "The Hobbit" by Peter Jackson was traslated with "LO HOBBIT". More and more people are making the effort of pronouncing the H in foreign words and are realising that is quite impossible to pronounce /l/ + an inspired /h/ at the beginning of a word, so they kept the "O" of LO to pronounce /lo'hɔb:it/. This is just an exception for now, though: the rules say you should use L' (apostrophe) before words starting with H + vowel.

For the plural masculine things couldn't be easier: in the place of every IL stands the plural "I", and in the place of any LO or L' (apostrophe) stands the plural "GLI". For example:

IL CANE --> I CANI (dog, dogs)

IL SUONO --> I SUONI (sound, sounds)

IL PROBLEMA --> I PROBLEMI (problem, problems)

LO ZAINO --> GLI ZAINI (backpack, backpacks)

LO SQUALO --> GLI SQUALI (shark, sharks)

L'HOBBY --> GLI HOBBY (hobby, hobbies)

etc.

The article IL always becomes I and the article LO (L') always becomes GLI.

Exceptions to this rule are very few. Some Italian words (called "parole promiscue"), due to their latin origin, change gender in plural form, passing from IL or LO (L') to LE. Remember that in this case the gender of the entire word change, so it could never keep a masculine plural article

L'UOVO --> LE UOVA ("the egg" is masculine in italian, but "the eggs" is feminine, due to its latin origin)

IL BRACCIO --> LE BRACCIA ("the arm" is masculine in italian, while "the arms" when considered as "human arms", and not those of a machine, are feminine, always due to its latin origin)

There is one noun that is highly irregular and behaves in a special way:

IL DIO --> GLI DEI (and not "i dei"; the god, the gods). The story of this word is as follow: DIO (meaning "god" was always preceded by article "IL" which was slowly incorporated by the noun, which became "IDDIO /id'dio/; the plural (irregular) form "DEI" (gods) thus became "IDDEI", which was preceded (following the phonetic rules above) by article "GLI"; GLI IDDEI then changed to GLI DEI due to the apheresis phomenon. Nowadays, due to this, we have this only exception.

'''FEMININE ARTICLES'''

Feminine articles are easier.

Once you know a word is feminine you should just use article "LA", which becomes L' (apostrophe) in front of words beginning with a vowel.

LA CASA (the house, home)

LA SPALLA (the shoulder)

LA SCIENZIATA (the female scientist)

LA ZIA (the aunt)

L'ONDA (the wave)

L'IDEA (the idea)

L'ALA (the wing)

L'ELICA (the propeller, rotor, blade of helicopter)

You don't need to consider the sounds that follow, but only to notice if the following word begins with a vowel.

As you may notice, both LO and LA become L' (apostrophe) in front of words beginning with a vowel. When you encounter a new word preceded by L' be sure to check for the gender of that word, because you could not guess it from the article.

For every singular LA we use the plural LE

LE CASE

LE SPALLE

LE SCIENZIATE

LE ZIE

LE ONDE

LE IDEE

LE ALI

LE ELICHE

Notice that LE always stays LE (it never gets the apostrophe) even in front of words beginning with another E): LE ELICHE is pronounced /le'ɛlike/

== INDEFINITE ARTICLES ==
Indefinite articles are the opposite of the definite articles: they mark a noun that is not well known to the reader or the listener and that is not contextualized. The perfect translation of these articles is "a, an, one". Let us use the same example used for the definite articles:

MELA (apple) can be preceded by the definite article LA (since "mela" is feminine in italian); saying LA MELA gives us the idea of a specific apple that we can picture in our head, or a contextualized apple that we can describe in some way; as I said we could replace "LA" with a sentence like "the well known", "the already mentioned", etc.

Let us use the indefinite article though; LA changes to UNA: UNA MELA (where "UNA" means "an").

If I say UNA MELA I mean "one of the many", "one at random", "it doesn matter which". The indefinite articles tell us not to focus on a specific sample of the concept we are talking about; the listener cannot describe the concept properly and cannot contextualize it, as he or she needs to recive more information from the speaker.

In Italian indefinite articles can be only singular and refer only to one generic and random sample of the concept we are talking about: so while we can turn a definite IL, LO or LA into an indefinite article, we cannot turn I, GLI, LE into one of them; for doing this we need the partitive articles which we'll see later.

For now let's learn the indefinite ones:

{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="3" |INDEFINITE ARTICLES
|-
| rowspan="2" |'''GENDER'''
|'''Masculine'''
|UN, UNO
|-
|'''Feminine'''
|UNA
|}
Once again we can see how the masculine gender is a bit more problematic than the feminine one. Masculine nouns can be preceded by two articles, while feminine nouns only by one. But don't worry: the rule you have to follow is always the same as before!
UN is the indefinite "brother" of IL, while UNO is the indefinite "brother" of LO

UNA is the indefinite "sister" of LA. So:

'''IL --> UN'''

IL CANE, UN CANE (the dog, a dog; the following nouns behave in the same way)

IL PORTONE, UN PORTONE

IL PROBLEMA, UN PROBLEMA

'''LO --> UNO'''

LO SCOIATTOLO, UNO SCOIATTOLO

LO ZIO, UNO ZIO

LO GNOMO, UNO GNOMO

'''LA --> UNA'''

LA CASA, UNA CASA

LA ZIA, UNA ZIA

LA SPALLA, UNA SPALLA

ATTENTION: remember how both LO and LA become L' (apostrophe) in front of words beginning with a vowel? As for the indefinite articles, only UNA becomes UN' (apostrophe) in front of words beginning with a vowel, while UNO becomes UN (without the apostrophe, since UN and UN' would be pronounced in the exact same way). So:

L'ALBERO, UN ALBERO (no apostrophe)

L'ORSO, UN ORSO (no apostrophe)

L'IDOLO, UN IDOLO (no apostrophe)

L'IDEA, UN'IDEA (with apostrophe)

L'ALA, UN'ALA (with apostrophe)

L'ELICA, UN'ELICA (with apostrophe)

NOTE: Italians usually forget to write the apostrophe for the feminine UN', but it is quite useful for guessing the gender of a word.

== PARTITIVE ARTICLES ==
Partitive articles are used to show a general and not well specified quantity of a concept, that cannot be contextualised properly by the listener or the reader.
These articles are formed with the help of the preposition DI + a definite article, which will be chosen always according to the sound rules I explained before. However the combination of DI + a definite article gives birth to a new word.

We have:

DI + IL --> DEL

DI + LO --> DELLO (DELL' in front of words beginning with a vowel)

D + LA --> DELLA (DELL' in front of words beginning with a vowel)

DI + I --> DEI

DI + GLI --> DEGLI

DI + LE --> DELLE

Partitive articles are used for both countable and uncountable nouns. For uncountable nouns we use the singular versions DEL, DELLO, DELLA, while for countable nouns we use the plural forms DEI, DEGLI , DELLE. In both cases the best translation for a partitive article is "some":

DEL TEMPO (since we say "IL TEMPO", we use DI + IL = DEL): some time

DELL'ACQUA: some water

DELLO SPORCO: some dirt

DELLE MELE: some apples

DELLE COSE: some things

DEGLI ORSI: some bears

DEI CANI: some dogs

From a certain point of view, plural partitive articles can be considered as the plural form of an indefinite article: in fact the English "a, an" could be replaced with "one" and UN, UNO, UNA, actually mean "one" too! While "some" usually stands in place of "more than one", like the plural form of "a, an".

I ate an apple / I ate some apples --> Ho mangiato una mela / ho mangiato delle mele

== HOW TO USE ARTICLES - A FEW RULES AND EXAMPLES ==
Even learning the theory sometimes is not enough and even if your mother language has articles, they are used differently in each language.

Using articles correctly in Italian is one of the most difficult thing to do. Just look at these few "rules":

'''POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES'''

Italian uses definite articles in front of possessive adjectives unlike English, Spanish or French, but like Portuguese:

IL MIO CANE --> my dog

LE MIE AMICHE --> my female friends

However we don't use them when we talk about relatives:

MIO ZIO --> my uncle

MIA SORELLA --> my sister

but only when singular, because when they are plural we need to use the article:

MIO ZIO / I MIEI ZII --> my uncle / my uncles

MIA SORELLA / LE MIE SORELLE --> my sister /my sisters

However, using the article even with singular relatives is possibile, but it gives a deep feeling of attachment, almost childish love

MIA MAMMA / LA MIA MAMMA --> my mum / my dear mum, my mummy

It maybe strange to hear for some of you, but we can also replace the definite articles with an indefinite or partitive articles meaning "a/some [s.t, or s.o.] of mine":

UN MIO COLLEGA --> a collegue of mine

UNA MIA PAURA --> a fear of mine

DELLE MIE SCARPE --> some shoes of mine

'''NATIONS AND CITIES'''

We use definite articles before every Nation with just a few exceptions

L'ITALIA --> Italy

LA FRANCIA --> France

LA TURCHIA --> Turky (Turkey)

However this is true when the Nation is subject or complement not introduced by preposition IN: in this case articles must not be used:

VIVO IN ITALIA --> I live in Italy (complement introduced by IN)

MI TRASFERISCO IN FRANCIA --> I'm moving to France (complement introduced by IN)

AMO L'ITALIA --> I love Italy (complement not introduced by IN)

However, some Nations are considered as plural nouns (like "the United States" or "the Philipines"): in these cases the article must always be used:

GLI STATI UNITI --> the United States

NEGLI STATI UNITI --> in the United States (NEGLI = IN + GLI)

LE FILIPPINE --> the Philipines

NELE FILIPPINE --> in the Philipines

Some Nations, as I said before, have no article at all and always appear without it:

ISRAELE --> Israel

IN ISRAELE --> in Israel

SAN MARINO --> San Marino

A SAN MARINO --> in San Marino

MALTA --> Malta

A MALTA --> in Malta

With cities we never use articles

PARIGI --> Paris

VIVO A PARIGI --> I live in Paris

Unless the city has an article inside the name like:

IL CAIRO --> Cairo

VIVO AL CAIRO --> I live in Cairo city ( AL = A + IL)

LA VELLA --> La Vella

VIVO ALLA VELLA --I live in La Vella

and unless you want to add information on the city with an adjunct:

LA PARIGI DEGLI ANNI VENTI --> Paris in the '20s

LA ROMA CHE NON HAI MAI VISTO --> The Rome you've never seen

'''TIME'''

The days of the week are preceded by the article only when we mean "every day"

ODIO IL LUNEDÌ --> i hate mondays

IL MARTEDÌ VADO IN PALESTRA --> I go to the gym every tuesday

But we don't use the article when the thing we are talking about is going to happen (or happened) only once on that precise day

CI VEDIAMO GIOVEDI' --> see you on thursday

SABATO SONO ANDATA AD UN CONCERTO --> I went to a concert on saturday

VENERDI' ABBIAMO UNA RIUNIONE --> we have a meeting planned for this friday

Months are never used with articles

ODIO OTTOBRE PERCHE' PIOVE SEMPRE --> I hate october because it's too rainy

A GENNAIO PARTO PER IL CANADA --> In January I'm going to Canada

Years, on the contrary, are always preceded by the article, unlike English

SIAMO NEL 2024 --> it's 2024 (NEL = IN + IL)

FORSE L'AMERICA FU SCOPERTA PRIMA DEL 1492 --> maybe America (notice the article L' !!) was discovered before 1492 (DEL = DI + IL)

IL 2001 E' STATO L'ANNO IN CUI E' NATO MIO FIGLIO --> 2001 was the year my son was born

We also use the article to tell the hour

SONO LE DUE --> it's two o'clock

CI VEDIAMO ALLE QUATTRO --> see you at 4 p.m (ALLE = A + LE)

To tell the day of the month we always use the article:

OGGI E' IL DUE (DI) APRILE --> today it's April the 2nd

L'HO VISTO IL 30 DI GIUGNO --> I saw it on June the 30th

'''GEOGRAPHY'''

Rivers, mountains, lakes, flat lands, archipelagos, sees are always preceded by an article

IL PO --> the Po river

SUL TAMIGI --> on the Thames

IL KILIMANGIARO --> Kilimanjaro

L'OUTBACK AUSTRALIANO --> the Australian Outback

NELL'OCEANO INDIANO --> in the Indian Ocean

AL LAGO MICHIGAN --> to Lake MIchigan (AL = A + IL)

ALLE CANARIE --> in the Canaries

However Islands tend to behave like Nations

LA SARDEGNA / IN SARDEGNA

LA SICILIA / IN SICILIA

LA TASMANIA / IN TASMANIA

But there are many exceptions

CAPRI / A CAPRI --> Capri /in Capri

ISCHIA / A ISCHIA --> Ischia /in Ischia

IL BORNEO / NEL BORNEO (or IN BORNEO) --> Borneo, in Borneo

'''WORDS AS SUBJECTS'''

Words used as subject can never appear without an article at the beginning of a sentence:

GLI UOMINI NON POTRANNO MAI CAPIRE --> Men will never understand

GLI ANIMALI SEGUONO L'ISTINTO --> Animals follow the instinct

LE COSE NON SI METTONO BENE --> things aren't looking good

L'AMORE E' COMPLICATO --> Love is complicated

Every language is full of situations and exceptions. Learning how to use articles in the correct way is all a matter of practice. I suggest you to read and to listen to a mother language as much as you can.
== COMPARISON BETWEEN DEFINITE, INDEFINITE AND PARTITIVE ARTICLES ==
Let us compare similar sentences using the three different kinds of articles:

HO MANGIATO '''UNA''' MELA --> I hate an apple

using UNA will inform the listener that we ate one apple at random, maybe to inform him or her that we ate something healthy or that our stomach is not empty.

HO MANGIATO '''LA''' MELA, HO MANGIATO '''LE''' MELE

using LA will inform the listener that we ate a precise apple known to him or her: imagine someone gave you an apple in the morning and then you ate it. If that person asks you "what have you eaten today?" you will probably answer like this. LA stands for "the one you know about, the one you gave me". If in this case we used UNA, the listener would probably get confused and ask us "did you eat the apple a gave you or another one?". Using LE delivers the same information but about more the one specific apple

HO MANGIATO '''DELLE''' MELE

using DELLE will inform the listener that we ate more than one apple at random. The listener doesn't know anything about these apples. It's up to us to let him or her know if we meant just to inform that we are not hungry anymore or if somthing else happended about these apples.

HO COMPRATO '''UNA''' MACCHINA USATA --> I bought a second-hand car

with this sentence I mean that I bought a car among many others I could buy: it's not important to focus on what car I bought, but that I can finally drive wherever I want on my own. The listener doesn't have a clue of what car it could be, or that I wanted to buy a used one.

HO COMPRATO '''LA''' MACCHINA USATA

with this sentence it is clear to the listener that I'm talking about "that car we've already talked about"; so the listener probably knows the brand, the colour, the engine type (diesel or gasoline) etc.

HO COMPRATO '''DELLE''' MACCHINE USATE

If I were a car re-seller, my job would would be to go searching for used cars around the Country or even abroad. If I had a collegue I could need to explain to him or her that I mangaged to "buy some used cars". The listener doesn't have a clue about what cars they are.

== CONCLUSIONI ==
In Italian articles are overused compared to the English language. Try listening to the Italian language as much as you can and learn with practice.

Language/Italian/Grammar/Articles

2024-06-09T20:40:15Z

Davide93: /* DEFINITE ARTICLES */

{{Italian-Page-Top}}
<div class="pg_page_title">DEFINITE, INDEFINITE AND PARTITIVE ARTICLES IN ITALIAN</div>

== WHAT'S AN ARTICLE ==
If you come from a language which does not use articles, these grammar elements could be quite difficult to understand.

An article is a word that marks a noun, giving the listener or the reader an important information about how specific or known this noun is, or, on the other hand, how general or unknown it is.

In fact, there are two main kinds of them: the definite articles, usually used to mark specific and known things, and the indefinite articles, usually used to mark general and unknown things. A third kind of articles is also used to mark a part or a certain amount of a thing, that is to say the partitive articles.

Articles are a variable part of the sentence and must be inflected according to gender and number. They are usually put immediately before the noun: sometimes (not so often really), an adjective or a very short little description can stand between the article and its noun.

However, not every noun should always be marked with an article: sometimes it must not be used.

Let us see how articles work in Italian.

== DEFINITE ARTICLES ==
Definite articles are called "Articoli determinativi" in Italian and are the most variable ones. They come from Latin demonstrative adjectives like "those" or "that" and have the purpose to mark specific and well known things. In fact a noun is usually preceded by a definite article:

* when we mean a precise speciment of a concept/noun
* when we mean something we've already desbribed before
* when the thing we are talking about is already well known by the listener
* when the listener or the reader is already able to visualize in his or her head the precise thing we are talking about

For example: if I say "MELA" (meaning "apple") any of us will get a picture of an apple on its mind: but what is it like? Big or small? Green or red? Can I give a context to this apple in some way? I will never be sure.

Saying "LA MELA" (where "LA" is an article and means "THE") means giving "a context" to "apple" which has to be obvious to the listener or the reader: in this case we have a precise image of "the" apple we are talking about, or we know the context in which this "apple" is considered. One of the most important role of a definite article is to bring the listener or the reader to think of a specific and contextualized thing, and not "one of the many possible specifiment of that concept".

You could almost imagine the definite articles to stand in place of a sentence like "the well known ..." or "the already mentioned..." or even "the one we've already talked about..." etc.

Definite articles are also used to mark the gender of a word and should always be used when learning a new one, not to forget its gender. In fact there are two genders for nouns in Italian and the same two genders for articles: a masculine noun needs a masculine article and a feminine noun needs a feminine article.

Plus, articles also mark the number of a noun, singular or plural: a singular noun needs a singular article, a plural noun needs a plural article.

So, if we could put all this information inside a table it would look like this:

{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="4" |''DEFINITE ARTICLES''
|-
| colspan="2" rowspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |'''NUMBER'''
|-
|'''Singular'''
|'''Plural'''
|-
| rowspan="2" |'''GENDER'''
|'''Masculine'''
|IL, LO
|I, GLI
|-
|'''Feminine'''
|LA
|LE
|}
So, masculine singular nouns get two masculine singular articles: "IL" or "LO"; masculine plural nouns get the plural masculine "I" or "GLI". Feminine singular nouns need the feminine article "LA", while feminine plural nouns need the feminine plural "LE".

As you can see, masculine nouns are a bit trickier than the feminine ones: while for the latter we just use one article per number, mascluine nouns can use two of them. What article should be used then?

'''MASCULINE ARTICLES'''

First of all it is important to remember that the Italian language does not have a neuter gender and that IL or LO and I or GLI are 100% masculine.

In order to choose the correct masculine article, we should start analyzing the sound the following word begins with. In fact certain sounds cannot stay with article IL and some others cannot stay with article LO.

Plus, notice I wrote "word" and not "noun": in fact, as an article usually stays right before its noun, we could think that a certain noun always requires the same article. However, if I put an adjective between the article and the noun (and in same cases it is correct to do that) I could find myself with a different sound right after the article, which could need to change in order to respect the rule of the sound I mentioned before.

Let us start from '''LO''':

LO must be used before:

* S + Consonant, like before sounds /sk/, /sp/, /st/, /sf/, /zg/, /zb/, /zd/, /sv/, /zm/, /zn/, /zl/, /zr/
* S + C when they create sound /ʃ/
* Z, whether it is pronounced /ts/ or /dz/
* GN /ɲ/
* P + Consonant like in /pt/, /pn/, /ps/: these case are very rare in Italian and come mostly from Greek
*Words beginning with X, pronounced like /ks/ (very rare in Italian)
*Words beginning with J, I or Y pronounced as a half vowel /j/ (like "Yesterday")
* Words beginning with a vowel: in which case LO turns into L' (L + apostrophe)

Let us make a few examples:

* LO SCOIATTOLO --> the squirrel (because we have /sk/)
* LO SQUALO --> the shark (because we have /sk/)
* LO SPORCO --> the dirt (because we have /sp/)
* LO SCIENZIATO --> the scientist (because we have /ʃ/)
* LO ZIO --> the uncle (because we have /ts/)
* LO ZUCCHERO --> the sugar (because we have /ts/)
* LO ZAINO --> the backpack /rucksack (because we have /dz/)
* LO GNOMO --> the gnome (because we have /ɲ/)
* LO PSICOLOGO --> the psychologist (because we have /ps/)
* LO PNEUMATICO --> the tire (because we have /pn/)
* LO IATO --> the hiatus (because we have /j/)
* LO YOGURT --> the yogurt (because we have /j/)
* LO XILOFONO --> the xylophone (because we have /ks/)
* L'ORSO --> the bear (because we have /o/)
* L'ALBERO --> the tree (because we have /a/)
* L'IDOLO --> the idol (because we have /i/)
* L'AIUTO --> the aid / help (because we have /a/)<br />
In any other case, the correct article is '''IL''':

* IL CANE --> the dog (because we have (ka/)
* IL GATTO --> the cat (because we have /ga/)
* IL PROBLEMA --> the problem (because we have /pr/)
* IL PORTONE --> the (big) door (because we have /po/)
* IL TUONO --> the thunder (because we have (twɔ/)
* IL BRACCIO --> the arm (because we have /br/)
* IL SUONO --> the sound (because we have /swɔ/)
* IL SILENZIO --> the silence (because we have /si/)

etc.

In order to better explain how the article isn't strictly connected to the noun, let me show you the following example:

IL CASO --> the case:

Since the word doesn't need the LO article, the right one is IL for exclusion. This noun is used inside the title of a famous book by Robert Louis Stevenson "The strange case of doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde". The Italian translation of this title is literal: "LO strano caso del dottor Jekyll e Mister Hyde". Even if saying "IL CASO" is correct since after the article we find the sound /ka/, once we put another word between article and noun we need to riconsider things: STRANO (meaning "strange") begins with /st/ and befor S + consonant we need to use article LO. Thus we say IL CASO (the case), but LO STRANO CASO (the strange case).

So don't make the mistake of thinking that one article is "more masculine" than the other, or even that one article is neuter and the other is masculine, since, as you could see, they are interchangeable in some occasions.

Letter H represents a special case. Since almost no word beginns with an H in Italian (except for some conjugations of the verb "to have" which is pointless to mark with an article), the words that have an H as first letter are usually loan words. Even if in their origin language the H is pronounced, in Italian they are considered as words with a silent H and beginning with the following letter, which usually is a vowel. Let us see these examples:

* HOBBY /'ɔb:i/
* HOTEL /o'tɛl/
* HORROR /'ɔr:or/
* HABITAT /'abitat/
* HABITUÉ /abitu'e/
* HARAKIRI /ara'kiri/
* HOST /'ɔst/
* HOTSPOT /ɔtspɔt/

All these words are now part of the Italian language and gained a masculine gender, but they are all mispronounced according to the Italian phonetics. If we needed to give an article to these words it would be L' (L + apostrophe), as if they all began with a vowel.

L'HOBBY, L'HOTEL, L'HORROR, L'HOST etc.

There is an exception, though, that happened relatively recently: the title of th movie "The Hobbit" by Peter Jackson was traslated with "LO HOBBIT". More and more people are making the effort of pronouncing the H in foreign words and are realising that is quite impossible to pronounce /l/ + an inspired /h/ at the beginning of a word, so they kept the "O" of LO to pronounce /lo'hɔb:it/. This is just an exception for now, though: the rules say you should use L' (apostrophe) before words starting with H + vowel.

For the plural masculine things couldn't be easier: in the place of every IL stands the plural "I", and in the place of any LO or L' (apostrophe) stands the plural "GLI". For example:

IL CANE --> I CANI (dog, dogs)

IL SUONO --> I SUONI (sound, sounds)

IL PROBLEMA --> I PROBLEMI (problem, problems)

LO ZAINO --> GLI ZAINI (backpack, backpacks)

LO SQUALO --> GLI SQUALI (shark, sharks)

L'HOBBY --> GLI HOBBY (hobby, hobbies)

etc.

The article IL always becomes I and the article LO (L') always becomes GLI.

Exceptions to this rule are very few. Some Italian words (called "parole promiscue"), due to their latin origin, change gender in plural form, passing from IL or LO (L') to LE. Remember that in this case the gender of the entire word change, so it could never keep a masculine plural article

L'UOVO --> LE UOVA ("the egg" is masculine in italian, but "the eggs" is feminine, due to its latin origin)

IL BRACCIO --> LE BRACCIA ("the arm" is masculine in italian, while "the arms" when considered as "human arms", and not those of a machine, are feminine, always due to its latin origin)

There is one noun that is highly irregular and behaves in a special way:

IL DIO --> GLI DEI (and not "i dei"; the god, the gods). The story of this word is as follow: DIO (meaning "god" was always preceded by article "IL" which was slowly incorporated by the noun, which became "IDDIO /id'dio/; the plural (irregular) form "DEI" (gods) thus became "IDDEI", which was preceded (following the phonetic rules above) by article "GLI"; GLI IDDEI then changed to GLI DEI due to the apheresis phomenon. Nowadays, due to this, we have this only exception.

'''FEMININE ARTICLES'''

Feminine articles are easier.

Once you know a word is feminine you should just use article "LA", which becomes L' (apostrophe) in front of words beginning with a vowel.

LA CASA (the house, home)

LA SPALLA (the shoulder)

LA SCIENZIATA (the female scientist)

LA ZIA (the aunt)

L'ONDA (the wave)

L'IDEA (the idea)

L'ALA (the wing)

L'ELICA (the propeller, rotor, blade of helicopter)

You don't need to consider the sounds that follow, but only to notice if the following word begins with a vowel.

As you may notice, both LO and LA become L' (apostrophe) in front of words beginning with a vowel. When you encounter a new word preceded by L' be sure to check for the gender of that word, because you could not guess it from the article.

For every singular LA we use the plural LE

LE CASE

LE SPALLE

LE SCIENZIATE

LE ZIE

LE ONDE

LE IDEE

LE ALI

LE ELICHE

Notice that LE always stays LE (it never gets the apostrophe) even in front of words beginning with another E): LE ELICHE is pronounced /le'ɛlike/

== INDEFINITE ARTICLES ==
Indefinite articles are the opposite of the definite articles: they mark a noun that is not well known to the reader or the listener and that is not contextualized. The perfect translation of these articles is "a, an, one". Let us use the same example used for the definite articles:

MELA (apple) can be preceded by the definite article LA (since "mela" is feminine in italian); saying LA MELA gives us the idea of a specific apple that we can picture in our head, or a contextualized apple that we can describe in some way; as I said we could replace "LA" with a sentence like "the well known", "the already mentioned", etc.

Let us use the indefinite article though; LA changes to UNA: UNA MELA (where "UNA" means "an").

If I say UNA MELA I mean "one of the many", "one at random", "it doesn matter which". The indefinite articles tell us not to focus on a specific sample of the concept we are talking about; the listener cannot describe the concept properly and cannot contextualize it, as he or she needs to recive more information from the speaker.

In Italian indefinite articles can be only singular and refer only to one generic and random sample of the concept we are talking about: so while we can turn a definite IL, LO or LA into an indefinite article, we cannot turn I, GLI, LE into one of them; for doing this we need the partitive articles which we'll see later.

For now let's learn the indefinite ones:

{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="3" |INDEFINITE ARTICLES
|-
| rowspan="2" |'''GENDER'''
|'''Masculine'''
|UN, UNO
|-
|'''Feminine'''
|UNA
|}
Once again we can see how the masculine gender is a bit more problematic than the feminine one. Masculine nouns can be preceded by two articles, while feminine nouns only by one. But don't worry: the rule you have to follow is always the same as before!
UN is the indefinite "brother" of IL, while UNO is the indefinite "brother" of LO

UNA is the indefinite "sister" of LA. So:

'''IL --> UN'''

IL CANE, UN CANE (the dog, a dog; the following nouns behave in the same way)

IL PORTONE, UN PORTONE

IL PROBLEMA, UN PROBLEMA

'''LO --> UNO'''

LO SCOIATTOLO, UNO SCOIATTOLO

LO ZIO, UNO ZIO

LO GNOMO, UNO GNOMO

'''LA --> UNA'''

LA CASA, UNA CASA

LA ZIA, UNA ZIA

LA SPALLA, UNA SPALLA

ATTENTION: remember how both LO and LA become L' (apostrophe) in front of words beginning with a vowel? As for the indefinite articles, only UNA becomes UN' (apostrophe) in front of words beginning with a vowel, while UNO becomes UN (without the apostrophe, since UN and UN' would be pronounced in the exact same way). So:

L'ALBERO, UN ALBERO (no apostrophe)

L'ORSO, UN ORSO (no apostrophe)

L'IDOLO, UN IDOLO (no apostrophe)

L'IDEA, UN'IDEA (with apostrophe)

L'ALA, UN'ALA (with apostrophe)

L'ELICA, UN'ELICA (with apostrophe)

NOTE: Italians usually forget to write the apostrophe for the feminine UN', but it is quite useful for guessing the gender of a word.

== PARTITIVE ARTICLES ==
Partitive articles are used to show a general and not well specified quantity of a concept, that cannot be contextualised properly by the listener or the reader.
These articles are formed with the help of the preposition DI + a definite article, which will be chosen always according to the sound rules I explained before. However the combination of DI + a definite article gives birth to a new word.

We have:

DI + IL --> DEL

DI + LO --> DELLO (DELL' in front of words beginning with a vowel)

D + LA --> DELLA (DELL' in front of words beginning with a vowel)

DI + I --> DEI

DI + GLI --> DEGLI

DI + LE --> DELLE

Partitive articles are used for both countable and uncountable nouns. For uncountable nouns we use the singular versions DEL, DELLO, DELLA, while for countable nouns we use the plural forms DEI, DEGLI , DELLE. In both cases the best translation for a partitive article is "some":

DEL TEMPO (since we say "IL TEMPO", we use DI + IL = DEL): some time

DELL'ACQUA: some water

DELLO SPORCO: some dirt

DELLE MELE: some apples

DELLE COSE: some things

DEGLI ORSI: some bears

DEI CANI: some dogs

From a certain point of view, plural partitive articles can be considered as the plural form of an indefinite article: in fact the English "a, an" could be replaced with "one" and UN, UNO, UNA, actually mean "one" too! While "some" usually stands in place of "more than one", like the plural form of "a, an".

I ate an apple / I ate some apples --> Ho mangiato una mela / ho mangiato delle mele

== HOW TO USE ARTICLES - A FEW RULES AND EXAMPLES ==
Even learning the theory sometimes is not enough and even if your mother language has articles, they are used differently in each language.

Using articles correctly in Italian is one of the most difficult thing to do. Just look at these few "rules":

'''POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES'''

Italian uses definite articles in front of possessive adjectives unlike English, Spanish or French, but like Portuguese:

IL MIO CANE --> my dog

LE MIE AMICHE --> my female friends

However we don't use them when we talk about relatives:

MIO ZIO --> my uncle

MIA SORELLA --> my sister

but only when singular, because when they are plural we need to use the article:

MIO ZIO / I MIEI ZII --> my uncle / my uncles

MIA SORELLA / LE MIE SORELLE --> my sister /my sisters

However, using the article even with singular relatives is possibile, but it gives a deep feeling of attachment, almost childish love

MIA MAMMA / LA MIA MAMMA --> my mum / my dear mum, my mummy

It maybe strange to hear for some of you, but we can also replace the definite articles with an indefinite or partitive articles meaning "a/some [s.t, or s.o.] of mine":

UN MIO COLLEGA --> a collegue of mine

UNA MIA PAURA --> a fear of mine

DELLE MIE SCARPE --> some shoes of mine

'''NATIONS AND CITIES'''

We use definite articles before every Nation with just a few exceptions

L'ITALIA --> Italy

LA FRANCIA --> France

LA TURCHIA --> Turky (Turkey)

However this is true when the Nation is subject or complement not introduced by preposition IN: in this case articles must not be used:

VIVO IN ITALIA --> I live in Italy (complement introduced by IN)

MI TRASFERISCO IN FRANCIA --> I'm moving to France (complement introduced by IN)

AMO L'ITALIA --> I love Italy (complement not introduced by IN)

However, some Nations are considered as plural nouns (like "the United States" or "the Philipines"): in these cases the article must always be used:

GLI STATI UNITI --> the United States

NEGLI STATI UNITI --> in the United States (NEGLI = IN + GLI)

LE FILIPPINE --> the Philipines

NELE FILIPPINE --> in the Philipines

Some Nations, as I said before, have no article at all and always appear without it:

ISRAELE --> Israel

IN ISRAELE --> in Israel

SAN MARINO --> San Marino

A SAN MARINO --> in San Marino

MALTA --> Malta

A MALTA --> in Malta

With cities we never use articles

PARIGI --> Paris

VIVO A PARIGI --> I live in Paris

Unless the city has an article inside the name like:

IL CAIRO --> Cairo

VIVO AL CAIRO --> I live in Cairo city ( AL = A + IL)

LA VELLA --> La Vella

VIVO ALLA VELLA --I live in La Vella

and unless you want to add information on the city with an adjunct:

LA PARIGI DEGLI ANNI VENTI --> Paris in the '20s

LA ROMA CHE NON HAI MAI VISTO --> The Rome you've never seen

'''TIME'''

The days of the week are preceded by the article only when we mean "every day"

ODIO IL LUNEDÌ --> i hate mondays

IL MARTEDÌ VADO IN PALESTRA --> I go to the gym every tuesday

But we don't use the article when the thing we are talking about is going to happen (or happened) only once on that precise day

CI VEDIAMO GIOVEDI' --> see you on thursday

SABATO SONO ANDATA AD UN CONCERTO --> I went to a concert on saturday

VENERDI' ABBIAMO UNA RIUNIONE --> we have a meeting planned for this friday

Months are never used with articles

ODIO OTTOBRE PERCHE' PIOVE SEMPRE --> I hate october because it's too rainy

A GENNAIO PARTO PER IL CANADA --> In January I'm going to Canada

Years, on the contrary, are always preceded by the article, unlike English

SIAMO NEL 2024 --> it's 2024 (NEL = IN + IL)

FORSE L'AMERICA FU SCOPERTA PRIMA DEL 1492 --> maybe America (notice the article L' !!) was discovered before 1492 (DEL = DI + IL)

IL 2001 E' STATO L'ANNO IN CUI E' NATO MIO FIGLIO --> 2001 was the year my son was born

We also use the article to tell the hour

SONO LE DUE --> it's two o'clock

CI VEDIAMO ALLE QUATTRO --> see you at 4 p.m (ALLE = A + LE)

To tell the day of the month we always use the article:

OGGI E' IL DUE (DI) APRILE --> today it's April the 2nd

L'HO VISTO IL 30 DI GIUGNO --> I saw it on June the 30th

'''GEOGRAPHY'''

Rivers, mountains, lakes, flat lands, archipelagos, sees are always preceded by an article

IL PO --> the Po river

SUL TAMIGI --> on the Thames

IL KILIMANGIARO --> Kilimanjaro

L'OUTBACK AUSTRALIANO --> the Australian Outback

NELL'OCEANO INDIANO --> in the Indian Ocean

AL LAGO MICHIGAN --> to Lake MIchigan (AL = A + IL)

ALLE CANARIE --> in the Canaries

However Islands tend to behave like Nations

LA SARDEGNA / IN SARDEGNA

LA SICILIA / IN SICILIA

LA TASMANIA / IN TASMANIA

But there are many exceptions

CAPRI / A CAPRI --> Capri /in Capri

ISCHIA / A ISCHIA --> Ischia /in Ischia

IL BORNEO / NEL BORNEO (or IN BORNEO) --> Borneo, in Borneo

'''WORDS AS SUBJECTS'''

Words used as subject can never appear without an article at the beginning of a sentence:

GLI UOMINI NON POTRANNO MAI CAPIRE --> Men will never understand

GLI ANIMALI SEGUONO L'ISTINTO --> Animals follow the instinct

LE COSE NON SI METTONO BENE --> things aren't looking good

L'AMORE E' COMPLICATO --> Love is complicated

Every language is full of situations and exceptions. Learning how to use articles in the correct way is all a matter of practice. I suggest you to read and to listen to a mother language as much as you can.
== COMPARISON BETWEEN DEFINITE, INDEFINITE AND PARTITIVE ARTICLES ==
Let us compare similar sentences using the three different kinds of articles:

HO MANGIATO '''UNA''' MELA --> I hate an apple

using UNA will inform the listener that we ate one apple at random, maybe to inform him or her that we ate something healthy or that our stomach is not empty.

HO MANGIATO '''LA''' MELA, HO MANGIATO '''LE''' MELE

using LA will inform the listener that we ate a precise apple known to him or her: imagine someone gave you an apple in the morning and then you ate it. If that person asks you "what have you eaten today?" you will probably answer like this. LA stands for "the one you know about, the one you gave me". If in this case we used UNA, the listener would probably get confused and ask us "did you eat the apple a gave you or another one?". Using LE delivers the same information but about more the one specific apple

HO MANGIATO '''DELLE''' MELE

using DELLE will inform the listener that we ate more than one apple at random. The listener doesn't know anything about these apples. It's up to us to let him or her know if we meant just to inform that we are not hungry anymore or if somthing else happended about these apples.

HO COMPRATO '''UNA''' MACCHINA USATA --> I bought a second-hand car

with this sentence I mean that I bought a car among many others I could buy: it's not important to focus on what car I bought, but that I can finally drive wherever I want on my own. The listener doesn't have a clue of what car it could be, or that I wanted to buy a used one.

HO COMPRATO '''LA''' MACCHINA USATA

with this sentence it is clear to the listener that I'm talking about "that car we've already talked about"; so the listener probably knows the brand, the colour, the engine type (diesel or gasoline) etc.

HO COMPRATO '''DELLE''' MACCHINE USATE

If I were a car re-seller, my job would would be to go searching for used cars around the Country or even abroad. If I had a collegue I could need to explain to him or her that I mangaged to "buy some used cars". The listener doesn't have a clue about what cars they are.

== CONCLUSIONI ==
In Italian articles are overused compared to the English language. Many times
--work in progress--

Language/Italian/Grammar/Articles

2024-06-08T00:47:22Z

Davide93: /* WHAT'S AN ARTICLE */

{{Italian-Page-Top}}
<div class="pg_page_title">DEFINITE, INDEFINITE AND PARTITIVE ARTICLES IN ITALIAN</div>

== WHAT'S AN ARTICLE ==
If you come from a language which does not use articles, these grammar elements could be quite difficult to understand.

An article is a word that marks a noun, giving the listener or the reader an important information about how specific or known this noun is, or, on the other hand, how general or unknown it is.

In fact, there are two main kinds of them: the definite articles, usually used to mark specific and known things, and the indefinite articles, usually used to mark general and unknown things. A third kind of articles is also used to mark a part or a certain amount of a thing, that is to say the partitive articles.

Articles are a variable part of the sentence and must be inflected according to gender and number. They are usually put immediately before the noun: sometimes (not so often really), an adjective or a very short little description can stand between the article and its noun.

However, not every noun should always be marked with an article: sometimes it must not be used.

Let us see how articles work in Italian.

== DEFINITE ARTICLES ==
Definite articles are called "Articoli determinativi" in Italian and are the most variable ones. They come from Latin demonstrative adjectives like "those" or "that" and have the purpose to mark specific and well known things. In fact a noun is usually preceded by a definite article:

* when we mean a precise speciment of a concept/noun
* when we mean something we've already desbribed before
* when the thing we are talking about is already well known by the listener
* when the listener or the reader is already able to visualize in his or her head the precise thing we are talking about

For example: if I say "MELA" (meaning "apple") any of us will get a picture of an apple on its mind: but what is it like? Big or small? Green or red? Can I give a context to this apple in some way? I will never be sure.

Saying "LA MELA" (where "LA" is an article and means "THE") means giving "a context" to "apple" which has to be obvious to the listener or the reader: in this case we have a precise image of "the" apple we are talking about, or we know the context in which this "apple" is considered. One of the most important role of a definite article is to bring the listener or the reader to think of a specific and contextualized concept, and not "one of the many possible specifiment of that concept".

You could almost imagine the definite articles to stand in place of a sentence like "the well known ..." or "the already mentioned..." or even "the one we've already talked about..." etc.

Definite articles are also used to mark the gender of a word and should always be used when learning a new one, not to forget its gender. In fact there are two genders for nouns in Italian and the same two genders for articles: a masculine noun needs a masculine article and a feminine noun needs a feminine article.

Plus, articles also mark the number of a noun, singular or plural: a singular noun needs a singular article, a plural noun needs a plural article.

So, if we could put all this information inside a table it would look like this:

{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="4" |''DEFINITE ARTICLES''
|-
| colspan="2" rowspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |'''NUMBER'''
|-
|'''Singular'''
|'''Plural'''
|-
| rowspan="2" |'''GENDER'''
|'''Masculine'''
|IL, LO
|I, GLI
|-
|'''Feminine'''
|LA
|LE
|}
So, masculine singular nouns get two masculine singular articles: "IL" or "LO"; masculine plural nouns get the plural masculine "I" or "GLI". Feminine singular nouns need the feminine article "LA", while feminine plural nouns need the feminine plural "LE".

As you can see, masculine nouns are a bit trickier than the feminine ones: while for the latter we just use one article per number, mascluine nouns can use two of them. What article should be used then?

'''MASCULINE ARTICLES'''

First of all it is important to remember that the Italian language does not have a neuter gender and that IL or LO and I or GLI are 100% masculine.

In order to choose the correct masculine article, we should start analyzing the sound the following word begins with. In fact certain sounds cannot stay with article IL and some others cannot stay with article LO.

Plus, notice I wrote "word" and not "noun": in fact, as an article usually stays right before its noun, we could think that a certain noun always requires the same article. However, if I put an adjective between the article and the noun (and in same cases it is correct to do that) I could find myself with a different sound right after the article, which could need to change in order to respect the rule of the sound I mentioned before.

Let us start from '''LO''':

LO must be used before:

* S + Consonant, like before sounds /sk/, /sp/, /st/, /sf/, /zg/, /zb/, /zd/, /sv/, /zm/, /zn/, /zl/, /zr/
* S + C when they create sound /ʃ/
* Z, whether it is pronounced /ts/ or /dz/
* GN /ɲ/
* P + Consonant like in /pt/, /pn/, /ps/: these case are very rare in Italian and come mostly from Greek
*Words beginning with X, pronounced like /ks/ (very rare in Italian)
*Words beginning with J, I or Y pronounced as a half vowel /j/ (like "Yesterday")
* Words beginning with a vowel: in which case LO turns into L' (L + apostrophe)

Let us make a few examples:

* LO SCOIATTOLO --> the squirrel (because we have /sk/)
* LO SQUALO --> the shark (because we have /sk/)
* LO SPORCO --> the dirt (because we have /sp/)
* LO SCIENZIATO --> the scientist (because we have /ʃ/)
* LO ZIO --> the uncle (because we have /ts/)
* LO ZUCCHERO --> the sugar (because we have /ts/)
* LO ZAINO --> the backpack /rucksack (because we have /dz/)
* LO GNOMO --> the gnome (because we have /ɲ/)
* LO PSICOLOGO --> the psychologist (because we have /ps/)
* LO PNEUMATICO --> the tire (because we have /pn/)
* LO IATO --> the hiatus (because we have /j/)
* LO YOGURT --> the yogurt (because we have /j/)
* LO XILOFONO --> the xylophone (because we have /ks/)
* L'ORSO --> the bear (because we have /o/)
* L'ALBERO --> the tree (because we have /a/)
* L'IDOLO --> the idol (because we have /i/)
* L'AIUTO --> the aid / help (because we have /a/)

In any other case, the correct article is '''IL''':

* IL CANE --> the dog (because we have (ka/)
* IL GATTO --> the cat (because we have /ga/)
* IL PROBLEMA --> the problem (because we have /pr/)
* IL PORTONE --> the (big) door (because we have /po/)
* IL TUONO --> the thunder (because we have (twɔ/)
* IL BRACCIO --> the arm (because we have /br/)
* IL SUONO --> the sound (because we have /swɔ/)
* IL SILENZIO --> the silence (because we have /si/)

etc.

In order to better explain how the article isn't strictly connected to the noun, let me show you the following example:

IL CASO --> the case:

Since the word doesn't need the LO article, the right one is IL for exclusion. This noun is used inside the title of a famous book by Robert Louis Stevenson "The strange case of doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde". The Italian translation of this title is literal: "LO strano caso del dottor Jekyll e Mister Hyde". Even if saying "IL CASO" is correct since after the article we find the sound /ka/, once we put another word between article and noun we need to riconsider things: STRANO (meaning "strange") begins with /st/ and befor S + consonant we need to use article LO. Thus we say IL CASO (the case), but LO STRANO CASO (the strange case).

So don't make the mistake of thinking that one article is "more masculine" than the other, or even that one article is neuter and the other is masculine.

Letter H represents a special case. Since almost no word beginns with an H in Italian (except for some conjugations of the verb "to have" which is pointless to mark with an article), the words that have an H as first letter are usually loan words. Even if in their origin language the H is pronounced, in Italian they are considered as words beginning with the following letter, which usually is a vowel. Let us see these examples:

* HOBBY /'ob:i/
* HOTEL /o'tɛl/
* HORROR /'or:or/
* HABITAT /'abitat/
* HABITUÉ /abitu'e/
* HARAKIRI /ara'kiri/
* HOST /'ɔst/
* HOTSPOT /ɔtspɔt/

All these words are now part of the Italian language but they are all mispronounced according to the Italian phonetics. It is highly probable that foreign words get into the Italian language keeping the original gender, but they get the masculine gender if the origin language consider them as neuter or genderless, espacially if they come from English (and these examples are all masculine in fact),. If we needed to give an article to these words it would be L' (L + apostrophe), as if they all began with a vowel.

L'HOBBY, L'HOTEL, L'HORROR, L'HOST etc.

There is an exception, though, that happened relatively recently: the title of th movie "The Hobbit" by Peter Jackson was traslated with "LO HOBBIT". More and more people are making the effort of pronouncing the H in foreign words and are realising that is quite impossible to pronounce /lh/ at the beginning of a word, so they kept the "O" of LO to pronounce /lo'hɔb:it/. This is just an exception for now, though: the rules say you should us L' (apostrophe) before words starting with H + vowel.

For the plural masculine things couldn't be easier: in the place of every IL stands the plural "I", and in the place of any LO or L' (apostrophe) stands the plural "GLI". For example:

IL CANE --> I CANI (dog, dogs)

IL SUONO --> I SUONI (sound, sounds)

IL PROBLEMA --> I PROBLEMI (problem, problems)

LO ZAINO --> GLI ZAINI (backpack, backpacks)

LO SQUALO --> GLI SQUALI (shark, sharks)

L'HOBBY --> GLI HOBBY (hobby, hobbies)

etc.

The article IL always becomes I and the article LO (L') always becomes GLI.

Exceptions to this rule are very few. Some Italian words (called "parole promiscue"), due to their latin origin, change gender in plural form, passing from IL or LO (L') to LE. Remember that in this case the gender of the entire word change, so it could never keep a masculine plural article

L'UOVO --> LE UOVA ("the egg" is masculine in italian, but "the eggs" is feminine, due to its latin origin)

IL BRACCIO --> LE BRACCIA ("the arm" is masculine in italian, while "the arms" when considered as "human arms", and not those of a machine, are feminine, always due to its latin origin)

There is one noun that is highly irregular and behaves in a special way:

IL DIO --> GLI DEI (and not "i dei"; the god, the gods). The story of this word is as follow: DIO (meaning "god" was always preceded by article "IL" which was slowly incorporated by the noun, which became "IDDIO /id'dio/; the plural (irregular) form "DEI" (gods) thus became "IDDEI", which was preceded (following the phonetic rules above) by article "GLI"; GLI IDDEI then changed to GLI DEI due to the apheresis phomenon. Nowadays, due to this, we have this only exception).

'''FEMININE ARTICLES'''

Feminine articles are easier.

Once you know a word is feminine you should just use article "LA", which becomes L' (apostrophe) in front of words beginning with a vowel.

LA CASA (the house, home)

LA SPALLA (the shoulder)

LA SCIENZIATA (the female scientist)

LA ZIA (the aunt)

L'ONDA (the wave)

L'IDEA (the idea)

L'ALA (the wing)

L'ELICA (the propeller, rotor, blade of helicopter)

As you may notice, both LO and LA become L' (apostrophe) in front of words beginning with a vowel. When you encounter a new word preceded by L' be sure to check for the gender of that word.

For every singular LA we use the plural LE

LE CASE

LE SPALLE

LE SCIENZIATE

LE ZIE

LE ONDE

LE IDEE

LE ALI

LE ELICHE

Notice that LE always stays LE (it never gets the apostrophe) even in front of words beginning with another E): LE ELICHE is pronounced /le'ɛlike/

== INDEFINITE ARTICLES ==
Indefinite articles are the opposite of the definite articles: they mark a noun that is not well known to the reader or the listener and that is not contextualized. The perfect translation of these articles is "a, an, one". Let us use the same example used for the definite articles:

MELA (apple) can be preceded by the definite article LA (since "mela" is feminine in italian); saying LA MELA gives us the idea of a specific apple that we can picture in our head, or a contextualized apple that we can describe in some way; as I said we could replace "LA" with a sentence like "the well known", "the already mentioned", etc.

Let us use the indefinite article though; LA changes to UNA: UNA MELA (where "UNA" means "an").

If I say UNA MELA I mean "one of the many", "one at random", "it doesn matter which". The indefinite articles tell us not to focus on a specific sample of the concept we are talking about; the listener cannot describe the concept properly and cannot contextualize it, as he or she needs to recive more information from the speaker.

In Italian indefinite articles can be only singular and refers only to one sample of the concept we are talking about: so while we can turn a definite IL, LO or LA into an indefinite article, we cannot turn I, GLI, LE into one of them; for doing this we need the partitive articles which we'll see later.

For now let's learn the indefinite ones:

{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="3" |INDEFINITE ARTICLES
|-
| rowspan="2" |'''GENDER'''
|'''Masculine'''
|UN, UNO
|-
|'''Feminine'''
|UNA
|}
Once again we can see how the masculine gender is a bit more problematic than the feminine one. Masculine nouns can be preceded by two articles, while feminine nouns only by one. But don't worry: the rule you have to follow is always the same as before!
UN is the indefinite "brother" of IL, while UNO is the indefinite "brother" of LO

UNA is the indefinite "sister" of LA. So:

'''IL --> UN'''

IL CANE, UN CANE (the dog, a dog; the following nouns behave in the same way)

IL PORTONE, UN PORTONE

IL PROBLEMA, UN PROBLEMA

'''LO --> UNO'''

LO SCOIATTOLO, UNO SCOIATTOLO

LO ZIO, UNO ZIO

LO GNOMO, UNO GNOMO

'''LA --> UNA'''

LA CASA, UNA CASA

LA ZIA, UNA ZIA

LA SPALLA, UNA SPALLA

ATTENTION: remember how both LO and LA become L' (apostrophe) in front of words beginning with a vowel? As for the indefinite articles, only UNA becomes UN' (apostrophe) in front of words beginning with a vowel, while UNO becomes UN (without the apostrophe, since UN and UN' would be pronounced in the exact same way). So:

L'ALBERO, UN ALBERO (no apostrophe)

L'ORSO, UN ORSO (no apostrophe)

L'IDOLO, UN IDOLO (no apostrophe)

L'IDEA, UN'IDEA (with apostrophe)

L'ALA, UN'ALA (with apostrophe)

L'ELICA, UN'ELICA (with apostrophe)

NOTE: Italians usually forget to write the apostrophe for the feminine UN', but it is quite useful for guessing the gender of a word.

== PARTITIVE ARTICLES ==
Partitive articles are used to show a general and not well specified quantity of a concept, that cannot be contextualised properly by the listener or the reader.
These articles are formed with the help of the preposition DI + a definite article, which will be chosen always according to the rules I explained before. However the combination of DI + a definite article gives birth to a new word.

We have:

DI + IL --> DEL

DI + LO --> DELLO (DELL' in front of words beginning with a vowel)

D + LA --> DELLA (DELL' in front of words beginning with a vowel)

DI + I --> DEI

DI + GLI --> DEGLI

DI + LE --> DELLE

Partitive articles are used for both countable and uncountable nouns. For uncountable nouns we use the singular versions DEL, DELLO, DELLA, while for countable nouns we use the plural forms DEI, DEGLI , DELLE. In both cases the best translation for a partitive article is "some":

DEL TEMPO (since we say "IL TEMPO", we use DI + IL = DEL): some time

DELL'ACQUA: some water

DELLO SPORCO: some dirt

DELLE MELE: some apples

DELLE COSE: some things

DEGLI ORSI: some bears

DEI CANI: some dogs

From a certain point of view, plural partitive articles can be considered as the plural form of an indefinite article: in fact the English "a, an" could be replaced with "one" and UN, UNO, UNA, actually mean "one" too! While "some" usually stands in place of "more than one", like the plural form of "a, an".

I ate an apple / I ate some apples --> Ho mangiato una mela / ho mangiato delle mele

== HOW TO USE ARTICLES - A FEW RULES AND EXAMPLES ==
Even learning the theory sometimes is not enough and even if your mother language has articles, they are used differently in any language.

Using articles correctly in Italian is one of the most difficult thing to do. Just look at these few "rules":

'''POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES'''

Italian uses definite articles in front of possessive adjectives unlike English, Spanish or French, but like Portuguese:

IL MIO CANE --> my dog

LE MIE AMICHE --> my female friends

However we don't use them when we talk about relatives:

MIO ZIO --> my uncle

MIA SORELLA --> my sister

but only when singular, because when they are plural we need to use the article:

MIO ZIO / I MIEI ZII --> my uncle / my uncles

MIA SORELLA / LE MIE SORELLE --> my sister /my sisters

However, using the article even with singular relatives is possibile, but it gives a deep feeling of attachment, almost childish love

MIA MAMMA / LA MIA MAMMA --> my mum / my dear mum, my mummy

It maybe strange to hear for some of you, but we can also replace the definite articles with an indefinite or partitive articles meaning "a/some [s.t, or s.o.] of mine":

UN MIO COLLEGA --> a collegue of mine

UNA MIA PAURA --> a fear of mine

DELLE MIE SCARPE --> some shoes of mine

'''NATIONS AND CITIES'''

We use articles before every Nation with just a few exception

L'ITALIA --> Italy

LA FRANCIA --> France

LA TURCHIA --> Turky (Turkey)

However this is true when the Nation is subjects or complement not introduced by preposition IN: in this case articles must not be used:

IN ITALIA --> in Italy

IN FRANCIA --> in France

AMO L'ITALIA --> I love Italy

but

VIVO IN ITALIA --> I live in Italy.

However, some Nations are considered as plural nouns (like "the United States" or "the Philipines"): in these cases the article must always be used:

GLI STATI UNITI --> the United States

NEGLI STATI UNITI --> in the United States (NEGLI = IN + GLI)

LE FILIPPINE --> the Philipines

NELE FILIPPINE --> in the Philipines

Some Nations, as I said before, have no article at all and always appear with out it:

ISRAELE --> Israel

IN ISRAELE --> in Israel

SAN MARINO --> San Marino

IN SAN MARINO --> in San Marino

MALTA --> Malta

A MALTA --> in Malta

With cities we never use articles

PARIGI --> Paris

VIVO A PARIGI --> I live in Paris

Unless the city has an article inside the name like:

IL CAIRO --> Cairo

VIVO AL CAIRO --> I live in Cairo city ( AL = A + IL)

LA VELLA --> La Vella

VIVO ALLA VELLA --I live in La Vella

and unless you want to add information on the city as an adjunct:

LA PARIGI DEGLI ANNI VENTI --> Paris in the '20s

LA ROMA CHE NON HAI MAI VISTO --> The Rome you've never seen

'''TIME'''

The days of the week are preceded by the article only when we mean "usually every single day of the week"

ODIO IL LUNEDÌ --> i hate mondays

IL MARTEDÌ VADO IN PALESTRA --> I go to the gym every tuesday

But we don't use the article when the thing we are talking about is going to happen (or happened) only once on that precise day

CI VEDIAMO GIOVEDI' --> see you on thursday

SABATO SONO ANDATA AD UN CONCERTO --> I went to a concert on saturday

VENERDI' ABBIAMO UNA RIUNIONE --> we have a meeting planned for this friday

Months are never used with articles

ODIO OTTOBRE PERCHE' PIOVE SEMPRE --> I hate october because it's too rainy

A GENNAIO PARTO PER IL CANADA --> In January I'm going to Canada

Years, on the contrary, are always preceded by the article, unlike English

SIAMO NEL 2024 --> it's 2024 (NEL = IN + IL)

FORSE L'AMERICA FU SCOPERTA PRIMA DEL 1492 --> maybe America was discovered before 1492 (DEL = DI + IL)

IL 2001 E' STATO L'ANNO IN CUI E' NATO MIO FIGLIO --> 2001 was the year my son was born

We also use the article to tell the hour

SONO LE DUE --> it's two o'clock

CI VEDIAMO ALLE QUATTRO --> see you at 4 p.m (ALLE = A + LE)

To tell the day of the month we always use the article:

OGGI E' IL DUE (DI) APRILE --> today it's April the 2nd

L'HO VISTO IL 30 DI GIUGNO --> I saw him on June the 30th

'''GEOGRAPHY'''

Rivers, mountains, lakes, flat lands, archipelagos, sees are always preceded by an article

IL PO --> the Po river

SUL TAMIGI --> on the Thames

IL KILIMANGIARO --> Kilimanjaro

L'OUTBACK AUSTRALIANO --> the Australian Outback

NELL'OCEANO INDIANO --> in the Indian Ocean

AL LAGO MICHIGAN --> to Lake MIchigan (AL = A + IL)

ALLE CANARIE --> in the Canaries

How ever Islands tend to behave like Nations

LA SARDEGNA / IN SARDEGNA

LA SICILIA / IN SICILIA

LA TASMANIA / IN TASMANIA

But there are many exceptions

CAPRI / A CAPRI --> Capri /in Capri

ISCHIA / A ISCHIA --> Ischia /in Ischia

IL BORNEO / NEL BORNEO (or IN BORNEO) --> Borneo, in Borneo

'''WORDS AS SUBJECTS'''

Words used as subject can never appear without an article at the beginning of a sentence:

GLI UOMINI NON POTRANNO MAI CAPIRE --> Men will never understand

GLI ANIMALI SEGUONO L'ISTINTO --> Animals follow the instinct

LE COSE NON SI METTONO BENE --> things aren't looking good

L'AMORE E' COMPLICATO --> Love is complicated

Every language is full of situations and exceptions. Learning how to use articles in the correct way is all a matter of practice. I suggest you to read or to talk with a mother language a lot.

== COMPARISON BETWEEN DEFINITE, INDEFINITE AND PARTITIVE ARTICLES ==
Let us compare similar sentences using the three different kinds of articles

--work in progress--

Language/Italian/Grammar/Articles

2024-06-08T00:46:12Z

Davide93: /* CHOSING THE RIGHT KIND OF ARTICLE */

{{Italian-Page-Top}}
<div class="pg_page_title">DEFINITE AND INDEFINITE ARTICLES IN ITALIAN</div>

== WHAT'S AN ARTICLE ==
If you come from a language which does not use articles, these grammar elements could be quite difficult to understand.

An article is a word that marks a noun, giving the listener or the reader an important information about how specific or known this noun is, or, on the other hand, how general or unknown it is.

In fact, there are two main kinds of them: the definite articles, usually used to mark specific and known things, and the indefinite articles, usually used to mark general and unknown things. A third kind of articles is also used to mark a part or a certain amount of a thing, that is to say the partitive articles.

Articles are a variable part of the sentence and must be inflected according to gender and number. They are usually put immediately before the noun: sometimes (not so often really), an adjective or a very short little description can stand between the article and its noun.

However, not every noun should always be marked with an article: sometimes it must not be used.

Let us see how articles work in Italian.

== DEFINITE ARTICLES ==
Definite articles are called "Articoli determinativi" in Italian and are the most variable ones. They come from Latin demonstrative adjectives like "those" or "that" and have the purpose to mark specific and well known things. In fact a noun is usually preceded by a definite article:

* when we mean a precise speciment of a concept/noun
* when we mean something we've already desbribed before
* when the thing we are talking about is already well known by the listener
* when the listener or the reader is already able to visualize in his or her head the precise thing we are talking about

For example: if I say "MELA" (meaning "apple") any of us will get a picture of an apple on its mind: but what is it like? Big or small? Green or red? Can I give a context to this apple in some way? I will never be sure.

Saying "LA MELA" (where "LA" is an article and means "THE") means giving "a context" to "apple" which has to be obvious to the listener or the reader: in this case we have a precise image of "the" apple we are talking about, or we know the context in which this "apple" is considered. One of the most important role of a definite article is to bring the listener or the reader to think of a specific and contextualized concept, and not "one of the many possible specifiment of that concept".

You could almost imagine the definite articles to stand in place of a sentence like "the well known ..." or "the already mentioned..." or even "the one we've already talked about..." etc.

Definite articles are also used to mark the gender of a word and should always be used when learning a new one, not to forget its gender. In fact there are two genders for nouns in Italian and the same two genders for articles: a masculine noun needs a masculine article and a feminine noun needs a feminine article.

Plus, articles also mark the number of a noun, singular or plural: a singular noun needs a singular article, a plural noun needs a plural article.

So, if we could put all this information inside a table it would look like this:

{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="4" |''DEFINITE ARTICLES''
|-
| colspan="2" rowspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |'''NUMBER'''
|-
|'''Singular'''
|'''Plural'''
|-
| rowspan="2" |'''GENDER'''
|'''Masculine'''
|IL, LO
|I, GLI
|-
|'''Feminine'''
|LA
|LE
|}
So, masculine singular nouns get two masculine singular articles: "IL" or "LO"; masculine plural nouns get the plural masculine "I" or "GLI". Feminine singular nouns need the feminine article "LA", while feminine plural nouns need the feminine plural "LE".

As you can see, masculine nouns are a bit trickier than the feminine ones: while for the latter we just use one article per number, mascluine nouns can use two of them. What article should be used then?

'''MASCULINE ARTICLES'''

First of all it is important to remember that the Italian language does not have a neuter gender and that IL or LO and I or GLI are 100% masculine.

In order to choose the correct masculine article, we should start analyzing the sound the following word begins with. In fact certain sounds cannot stay with article IL and some others cannot stay with article LO.

Plus, notice I wrote "word" and not "noun": in fact, as an article usually stays right before its noun, we could think that a certain noun always requires the same article. However, if I put an adjective between the article and the noun (and in same cases it is correct to do that) I could find myself with a different sound right after the article, which could need to change in order to respect the rule of the sound I mentioned before.

Let us start from '''LO''':

LO must be used before:

* S + Consonant, like before sounds /sk/, /sp/, /st/, /sf/, /zg/, /zb/, /zd/, /sv/, /zm/, /zn/, /zl/, /zr/
* S + C when they create sound /ʃ/
* Z, whether it is pronounced /ts/ or /dz/
* GN /ɲ/
* P + Consonant like in /pt/, /pn/, /ps/: these case are very rare in Italian and come mostly from Greek
*Words beginning with X, pronounced like /ks/ (very rare in Italian)
*Words beginning with J, I or Y pronounced as a half vowel /j/ (like "Yesterday")
* Words beginning with a vowel: in which case LO turns into L' (L + apostrophe)

Let us make a few examples:

* LO SCOIATTOLO --> the squirrel (because we have /sk/)
* LO SQUALO --> the shark (because we have /sk/)
* LO SPORCO --> the dirt (because we have /sp/)
* LO SCIENZIATO --> the scientist (because we have /ʃ/)
* LO ZIO --> the uncle (because we have /ts/)
* LO ZUCCHERO --> the sugar (because we have /ts/)
* LO ZAINO --> the backpack /rucksack (because we have /dz/)
* LO GNOMO --> the gnome (because we have /ɲ/)
* LO PSICOLOGO --> the psychologist (because we have /ps/)
* LO PNEUMATICO --> the tire (because we have /pn/)
* LO IATO --> the hiatus (because we have /j/)
* LO YOGURT --> the yogurt (because we have /j/)
* LO XILOFONO --> the xylophone (because we have /ks/)
* L'ORSO --> the bear (because we have /o/)
* L'ALBERO --> the tree (because we have /a/)
* L'IDOLO --> the idol (because we have /i/)
* L'AIUTO --> the aid / help (because we have /a/)

In any other case, the correct article is '''IL''':

* IL CANE --> the dog (because we have (ka/)
* IL GATTO --> the cat (because we have /ga/)
* IL PROBLEMA --> the problem (because we have /pr/)
* IL PORTONE --> the (big) door (because we have /po/)
* IL TUONO --> the thunder (because we have (twɔ/)
* IL BRACCIO --> the arm (because we have /br/)
* IL SUONO --> the sound (because we have /swɔ/)
* IL SILENZIO --> the silence (because we have /si/)

etc.

In order to better explain how the article isn't strictly connected to the noun, let me show you the following example:

IL CASO --> the case:

Since the word doesn't need the LO article, the right one is IL for exclusion. This noun is used inside the title of a famous book by Robert Louis Stevenson "The strange case of doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde". The Italian translation of this title is literal: "LO strano caso del dottor Jekyll e Mister Hyde". Even if saying "IL CASO" is correct since after the article we find the sound /ka/, once we put another word between article and noun we need to riconsider things: STRANO (meaning "strange") begins with /st/ and befor S + consonant we need to use article LO. Thus we say IL CASO (the case), but LO STRANO CASO (the strange case).

So don't make the mistake of thinking that one article is "more masculine" than the other, or even that one article is neuter and the other is masculine.

Letter H represents a special case. Since almost no word beginns with an H in Italian (except for some conjugations of the verb "to have" which is pointless to mark with an article), the words that have an H as first letter are usually loan words. Even if in their origin language the H is pronounced, in Italian they are considered as words beginning with the following letter, which usually is a vowel. Let us see these examples:

* HOBBY /'ob:i/
* HOTEL /o'tɛl/
* HORROR /'or:or/
* HABITAT /'abitat/
* HABITUÉ /abitu'e/
* HARAKIRI /ara'kiri/
* HOST /'ɔst/
* HOTSPOT /ɔtspɔt/

All these words are now part of the Italian language but they are all mispronounced according to the Italian phonetics. It is highly probable that foreign words get into the Italian language keeping the original gender, but they get the masculine gender if the origin language consider them as neuter or genderless, espacially if they come from English (and these examples are all masculine in fact),. If we needed to give an article to these words it would be L' (L + apostrophe), as if they all began with a vowel.

L'HOBBY, L'HOTEL, L'HORROR, L'HOST etc.

There is an exception, though, that happened relatively recently: the title of th movie "The Hobbit" by Peter Jackson was traslated with "LO HOBBIT". More and more people are making the effort of pronouncing the H in foreign words and are realising that is quite impossible to pronounce /lh/ at the beginning of a word, so they kept the "O" of LO to pronounce /lo'hɔb:it/. This is just an exception for now, though: the rules say you should us L' (apostrophe) before words starting with H + vowel.

For the plural masculine things couldn't be easier: in the place of every IL stands the plural "I", and in the place of any LO or L' (apostrophe) stands the plural "GLI". For example:

IL CANE --> I CANI (dog, dogs)

IL SUONO --> I SUONI (sound, sounds)

IL PROBLEMA --> I PROBLEMI (problem, problems)

LO ZAINO --> GLI ZAINI (backpack, backpacks)

LO SQUALO --> GLI SQUALI (shark, sharks)

L'HOBBY --> GLI HOBBY (hobby, hobbies)

etc.

The article IL always becomes I and the article LO (L') always becomes GLI.

Exceptions to this rule are very few. Some Italian words (called "parole promiscue"), due to their latin origin, change gender in plural form, passing from IL or LO (L') to LE. Remember that in this case the gender of the entire word change, so it could never keep a masculine plural article

L'UOVO --> LE UOVA ("the egg" is masculine in italian, but "the eggs" is feminine, due to its latin origin)

IL BRACCIO --> LE BRACCIA ("the arm" is masculine in italian, while "the arms" when considered as "human arms", and not those of a machine, are feminine, always due to its latin origin)

There is one noun that is highly irregular and behaves in a special way:

IL DIO --> GLI DEI (and not "i dei"; the god, the gods). The story of this word is as follow: DIO (meaning "god" was always preceded by article "IL" which was slowly incorporated by the noun, which became "IDDIO /id'dio/; the plural (irregular) form "DEI" (gods) thus became "IDDEI", which was preceded (following the phonetic rules above) by article "GLI"; GLI IDDEI then changed to GLI DEI due to the apheresis phomenon. Nowadays, due to this, we have this only exception).

'''FEMININE ARTICLES'''

Feminine articles are easier.

Once you know a word is feminine you should just use article "LA", which becomes L' (apostrophe) in front of words beginning with a vowel.

LA CASA (the house, home)

LA SPALLA (the shoulder)

LA SCIENZIATA (the female scientist)

LA ZIA (the aunt)

L'ONDA (the wave)

L'IDEA (the idea)

L'ALA (the wing)

L'ELICA (the propeller, rotor, blade of helicopter)

As you may notice, both LO and LA become L' (apostrophe) in front of words beginning with a vowel. When you encounter a new word preceded by L' be sure to check for the gender of that word.

For every singular LA we use the plural LE

LE CASE

LE SPALLE

LE SCIENZIATE

LE ZIE

LE ONDE

LE IDEE

LE ALI

LE ELICHE

Notice that LE always stays LE (it never gets the apostrophe) even in front of words beginning with another E): LE ELICHE is pronounced /le'ɛlike/

== INDEFINITE ARTICLES ==
Indefinite articles are the opposite of the definite articles: they mark a noun that is not well known to the reader or the listener and that is not contextualized. The perfect translation of these articles is "a, an, one". Let us use the same example used for the definite articles:

MELA (apple) can be preceded by the definite article LA (since "mela" is feminine in italian); saying LA MELA gives us the idea of a specific apple that we can picture in our head, or a contextualized apple that we can describe in some way; as I said we could replace "LA" with a sentence like "the well known", "the already mentioned", etc.

Let us use the indefinite article though; LA changes to UNA: UNA MELA (where "UNA" means "an").

If I say UNA MELA I mean "one of the many", "one at random", "it doesn matter which". The indefinite articles tell us not to focus on a specific sample of the concept we are talking about; the listener cannot describe the concept properly and cannot contextualize it, as he or she needs to recive more information from the speaker.

In Italian indefinite articles can be only singular and refers only to one sample of the concept we are talking about: so while we can turn a definite IL, LO or LA into an indefinite article, we cannot turn I, GLI, LE into one of them; for doing this we need the partitive articles which we'll see later.

For now let's learn the indefinite ones:

{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="3" |INDEFINITE ARTICLES
|-
| rowspan="2" |'''GENDER'''
|'''Masculine'''
|UN, UNO
|-
|'''Feminine'''
|UNA
|}
Once again we can see how the masculine gender is a bit more problematic than the feminine one. Masculine nouns can be preceded by two articles, while feminine nouns only by one. But don't worry: the rule you have to follow is always the same as before!
UN is the indefinite "brother" of IL, while UNO is the indefinite "brother" of LO

UNA is the indefinite "sister" of LA. So:

'''IL --> UN'''

IL CANE, UN CANE (the dog, a dog; the following nouns behave in the same way)

IL PORTONE, UN PORTONE

IL PROBLEMA, UN PROBLEMA

'''LO --> UNO'''

LO SCOIATTOLO, UNO SCOIATTOLO

LO ZIO, UNO ZIO

LO GNOMO, UNO GNOMO

'''LA --> UNA'''

LA CASA, UNA CASA

LA ZIA, UNA ZIA

LA SPALLA, UNA SPALLA

ATTENTION: remember how both LO and LA become L' (apostrophe) in front of words beginning with a vowel? As for the indefinite articles, only UNA becomes UN' (apostrophe) in front of words beginning with a vowel, while UNO becomes UN (without the apostrophe, since UN and UN' would be pronounced in the exact same way). So:

L'ALBERO, UN ALBERO (no apostrophe)

L'ORSO, UN ORSO (no apostrophe)

L'IDOLO, UN IDOLO (no apostrophe)

L'IDEA, UN'IDEA (with apostrophe)

L'ALA, UN'ALA (with apostrophe)

L'ELICA, UN'ELICA (with apostrophe)

NOTE: Italians usually forget to write the apostrophe for the feminine UN', but it is quite useful for guessing the gender of a word.

== PARTITIVE ARTICLES ==
Partitive articles are used to show a general and not well specified quantity of a concept, that cannot be contextualised properly by the listener or the reader.
These articles are formed with the help of the preposition DI + a definite article, which will be chosen always according to the rules I explained before. However the combination of DI + a definite article gives birth to a new word.

We have:

DI + IL --> DEL

DI + LO --> DELLO (DELL' in front of words beginning with a vowel)

D + LA --> DELLA (DELL' in front of words beginning with a vowel)

DI + I --> DEI

DI + GLI --> DEGLI

DI + LE --> DELLE

Partitive articles are used for both countable and uncountable nouns. For uncountable nouns we use the singular versions DEL, DELLO, DELLA, while for countable nouns we use the plural forms DEI, DEGLI , DELLE. In both cases the best translation for a partitive article is "some":

DEL TEMPO (since we say "IL TEMPO", we use DI + IL = DEL): some time

DELL'ACQUA: some water

DELLO SPORCO: some dirt

DELLE MELE: some apples

DELLE COSE: some things

DEGLI ORSI: some bears

DEI CANI: some dogs

From a certain point of view, plural partitive articles can be considered as the plural form of an indefinite article: in fact the English "a, an" could be replaced with "one" and UN, UNO, UNA, actually mean "one" too! While "some" usually stands in place of "more than one", like the plural form of "a, an".

I ate an apple / I ate some apples --> Ho mangiato una mela / ho mangiato delle mele

== HOW TO USE ARTICLES - A FEW RULES AND EXAMPLES ==
Even learning the theory sometimes is not enough and even if your mother language has articles, they are used differently in any language.

Using articles correctly in Italian is one of the most difficult thing to do. Just look at these few "rules":

'''POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES'''

Italian uses definite articles in front of possessive adjectives unlike English, Spanish or French, but like Portuguese:

IL MIO CANE --> my dog

LE MIE AMICHE --> my female friends

However we don't use them when we talk about relatives:

MIO ZIO --> my uncle

MIA SORELLA --> my sister

but only when singular, because when they are plural we need to use the article:

MIO ZIO / I MIEI ZII --> my uncle / my uncles

MIA SORELLA / LE MIE SORELLE --> my sister /my sisters

However, using the article even with singular relatives is possibile, but it gives a deep feeling of attachment, almost childish love

MIA MAMMA / LA MIA MAMMA --> my mum / my dear mum, my mummy

It maybe strange to hear for some of you, but we can also replace the definite articles with an indefinite or partitive articles meaning "a/some [s.t, or s.o.] of mine":

UN MIO COLLEGA --> a collegue of mine

UNA MIA PAURA --> a fear of mine

DELLE MIE SCARPE --> some shoes of mine

'''NATIONS AND CITIES'''

We use articles before every Nation with just a few exception

L'ITALIA --> Italy

LA FRANCIA --> France

LA TURCHIA --> Turky (Turkey)

However this is true when the Nation is subjects or complement not introduced by preposition IN: in this case articles must not be used:

IN ITALIA --> in Italy

IN FRANCIA --> in France

AMO L'ITALIA --> I love Italy

but

VIVO IN ITALIA --> I live in Italy.

However, some Nations are considered as plural nouns (like "the United States" or "the Philipines"): in these cases the article must always be used:

GLI STATI UNITI --> the United States

NEGLI STATI UNITI --> in the United States (NEGLI = IN + GLI)

LE FILIPPINE --> the Philipines

NELE FILIPPINE --> in the Philipines

Some Nations, as I said before, have no article at all and always appear with out it:

ISRAELE --> Israel

IN ISRAELE --> in Israel

SAN MARINO --> San Marino

IN SAN MARINO --> in San Marino

MALTA --> Malta

A MALTA --> in Malta

With cities we never use articles

PARIGI --> Paris

VIVO A PARIGI --> I live in Paris

Unless the city has an article inside the name like:

IL CAIRO --> Cairo

VIVO AL CAIRO --> I live in Cairo city ( AL = A + IL)

LA VELLA --> La Vella

VIVO ALLA VELLA --I live in La Vella

and unless you want to add information on the city as an adjunct:

LA PARIGI DEGLI ANNI VENTI --> Paris in the '20s

LA ROMA CHE NON HAI MAI VISTO --> The Rome you've never seen

'''TIME'''

The days of the week are preceded by the article only when we mean "usually every single day of the week"

ODIO IL LUNEDÌ --> i hate mondays

IL MARTEDÌ VADO IN PALESTRA --> I go to the gym every tuesday

But we don't use the article when the thing we are talking about is going to happen (or happened) only once on that precise day

CI VEDIAMO GIOVEDI' --> see you on thursday

SABATO SONO ANDATA AD UN CONCERTO --> I went to a concert on saturday

VENERDI' ABBIAMO UNA RIUNIONE --> we have a meeting planned for this friday

Months are never used with articles

ODIO OTTOBRE PERCHE' PIOVE SEMPRE --> I hate october because it's too rainy

A GENNAIO PARTO PER IL CANADA --> In January I'm going to Canada

Years, on the contrary, are always preceded by the article, unlike English

SIAMO NEL 2024 --> it's 2024 (NEL = IN + IL)

FORSE L'AMERICA FU SCOPERTA PRIMA DEL 1492 --> maybe America was discovered before 1492 (DEL = DI + IL)

IL 2001 E' STATO L'ANNO IN CUI E' NATO MIO FIGLIO --> 2001 was the year my son was born

We also use the article to tell the hour

SONO LE DUE --> it's two o'clock

CI VEDIAMO ALLE QUATTRO --> see you at 4 p.m (ALLE = A + LE)

To tell the day of the month we always use the article:

OGGI E' IL DUE (DI) APRILE --> today it's April the 2nd

L'HO VISTO IL 30 DI GIUGNO --> I saw him on June the 30th

'''GEOGRAPHY'''

Rivers, mountains, lakes, flat lands, archipelagos, sees are always preceded by an article

IL PO --> the Po river

SUL TAMIGI --> on the Thames

IL KILIMANGIARO --> Kilimanjaro

L'OUTBACK AUSTRALIANO --> the Australian Outback

NELL'OCEANO INDIANO --> in the Indian Ocean

AL LAGO MICHIGAN --> to Lake MIchigan (AL = A + IL)

ALLE CANARIE --> in the Canaries

How ever Islands tend to behave like Nations

LA SARDEGNA / IN SARDEGNA

LA SICILIA / IN SICILIA

LA TASMANIA / IN TASMANIA

But there are many exceptions

CAPRI / A CAPRI --> Capri /in Capri

ISCHIA / A ISCHIA --> Ischia /in Ischia

IL BORNEO / NEL BORNEO (or IN BORNEO) --> Borneo, in Borneo

'''WORDS AS SUBJECTS'''

Words used as subject can never appear without an article at the beginning of a sentence:

GLI UOMINI NON POTRANNO MAI CAPIRE --> Men will never understand

GLI ANIMALI SEGUONO L'ISTINTO --> Animals follow the instinct

LE COSE NON SI METTONO BENE --> things aren't looking good

L'AMORE E' COMPLICATO --> Love is complicated

Every language is full of situations and exceptions. Learning how to use articles in the correct way is all a matter of practice. I suggest you to read or to talk with a mother language a lot.

== COMPARISON BETWEEN DEFINITE, INDEFINITE AND PARTITIVE ARTICLES ==
Let us compare similar sentences using the three different kinds of articles

--work in progress--

Language/Italian/Grammar/Articles

2024-06-08T00:19:09Z

Davide93: /* INDEFINITE ARTICLES */

{{Italian-Page-Top}}
<div class="pg_page_title">DEFINITE AND INDEFINITE ARTICLES IN ITALIAN</div>

== WHAT'S AN ARTICLE ==
If you come from a language which does not use articles, these grammar elements could be quite difficult to understand.

An article is a word that marks a noun, giving the listener or the reader an important information about how specific or known this noun is, or, on the other hand, how general or unknown it is.

In fact, there are two main kinds of them: the definite articles, usually used to mark specific and known things, and the indefinite articles, usually used to mark general and unknown things. A third kind of articles is also used to mark a part or a certain amount of a thing, that is to say the partitive articles.

Articles are a variable part of the sentence and must be inflected according to gender and number. They are usually put immediately before the noun: sometimes (not so often really), an adjective or a very short little description can stand between the article and its noun.

However, not every noun should always be marked with an article: sometimes it must not be used.

Let us see how articles work in Italian.

== DEFINITE ARTICLES ==
Definite articles are called "Articoli determinativi" in Italian and are the most variable ones. They come from Latin demonstrative adjectives like "those" or "that" and have the purpose to mark specific and well known things. In fact a noun is usually preceded by a definite article:

* when we mean a precise speciment of a concept/noun
* when we mean something we've already desbribed before
* when the thing we are talking about is already well known by the listener
* when the listener or the reader is already able to visualize in his or her head the precise thing we are talking about

For example: if I say "MELA" (meaning "apple") any of us will get a picture of an apple on its mind: but what is it like? Big or small? Green or red? Can I give a context to this apple in some way? I will never be sure.

Saying "LA MELA" (where "LA" is an article and means "THE") means giving "a context" to "apple" which has to be obvious to the listener or the reader: in this case we have a precise image of "the" apple we are talking about, or we know the context in which this "apple" is considered. One of the most important role of a definite article is to bring the listener or the reader to think of a specific and contextualized concept, and not "one of the many possible specifiment of that concept".

You could almost imagine the definite articles to stand in place of a sentence like "the well known ..." or "the already mentioned..." or even "the one we've already talked about..." etc.

Definite articles are also used to mark the gender of a word and should always be used when learning a new one, not to forget its gender. In fact there are two genders for nouns in Italian and the same two genders for articles: a masculine noun needs a masculine article and a feminine noun needs a feminine article.

Plus, articles also mark the number of a noun, singular or plural: a singular noun needs a singular article, a plural noun needs a plural article.

So, if we could put all this information inside a table it would look like this:

{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="4" |''DEFINITE ARTICLES''
|-
| colspan="2" rowspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |'''NUMBER'''
|-
|'''Singular'''
|'''Plural'''
|-
| rowspan="2" |'''GENDER'''
|'''Masculine'''
|IL, LO
|I, GLI
|-
|'''Feminine'''
|LA
|LE
|}
So, masculine singular nouns get two masculine singular articles: "IL" or "LO"; masculine plural nouns get the plural masculine "I" or "GLI". Feminine singular nouns need the feminine article "LA", while feminine plural nouns need the feminine plural "LE".

As you can see, masculine nouns are a bit trickier than the feminine ones: while for the latter we just use one article per number, mascluine nouns can use two of them. What article should be used then?

'''MASCULINE ARTICLES'''

First of all it is important to remember that the Italian language does not have a neuter gender and that IL or LO and I or GLI are 100% masculine.

In order to choose the correct masculine article, we should start analyzing the sound the following word begins with. In fact certain sounds cannot stay with article IL and some others cannot stay with article LO.

Plus, notice I wrote "word" and not "noun": in fact, as an article usually stays right before its noun, we could think that a certain noun always requires the same article. However, if I put an adjective between the article and the noun (and in same cases it is correct to do that) I could find myself with a different sound right after the article, which could need to change in order to respect the rule of the sound I mentioned before.

Let us start from '''LO''':

LO must be used before:

* S + Consonant, like before sounds /sk/, /sp/, /st/, /sf/, /zg/, /zb/, /zd/, /sv/, /zm/, /zn/, /zl/, /zr/
* S + C when they create sound /ʃ/
* Z, whether it is pronounced /ts/ or /dz/
* GN /ɲ/
* P + Consonant like in /pt/, /pn/, /ps/: these case are very rare in Italian and come mostly from Greek
*Words beginning with X, pronounced like /ks/ (very rare in Italian)
*Words beginning with J, I or Y pronounced as a half vowel /j/ (like "Yesterday")
* Words beginning with a vowel: in which case LO turns into L' (L + apostrophe)

Let us make a few examples:

* LO SCOIATTOLO --> the squirrel (because we have /sk/)
* LO SQUALO --> the shark (because we have /sk/)
* LO SPORCO --> the dirt (because we have /sp/)
* LO SCIENZIATO --> the scientist (because we have /ʃ/)
* LO ZIO --> the uncle (because we have /ts/)
* LO ZUCCHERO --> the sugar (because we have /ts/)
* LO ZAINO --> the backpack /rucksack (because we have /dz/)
* LO GNOMO --> the gnome (because we have /ɲ/)
* LO PSICOLOGO --> the psychologist (because we have /ps/)
* LO PNEUMATICO --> the tire (because we have /pn/)
* LO IATO --> the hiatus (because we have /j/)
* LO YOGURT --> the yogurt (because we have /j/)
* LO XILOFONO --> the xylophone (because we have /ks/)
* L'ORSO --> the bear (because we have /o/)
* L'ALBERO --> the tree (because we have /a/)
* L'IDOLO --> the idol (because we have /i/)
* L'AIUTO --> the aid / help (because we have /a/)

In any other case, the correct article is '''IL''':

* IL CANE --> the dog (because we have (ka/)
* IL GATTO --> the cat (because we have /ga/)
* IL PROBLEMA --> the problem (because we have /pr/)
* IL PORTONE --> the (big) door (because we have /po/)
* IL TUONO --> the thunder (because we have (twɔ/)
* IL BRACCIO --> the arm (because we have /br/)
* IL SUONO --> the sound (because we have /swɔ/)
* IL SILENZIO --> the silence (because we have /si/)

etc.

In order to better explain how the article isn't strictly connected to the noun, let me show you the following example:

IL CASO --> the case:

Since the word doesn't need the LO article, the right one is IL for exclusion. This noun is used inside the title of a famous book by Robert Louis Stevenson "The strange case of doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde". The Italian translation of this title is literal: "LO strano caso del dottor Jekyll e Mister Hyde". Even if saying "IL CASO" is correct since after the article we find the sound /ka/, once we put another word between article and noun we need to riconsider things: STRANO (meaning "strange") begins with /st/ and befor S + consonant we need to use article LO. Thus we say IL CASO (the case), but LO STRANO CASO (the strange case).

So don't make the mistake of thinking that one article is "more masculine" than the other, or even that one article is neuter and the other is masculine.

Letter H represents a special case. Since almost no word beginns with an H in Italian (except for some conjugations of the verb "to have" which is pointless to mark with an article), the words that have an H as first letter are usually loan words. Even if in their origin language the H is pronounced, in Italian they are considered as words beginning with the following letter, which usually is a vowel. Let us see these examples:

* HOBBY /'ob:i/
* HOTEL /o'tɛl/
* HORROR /'or:or/
* HABITAT /'abitat/
* HABITUÉ /abitu'e/
* HARAKIRI /ara'kiri/
* HOST /'ɔst/
* HOTSPOT /ɔtspɔt/

All these words are now part of the Italian language but they are all mispronounced according to the Italian phonetics. It is highly probable that foreign words get into the Italian language keeping the original gender, but they get the masculine gender if the origin language consider them as neuter or genderless, espacially if they come from English (and these examples are all masculine in fact),. If we needed to give an article to these words it would be L' (L + apostrophe), as if they all began with a vowel.

L'HOBBY, L'HOTEL, L'HORROR, L'HOST etc.

There is an exception, though, that happened relatively recently: the title of th movie "The Hobbit" by Peter Jackson was traslated with "LO HOBBIT". More and more people are making the effort of pronouncing the H in foreign words and are realising that is quite impossible to pronounce /lh/ at the beginning of a word, so they kept the "O" of LO to pronounce /lo'hɔb:it/. This is just an exception for now, though: the rules say you should us L' (apostrophe) before words starting with H + vowel.

For the plural masculine things couldn't be easier: in the place of every IL stands the plural "I", and in the place of any LO or L' (apostrophe) stands the plural "GLI". For example:

IL CANE --> I CANI (dog, dogs)

IL SUONO --> I SUONI (sound, sounds)

IL PROBLEMA --> I PROBLEMI (problem, problems)

LO ZAINO --> GLI ZAINI (backpack, backpacks)

LO SQUALO --> GLI SQUALI (shark, sharks)

L'HOBBY --> GLI HOBBY (hobby, hobbies)

etc.

The article IL always becomes I and the article LO (L') always becomes GLI.

Exceptions to this rule are very few. Some Italian words (called "parole promiscue"), due to their latin origin, change gender in plural form, passing from IL or LO (L') to LE. Remember that in this case the gender of the entire word change, so it could never keep a masculine plural article

L'UOVO --> LE UOVA ("the egg" is masculine in italian, but "the eggs" is feminine, due to its latin origin)

IL BRACCIO --> LE BRACCIA ("the arm" is masculine in italian, while "the arms" when considered as "human arms", and not those of a machine, are feminine, always due to its latin origin)

There is one noun that is highly irregular and behaves in a special way:

IL DIO --> GLI DEI (and not "i dei"; the god, the gods). The story of this word is as follow: DIO (meaning "god" was always preceded by article "IL" which was slowly incorporated by the noun, which became "IDDIO /id'dio/; the plural (irregular) form "DEI" (gods) thus became "IDDEI", which was preceded (following the phonetic rules above) by article "GLI"; GLI IDDEI then changed to GLI DEI due to the apheresis phomenon. Nowadays, due to this, we have this only exception).

'''FEMININE ARTICLES'''

Feminine articles are easier.

Once you know a word is feminine you should just use article "LA", which becomes L' (apostrophe) in front of words beginning with a vowel.

LA CASA (the house, home)

LA SPALLA (the shoulder)

LA SCIENZIATA (the female scientist)

LA ZIA (the aunt)

L'ONDA (the wave)

L'IDEA (the idea)

L'ALA (the wing)

L'ELICA (the propeller, rotor, blade of helicopter)

As you may notice, both LO and LA become L' (apostrophe) in front of words beginning with a vowel. When you encounter a new word preceded by L' be sure to check for the gender of that word.

For every singular LA we use the plural LE

LE CASE

LE SPALLE

LE SCIENZIATE

LE ZIE

LE ONDE

LE IDEE

LE ALI

LE ELICHE

Notice that LE always stays LE (it never gets the apostrophe) even in front of words beginning with another E): LE ELICHE is pronounced /le'ɛlike/

== INDEFINITE ARTICLES ==
Indefinite articles are the opposite of the definite articles: they mark a noun that is not well known to the reader or the listener and that is not contextualized. The perfect translation of these articles is "a, an, one". Let us use the same example used for the definite articles:

MELA (apple) can be preceded by the definite article LA (since "mela" is feminine in italian); saying LA MELA gives us the idea of a specific apple that we can picture in our head, or a contextualized apple that we can describe in some way; as I said we could replace "LA" with a sentence like "the well known", "the already mentioned", etc.

Let us use the indefinite article though; LA changes to UNA: UNA MELA (where "UNA" means "an").

If I say UNA MELA I mean "one of the many", "one at random", "it doesn matter which". The indefinite articles tell us not to focus on a specific sample of the concept we are talking about; the listener cannot describe the concept properly and cannot contextualize it, as he or she needs to recive more information from the speaker.

In Italian indefinite articles can be only singular and refers only to one sample of the concept we are talking about: so while we can turn a definite IL, LO or LA into an indefinite article, we cannot turn I, GLI, LE into one of them; for doing this we need the partitive articles which we'll see later.

For now let's learn the indefinite ones:

{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="3" |INDEFINITE ARTICLES
|-
| rowspan="2" |'''GENDER'''
|'''Masculine'''
|UN, UNO
|-
|'''Feminine'''
|UNA
|}
Once again we can see how the masculine gender is a bit more problematic than the feminine one. Masculine nouns can be preceded by two articles, while feminine nouns only by one. But don't worry: the rule you have to follow is always the same as before!
UN is the indefinite "brother" of IL, while UNO is the indefinite "brother" of LO

UNA is the indefinite "sister" of LA. So:

'''IL --> UN'''

IL CANE, UN CANE (the dog, a dog; the following nouns behave in the same way)

IL PORTONE, UN PORTONE

IL PROBLEMA, UN PROBLEMA

'''LO --> UNO'''

LO SCOIATTOLO, UNO SCOIATTOLO

LO ZIO, UNO ZIO

LO GNOMO, UNO GNOMO

'''LA --> UNA'''

LA CASA, UNA CASA

LA ZIA, UNA ZIA

LA SPALLA, UNA SPALLA

ATTENTION: remember how both LO and LA become L' (apostrophe) in front of words beginning with a vowel? As for the indefinite articles, only UNA becomes UN' (apostrophe) in front of words beginning with a vowel, while UNO becomes UN (without the apostrophe, since UN and UN' would be pronounced in the exact same way). So:

L'ALBERO, UN ALBERO (no apostrophe)

L'ORSO, UN ORSO (no apostrophe)

L'IDOLO, UN IDOLO (no apostrophe)

L'IDEA, UN'IDEA (with apostrophe)

L'ALA, UN'ALA (with apostrophe)

L'ELICA, UN'ELICA (with apostrophe)

NOTE: Italians usually forget to write the apostrophe for the feminine UN', but it is quite useful for guessing the gender of a word.

== PARTITIVE ARTICLES ==
Partitive articles are used to show a general and not well specified quantity of a concept, that cannot be contextualised properly by the listener or the reader.
These articles are formed with the help of the preposition DI + a definite article, which will be chosen always according to the rules I explained before. However the combination of DI + a definite article gives birth to a new word.

We have:

DI + IL --> DEL

DI + LO --> DELLO (DELL' in front of words beginning with a vowel)

D + LA --> DELLA (DELL' in front of words beginning with a vowel)

DI + I --> DEI

DI + GLI --> DEGLI

DI + LE --> DELLE

Partitive articles are used for both countable and uncountable nouns. For uncountable nouns we use the singular versions DEL, DELLO, DELLA, while for countable nouns we use the plural forms DEI, DEGLI , DELLE. In both cases the best translation for a partitive article is "some":

DEL TEMPO (since we say "IL TEMPO", we use DI + IL = DEL): some time

DELL'ACQUA: some water

DELLO SPORCO: some dirt

DELLE MELE: some apples

DELLE COSE: some things

DEGLI ORSI: some bears

DEI CANI: some dogs

From a certain point of view, plural partitive articles can be considered as the plural form of an indefinite article: in fact the English "a, an" could be replaced with "one" and UN, UNO, UNA, actually mean "one" too! While "some" usually stands in place of "more than one", like the plural form of "a, an".

I ate an apple / I ate some apples --> Ho mangiato una mela / ho mangiato delle mele

== CHOSING THE RIGHT KIND OF ARTICLE ==
Even learning the theory sometimes is not enough and even if your mother language has articles, they are used differently in any language.

Using articles correctly in Italian is one of the most difficult thing to do. Just look at these few "rules":

'''POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES'''

Italian uses definite articles in front of possessive adjectives unlike English, Spanish or French, but like Portuguese:

IL MIO CANE --> my dog

LE MIE AMICHE --> my female friends

However we don't use them when we talk about relatives:

MIO ZIO --> my uncle

MIA SORELLA --> my sister

but only when singular, because when they are plural we need to use the article:

MIO ZIO / I MIEI ZII --> my uncle / my uncles

MIA SORELLA / LE MIE SORELLE --> my sister /my sisters

However, using the article even with singular relatives is possibile, but it gives a deep feeling of attachment, almost childish love

MIA MAMMA / LA MIA MAMMA --> my mum / my dear mum, my mummy

It maybe strange to hear for some of you, but we can also replace the definite articles with an indefinite or partitive articles meaning "a/some [s.t, or s.o.] of mine":

UN MIO COLLEGA --> a collegue of mine

UNA MIA PAURA --> a fear of mine

DELLE MIE SCARPE --> some shoes of mine

'''NATIONS AND CITIES'''

We use articles before every Nation with just a few exception

L'ITALIA --> Italy

LA FRANCIA --> France

LA TURCHIA --> Turky (Turkey)

However this is true when the Nation is subjects or complement not introduced by preposition IN: in this case articles must not be used:

IN ITALIA --> in Italy

IN FRANCIA --> in France

AMO L'ITALIA --> I love Italy

but

VIVO IN ITALIA --> I live in Italy.

However, some Nations are considered as plural nouns (like "the United States" or "the Philipines"): in these cases the article must always be used:

GLI STATI UNITI --> the United States

NEGLI STATI UNITI --> in the United States (NEGLI = IN + GLI)

LE FILIPPINE --> the Philipines

NELE FILIPPINE --> in the Philipines

Some Nations, as I said before, have no article at all and always appear with out it:

ISRAELE --> Israel

IN ISRAELE --> in Israel

SAN MARINO --> San Marino

IN SAN MARINO --> in San Marino

With cities we never use articles

PARIGI --> Paris

VIVO A PARIGI --> I live in Paris

Unless the city has an article inside the name like:

IL CAIRO --> Cairo

VIVO AL CAIRO --> I live in Cairo city ( AL = A + IL)

LA VELLA --> La Vella

VIVO ALLA VELLA --I live in La Vella

and unless you want to add information on the city as an adjunct:

LA PARIGI DEGLI ANNI VENTI --> Paris in the '20s

LA ROMA CHE NON HAI MAI VISTO --> The Rome you've never seen

'''TIME'''

The days of the week are preceded by the article only when we mean "usually every single day of the week"

ODIO IL LUNEDÌ --> i hate mondays

IL MARTEDÌ VADO IN PALESTRA --> I go to the gym every tuesday

But we don't use the article when the thing we are talking about is going to happen (or happened) only once on that precise day

CI VEDIAMO GIOVEDI' --> see you on thursday

SABATO SONO ANDATA AD UN CONCERTO --> I went to a concert on saturday

VENERDI' ABBIAMO UNA RIUNIONE --> we have a meeting planned for this friday

Months are never used with articles

ODIO OTTOBRE PERCHE' PIOVE SEMPRE --> I hate october because it's too rainy

A GENNAIO PARTO PER IL CANADA --> In January I'm going to Canada

Years, on the contrary, are always preceded by the article, unlike English

SIAMO NEL 2024 --> it's 2024 (NEL = IN + IL)

FORSE L'AMERICA FU SCOPERTA PRIMA DEL 1492 --> maybe America was discovered before 1492 (DEL = DI + IL)

IL 2001 E' STATO L'ANNO IN CUI E' NATO MIO FIGLIO --> 2001 was the year my son was born

We also use the article to tell the hour

SONO LE DUE --> it's two o'clock

CI VEDIAMO ALLE QUATTRO --> see you at 4 p.m (ALLE = A + LE)

To tell the day of the month we always use the article:

OGGI E' IL DUE (DI) APRILE --> today it's April the 2nd

L'HO VISTO IL 30 DI GIUGNO --> I saw him on June the 30th

'''GEOGRAPHY'''

Rivers, mountains, lakes, flat lands, sees are always preceded by an article

IL PO --> the Po river

SUL TAMIGI --> on the Thames

IL KILIMANGIARO --> Kilimanjaro

L'OUTBACK AUSTRALIANO --> the Australian Outback

NELL'OCEANO INDIANO --> in the Indian Ocean

AL LAGO MICHIGAN --> to Lake MIchigan (AL = A + IL)

Language/Italian/Grammar/Articles

2024-06-07T19:29:53Z

Davide93: /* DEFINITE ARTICLES */

Language/Italian/Grammar/Articles

2024-06-02T17:00:59Z

Davide93: /* DEFINITE AND INDEFINITE ARTICLES IN ITALIAN */

== DEFINITE AND INDEFINITE ARTICLES IN ITALIAN ==

=== WHAT'S AN ARTICLE ===
If you come from a language which does not use articles, these grammar elements could be quite difficult to understand.

An article is a word that marks a noun, giving the listener or the reader an important information about how specific or known this noun is, or, on the other hand, how general or unknown it is.

In fact, there are two main kinds of them: the definite articles, usually used to mark specific and known things, and the indefinite articles, usually used to mark general and unknown things. A third kind of articles is also used to mark a part or a certain amount of a thing, that is to say the partitive articles.

Articles are a variable part of the sentence and must be inflected according to gender and number. They are usually put immediately before the noun: sometimes (not so often really), an adjective or a very short little description can stand between the article and its noun.

However, not every noun should always be marked with an article: sometimes it must not be used.

Let us see how articles work in Italian.

=== DEFINITE ARTICLES ===
Definite articles are called "Articoli determinativi" in Italian and are the most variable ones. They come from Latin demonstrative adjectives like "those" or "that" and have the purpose to mark specific and well known things. In fact a noun is usually preceded by a definite article:

* when we mean a precise speciment of a concept/noun
* when we mean something we've already desbribed before
* when the thing we are talking about is already well known by the listener
* when the listener or the reader is already able to visualize in his or her head the precise thing we are talking about

For example: if I say "MELA" (meaning "apple") any of us will get a picture of an apple on its mind: but what is it like? Big or small? Green or red? Can I give a context to this apple in some way? I will never be sure.

Saying "LA MELA" (where "LA" is an article and means "THE") means giving "a context" to "apple" which has to be obvious to the listener or the reader: in this case we have a precise image of "the" apple we are talking about, or we know the context in which this "apple" is considered. One of the most important role of a definitive article is to bring the listener or the reader to think of a specific and contextualized concept, and not "one of the many possible specifiment of that concept".

You could almost imagine the definite articles to stand in place of a sentence like "the well known ..." or "the already mentioned..." or even "the one we've already talked about..." etc.

Definite articles are also used to mark the gender of a word and should always be used when learning a new one, not to forget its gender. In fact there are two genders for nouns in Italian and the same two genders for articles: a masculine noun needs a masculine article and a feminine noun needs a feminine article.

Plus, articles also mark the number of a noun, singular or plural: a singular noun needs a singular article, a plural noun needs a plural article.

So, if we could put all this information inside a table it would be like this:

{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="4" |''DEFINITE ARTICLES''
|-
| colspan="2" rowspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |'''NUMBER'''
|-
|'''Singular'''
|'''Plural'''
|-
| rowspan="2" |'''GENDER'''
|'''Masculine'''
|IL, LO
|I, GLI
|-
|'''Feminine'''
|LA
|LE
|}
So, masculine singular nouns get two masculine singular articles: "IL" or "LO"; masculine plural nounes get the plural masculine "I" or "GLI". Feminine singular nouns need the feminine article "LA", while feminine plural nouns need the feminine plural "LE".

As you can see, masculine nouns ar a bit trickier than the feminine ones: while for the latter we just use one article per number, mascluine nouns can use two of them. What article should be used, though?

'''MASCULINE ARTICLES'''

First of all it is important to remember that the Italian language does not have a neuter gender and that IL or LO and I or GLI are 100% masculine.

In order to choose the correct masculine article, we should start analyzing the sound the following word begins with. In fact certain sounds cannot stay with article IL and some others cannot stay with article LO.

Plus, notice I wrote "word" and not "noun": in fact, as an article usually stays right before its noun, we could think that a certain noun always requires the same article. However, if I put an adjective between the article and the noun (and in same cases it is correct to do that) I could find myself with a different sound right after the article, which could need to change in order to respect the rule of the sound I mentioned before.

Let us start from LO:

LO must be used before:

* S + Consonant, like before sounds /sk/, /sp/, /st/, /sf/, /zg/, /zb/, /zd/, /sv/, /zm/, /zn/, /zl/, /zr/
* S + C when they create sound /ʃ/
* Z, whether it is pronounced /ts/ or /dz/
* GN /ɲ/
* P + Consonant like in /pt/, /pn/, /ps/: these case are very rare in Italian and come mostly from Greek
*Words beginning with X, pronounced like /ks/ (very rare in Italian)
*Words beginning with J, I or Y pronounced as a half vowel /j/ (like "Yesterday")
* Words beginning with a vowel: in which case LO turns into L' (L + apostrophe)

Let us make a few example:

LO SCOIATTOLO --> the squirrel

LO SQUALO --> the shark

LO SPORCO --> the dirt

LO SCIENZIATO --> the scientist

LO ZIO --> the uncle

LO ZUCCHERO --> the sugar

LO ZAINO --> the backpack /rucksack

LO GNOMO --> the gnome

LO PSICOLOGO --> the psychologist

LO PENUMATICO --> the tire

LO IATO --> the hiatus

LO YOGURT --> the yogurt

LO XILOFONO --> the xylophone

L'ORSO --> the bear

L'ALBERO --> the tree

L'IDOLO --> the idol

L'AIUTO --> the aid / help

In any other case, the correct article is IL:

IL CANE --> the dog

IL GATTO --> the cat

IL PROBLEMA --> the problem

IL PORTONE --> the (big) door

IL TUONO --> the thunder

IL BRACCIO --> the arm

IL SUONO --> the sound

IL SILENZIO --> the silence

etc.

In order to better explain how the article isn't strictly connected to the noun, let me show you the following example:

IL CASO --> the case:

Since the word doesn't need the LO article, the right one is IL for exclusion. This noun is used inside the title of a famous book by Robert Louis Stevenson "The strange case of doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde". The Italian translation of this title is literal: "LO strano caso del dottor Jekyll e Mister Hyde". Even if saying "IL CASO" is correct since after the article we find the sound /ka/, once we put another word between them we need to riconsider things: STRANO (meaning "strange") begins with /st/ and befor S + consonant we need to use article LO. Thus we say IL CASO (the case), but LO STRANO CASO (the strange case).

So don't make the mistake of thinking that one article is "more masculine" than the other, or even that one article is neuter and the other is masculine.

Letter H represents a special case. Since almost no word beginns with an H in Italian (except for some conjugations of the verb "to have" which is pointless to mark with an article), the words that have an H as first letter are usually loan words. Even if in their origin language the H is pronounced, in Italian they are considered as words beginning with the following letter, which usually is a vowel. Let us see these examples:

HOBBY /'ob:i/

HOTEL /o'tɛl/

HORROR /'or:or/

HABITAT /'abitat/

HABITUÉ /abitu'e/

HARAKIRI /ara'kiri/

HOST /'ɔst/

HOTSPOT /ɔtspɔt/

All these words are now part of the Italian language but they are all mispronounced according to the Italian phonetics. It is highly probable that foreign words get into the Italian language keeping the original gender, but they get the masculine gender if the origin language sees them as neuter or genderless, espacially if they come from English (and these example are all masculine in fact),. If we needed to give an article to these words it would be L' (L + apostrophe), as if they all began with a vowel.

L'HOBBY, L'HOTEL, L'HORROR, L'HOST etc.

There is an exception, though, that happened relatively recently: the movie "The Hobbit" by Peter Jackson has been traslated with "LO HOBBIT". More and more people are making the effort of pronouncing the H in foreign words and are realising that is quite impossible to pronounce /lh/ at the beginning of a word, so they kept the "O" of LO to pronounce /lo'hɔb:it/. This is just an exception for now, though: the rules say you should us L' before words starting with H + vowel.

-- work in progress --

Language/Italian/Grammar/Articles

2024-06-02T16:29:13Z

Davide93: /* DEFINITE ARTICLES */

== DEFINITE AND INDEFINITE ARTICLES IN ITALIAN ==

=== WHAT'S AN ARTICLE ===
If you come from a language which does not use articles, these grammar elements could be quite difficult to understand.

An article is a word that marks a noun, giving the listener or the reader an important information about how specific or known this noun is, or, on the other hand, how general or unknown it is.

In fact, there are two main kinds of them: the definite articles, usually used to mark specific and known things, and the indefinite articles, usually used to mark general and unknown things. A third kind of articles is also used to mark a part or a certain amount of a thing, that is to say the partitive articles.

Articles are a variable part of the sentence and must be inflected according to gender and number. They are usually put immediately before the noun: sometimes (not so often really), an adjective or a very short little description can stand between the article and its noun.

However, not every noun should always be marked with an article: sometimes it must not be used.

Let us see how articles work in Italian.

=== DEFINITE ARTICLES ===
Definite articles are called "Articoli determinativi" in Italian and are the most variable ones. They come from Latin demonstrative adjectives like "those" or "that" and have the purpose to mark specific and well known things. In fact a noun is usually preceded by a definite article:

* when we mean a precise speciment of a concept/noun
* when we mean something we've already desbribed before
* when the thing we are talking about is already well known by the listener
* when the listener or the reader is already able to visualize in his or her head the precise thing we are talking about

For example: if I say "MELA" (meaning "apple") any of us will get a picture of an apple on its mind: but what is it like? Big or small? Green or red? Can I give a context to this apple in some way? I will never be sure.

Saying "LA MELA" (where "LA" is an article and means "THE") means giving "a context" to "apple" which has to be obvious to the listener or the reader: in this case we have a precise image of "the" apple we are talking about, or we know the context in which this "apple" is considered. One of the most important role of a definitive article is to bring the listener or the reader to think of a specific and contextualized concept, and not "one of the many possible specifiment of that concept".

You could almost imagine the definite articles to stand in place of a sentence like "the well known ..." or "the already mentioned..." or even "the one we've already talked about..." etc.

Definite articles are also used to mark the gender of a word and should always be used when learning a new one, not to forget its gender. In fact there are two genders for nouns in Italian and the same two genders for articles: a masculine noun needs a masculine article and a feminine noun needs a feminine article.

Plus, articles also mark the number of a noun, singular or plural: a singular noun needs a singular article, a plural noun needs a plural article.

So, if we could put all this information inside a table it would be like this:

{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="4" |''DEFINITE ARTICLES''
|-
| colspan="2" rowspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |'''NUMBER'''
|-
|'''Singular'''
|'''Plural'''
|-
| rowspan="2" |'''GENDER'''
|'''Masculine'''
|IL, LO
|I, GLI
|-
|'''Feminine'''
|LA
|LE
|}
So, masculine singular nouns get two masculine singular articles: "IL" or "LO"; masculine plural nounes get the plural masculine "I" or "GLI". Feminine singular nouns need the feminine article "LA", while feminine plural nouns need the feminine plural "LE".

As you can see, masculine nouns ar a bit trickier than the feminine ones: while for the latter we just use one article per number, mascluine nouns can use two of them. What article should be used, though?

First of all it is important to remember that the Italian language does not have a neuter gender and that IL or LO and I or GLI are 100% masculine.

In order to choose the correct masculine article, we should start analyzing the sound the following word begins with. In fact certain sounds cannot stay with article IL and some others cannot stay with article LO.

Plus, notice I wrote "word" and not "noun": in fact, as an article usually stays right before its noun, we could think that a certain noun always requires the same article. However, if I put an adjective between the article and the noun (and in same cases it is correct to do that) I could find myself with a different sound right after the article, which could need to change in order to respect the rule of the sound I mentioned before.

Let us start from LO:

LO must be used before:

* S + Consonant, like before sounds /sk/, /sp/, /st/, /sf/, /zg/, /zb/, /zd/, /sv/, /zm/, /zn/, /zl/, /zr/
* S + C when they create sound /ʃ/
* Z, whether it is pronounced /ts/ or /dz/
* GN /ɲ/
* P + Consonant like in /pt/, /pn/, /ps/: these case are very rare in Italian and come mostly from Greek
*Words beginning with J, I or Y pronounced as a half vowel /j/ (like "Yesterday")
* Words beginning with a vowel: in which case LO turns into L' (L + apostrophe)

Let us make a few example:

LO SCOIATTOLO --> the squirrel

LO SQUALO --> the shark

LO SPORCO --> the dirt

LO SCIENZIATO --> the scientist

LO ZIO --> the uncle

LO ZUCCHERO --> the sugar

LO ZAINO --> the backpack /rucksack

LO GNOMO --> the gnome

LO PSICOLOGO --> the psychologist

LO PENUMATICO --> the tire

LO IATO --> the hiatus

LO YOGURT -- the yogurt

L'ORSO --> the bear

L'ALBERO --> the tree

L'IDOLO --> the idol

L'AIUTO --> the aid / help

In any other case, the correct article is IL:

IL CANE --> the dog

IL GATTO --> the cat

IL PROBLEMA --> the problem

IL PORTONE --> the (big) door

IL TUONO --> the thunder

IL BRACCIO --> the arm

IL SUONO --> the sound

IL SILENZIO --> the silence

etc.

In order to better explain how the article isn't strictly connected to the noun, let me show you the following example:

IL CASO --> the case:

Since the word doesn't need the LO article, the right one is IL for exclusion. This noun is used inside the title of a famous book by Robert Louis Stevenson "The strange case of doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde". The Italian translation of this title is literal: "LO strano caso del dottor Jekyll e Mister Hyde". Even if saying "IL CASO" is correct since after the article we find the sound /ka/, once we put another word between them we need to riconsider things: STRANO (meaning "strange") begins with /st/ and befor S + consonant we need to use article LO. Thus we say IL CASO (the case), but LO STRANO CASO (the strange case).

So don't make the mistake of thinking that one article is "more masculine" than the other, or even that one article is neuter and the other is masculine.

Letter H represents a special case. Since almost no word beginns with an H in Italian (except for some conjugations of the verb "to have" which is pointless to mark with an article), the words that have an H as first letter are usually loan words. Even if in their origin language the H is pronounced, in Italian are considered as words beginning with the following letter, which usually is a vowel. Let us see these examples

Language/Italian/Grammar/Articles

2024-06-02T13:19:21Z

Davide93: /* DEFINITIVE AND UNDEFINITIVE ARTICLES IN ITALIAN */

Language/Italian/Grammar/Articles

2024-06-02T12:06:14Z

Davide93: Created page with "== DEFINITIVE AND UNDEFINITIVE ARTICLES IN ITALIAN == === WHAT'S AN ARTICLE === If you come from a language which does not use articles, these elements could be quite difficult to understand. An article is a word that marks a noun, giving the listener or the reader an important information about how specific or known this noun is, or, on the other hand, how general or unknown this noun is. In fact, there are two main kinds of them: the definitive articles, usually use..."

== DEFINITIVE AND UNDEFINITIVE ARTICLES IN ITALIAN ==

=== WHAT'S AN ARTICLE ===
If you come from a language which does not use articles, these elements could be quite difficult to understand.

An article is a word that marks a noun, giving the listener or the reader an important information about how specific or known this noun is, or, on the other hand, how general or unknown this noun is.

In fact, there are two main kinds of them: the definitive articles, usually used to mark specific and known things, and the indefinitive articles, usually used to mark general and unknown things. A third kind of articles is also used to mark a part or a certain amount of a thing, that is to say the partitive articles.

Articles are a variable part of the sentence and must be inflected according to gender and number.

However, not every noun should always be marked with an article: sometimes it must not be used. When, though?

Let us see.

=== DEFINITIVE ARTICLES ===
Definitive articles are called "Articoli determinativi" in Italian and are the most variable ones. They come from demonstrative Latin adjectives like "this" or "these" and have the purpose to mark specific and well known things. In fact a noun is usually preceded by a definitive article:

* when we mean a precise speciment of a concept/noun
* when we mean something we've already desbribed before
* when the thing we are talking about is already well known by the listener
* when the listener or the reader is already able to visualize in his or her head the precise thing we are talking about

For example: if I say "MELA" (meaning "apple") any of us will get a picture of an apple in its mind: but how is it? Big or small? Green or red? Can I give a context to this apple in some way? I will never be sure.

Saying "LA MELA" (where "LA" is an article and means "THE") means giving "a context" to "apple" which has to be obvious to the listener or the reader: in this case we have a precise image of "the" apple we are talking about, or we know the context in which this "apple" is considered. One of the most important role of a definitive article is to bring the listener or the reader to think of a specific and contextualized concept, and not "one of the many possible specifiment of that concept".

Definitve articles are also used to mark the gender of a word and should always be used when learning a new word, not to forget its gender. In fact there are two genders for nouns in Italian and the same two genders for articles: a masculine noun needs a masculine article and a feminine noun needs a feminine article.

Plus, articles also mark the number of a noun, singular or plural: a singular noun needs a singular article, a plural noun needs a plural article.

So, if we could put all this information inside a table it will be like this:

{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="4" |''DEFINITIVE ARTICLES''
|-
| colspan="2" rowspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |'''NUMBER'''
|-
|'''Singular'''
|'''Plural'''
|-
| rowspan="2" |'''GENDER'''
|'''Masculine'''
|IL, LO
|I, GLI
|-
|'''Feminine'''
|LA
|LE
|}
--work in progess--

Language/Italian/Grammar/Italian-Alphabet

2024-06-02T11:14:10Z

Davide93: /* CLUSTERS OF LETTERS */

{{Italian-Page-Top}}

<div class="pg_page_title">Italian Grammar - Italian Alphabet and Pronunciation</div>

__TOC__

== 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:

{| class="wikitable"
! 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: V'''UOI''' /vwɔi/, where we have ascending UO /wɔ/ + discending OI /oi/ (this means "you want")
* triphthong made of ascending + discending diphthong: G'''UAI''' /gwai/, where we have ascending UA /wa/ + discending AI /ai/ (this means "trouble")
* triphthong made of two ascending diphthongs: CONTIN'''UIA'''MO /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 P'''O-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'''-R'''E-O'''
* hiatus made between vowels that could make a diphthong: VIA /'via/, (it means "road, street, avenue"); it is syllabized as V'''I-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 B'''A-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:

#First step is recognizing vowels and consonants; Italian only has 5 vowels, A, E, I, O, U, while the other letters are all consonants
# 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.
#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.
#A consonant can be preceded only by '''letter S''' inside the same syllable like in STO, SLE, SFA, SBI etc.
#the two rules above con be applied together, so we can find syllables like STRA, SFRE, SCLU etc.
#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
#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
#There are some special clusters of letters that cannot be separated since together they make a new different sound:
##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
##GIA, GIE (rare), GIO, GIU /dʒa/, /dʒe/, /dʒo/, /dʒu/: same as before but considering sound /dʒ/ instead of /tʃ/
##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
##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
##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
##PN and PS: these are clusters coming from Greek (only used in Italian for technical o scientific terms) and must not be separated
##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-'<nowiki/>'''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-'<nowiki/>'''tʃi'''-a/ making the same effect as explained above; same goes for COMPAGNIA /kom-pa-''''ɲi'''-a/
#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
#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:

CR'''''E'''''DERE: 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

ASPRAM'''''E'''''NTE: 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

INFLORESC'''''E'''''NZA: 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

CONT'''''I''''' 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

PU'''''O'''''I: 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

MAG'''''I'''''A: 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==
* [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://accademiadellacrusca.it/it/consulenza/divisione-in-sillabe/302

{{#seo:
|title=Italian Grammar - Italian Alphabet
|keywords=Italian, Alphabet, Pronunciation, Diacritics, Accents, Italian Language
|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>

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Language/Italian/Grammar/Italian-Alphabet

2024-06-02T11:13:25Z

Davide93:

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<div class="pg_page_title">Italian Grammar - Italian Alphabet and Pronunciation</div>

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== 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:

{| class="wikitable"
! 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: V'''UOI''' /vwɔi/, where we have ascending UO /wɔ/ + discending OI /oi/ (this means "you want")
* triphthong made of ascending + discending diphthong: G'''UAI''' /gwai/, where we have ascending UA /wa/ + discending AI /ai/ (this means "trouble")
* triphthong made of two ascending diphthongs: CONTIN'''UIA'''MO /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 P'''O-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'''-R'''E-O'''
* hiatus made between vowels that could make a diphthong: VIA /'via/, (it means "road, street, avenue"); it is syllabized as V'''I-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 B'''A-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:

#First step is recognizing vowels and consonants; Italian only has 5 vowels, A, E, I, O, U, while the other letters are all consonants
# 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.
#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.
#A consonant can be preceded only by '''letter S''' inside the same syllable like in STO, SLE, SFA, SBI etc.
#the two rules above con be applied together, so we can find syllables like STRA, SFRE, SCLU etc.
#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
#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
#There are some special clusters of letters that cannot be separated since together they make a new different sound:
##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
##GIA, GIE (rare), GIO, GIU /dʒa/, /dʒe/, /dʒo/, /dʒu/: same as before but considering sound /dʒ/ instead of /tʃ/
##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
##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
##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
##PN and PS: these are clusters coming from Greek (only used in Italian for technical o scientific terms) and must not be separated
##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-'<nowiki/>'''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-'<nowiki/>'''tʃi'''-a/ making the same effect as explained above; same goes for COMPAGNIA /kom-pa-''''ɲi'''-a/
#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
#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:

CR'''''E'''''DERE: 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

ASPRAM'''''E'''''NTE: 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

INFLORESC'''''E'''''NZA: 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

CONT'''''I''''' 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

PU'''''O'''''I: 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

MAG'''''I'''''A: 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==
* [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://accademiadellacrusca.it/it/consulenza/divisione-in-sillabe/302

{{#seo:
|title=Italian Grammar - Italian Alphabet
|keywords=Italian, Alphabet, Pronunciation, Diacritics, Accents, Italian Language
|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>

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Language/Italian/Grammar/Italian-Alphabet

2024-06-02T10:45:53Z

Davide93: /* ALPHABET AND PRONUNCIATION OF THE LETTERS */

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<div class="pg_page_title">Italian Grammar - Italian Alphabet and Pronunciation</div>

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== 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:

{| class="wikitable"
! 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")

- /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: V'''UOI''' /vwɔi/, where we have ascending UO /wɔ/ + discending OI /oi/ (this means "you want")
* triphthong made of ascending + discending diphthong: G'''UAI''' /gwai/, where we have ascending UA /wa/ + discending AI /ai/ (this means "trouble")
* triphthong made of two ascending diphthongs: CONTIN'''UIA'''MO /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 P'''O-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'''-R'''E-O'''
* hiatus made between vowels that could make a diphthong: VIA /'via/, (it means "road, street, avenue"); it is syllabized as V'''I-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 B'''A-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:

#First step is recognizing vowels and consonants; Italian only has 5 vowels, A, E, I, O, U, while the other letters are all consonants
# 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.
#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.
#A consonant can be preceded only by '''letter S''' inside the same syllable like in STO, SLE, SFA, SBI etc.
#the two rules above con be applied together, so we can find syllables like STRA, SFRE, SCLU etc.
#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
#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
#There are some special clusters of letters that cannot be separated since together they make a new different sound:
##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
##GIA, GIE (rare), GIO, GIU /dʒa/, /dʒe/, /dʒo/, /dʒu/: same as before but considering sound /dʒ/ instead of /tʃ/
##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
##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
##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
##PN and PS: these are clusters coming from Greek (only used in Italian for technical o scientific terms) and must not be separated
##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-'<nowiki/>'''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-'<nowiki/>'''tʃi'''-a/ making the same effect as explained above; same goes for COMPAGNIA /kom-pa-''''ɲi'''-a/
#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
#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:

CR'''''E'''''DERE: 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

ASPRAM'''''E'''''NTE: 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

INFLORESC'''''E'''''NZA: 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

CONT'''''I''''' 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

PU'''''O'''''I: 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

MAG'''''I'''''A: 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==
* [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://accademiadellacrusca.it/it/consulenza/divisione-in-sillabe/302

{{#seo:
|title=Italian Grammar - Italian Alphabet
|keywords=Italian, Alphabet, Pronunciation, Diacritics, Accents, Italian Language
|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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Language/Italian/Grammar/Italian-Alphabet

2024-06-01T00:27:24Z

Davide93: /* CLUSTERS OF LETTERS */

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<div class="pg_page_title">Italian Grammar - Italian Alphabet and Pronunciation</div>

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== 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:

{| class="wikitable"
! 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 not stressed and inside the 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 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")

- /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 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''' ==
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 consonants 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 /'gob:a/ --> humpback
* ROCA /'rɔka/ --> raspy (voice) - ROCCA /'rɔk:a/ --> little fortress
* VOCE /'votʃe/ --> voice - FACCIA /'fat:ʃa/ --> 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 /'mad:ʒo/ --> 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, double:

* RAZIONE /rat'tsjone/ --> ration, portion - PAZZO /'pat:so/ --> 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 /w, 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. In these cases I or U are still pronounced clearly but are considered non-syllabic vowels and are sometimes considered as halfvowel as well, even if in terms of pronounciation they are not. 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: V'''UOI''' /vwɔi/, where we have ascending UO /wɔ/ + discending OI /oi/ (this means "you want")
* triphthong made of ascending + discending diphthong: G'''UAI''' /gwai/, where we have ascending UA /wa/ + discending AI /ai/ (this means "trouble")
* triphthong made of two ascending diphthongs: CONTIN'''UIA'''MO /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 P'''O-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'''-R'''E-O'''
* hiatus made between vowels that could make a diphthong: VIA /'via/, (it means "road, street, avenue"); it is syllabized as V'''I-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 B'''A-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 is actually considerd 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 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 (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 it 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 to always mark in written form the stressed vowel and to repeat it 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)

* '''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. 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). 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:

#First step is recognizing vowels and consonants; Italian only has 5 vowels, A, E, I, O, U, while the other letters are all consonants
# 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.
#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.
#A consonant can be preceded only by '''letter S''' inside the same syllable like in STO, SLE, SFA, SBI etc.
#the two rules above con be applied together, so we can find syllables like STRA, SFRE, SCLU etc.
#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.), 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
#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
#There are some special clusters of letters that cannot be separated since together they make a new different sound:
##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
##GIA, GIE (rare), GIO, GIU /dʒa/, /dʒe/, /dʒo/, /dʒu/: same as before but considering sound /dʒ/ instead of /tʃ/
##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
##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
##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
##PN and PS: these are clusters coming from Greek (only used in Italian for technical o scientific terms) and must not be separated
##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-'<nowiki/>'''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-'<nowiki/>'''tʃi'''-a/ making the same effect as explained above; same goes for COMPAGNIA /kom-pa-''''ɲi'''-a/
#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
#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:

CR'''E'''DERE: 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

ASPRAM'''E'''NTE: 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

INFLORESC'''E'''NZA: 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

CONT'''I'''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

PU'''O'''I: 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

MAG'''I'''A: M looks for the following vowel A, G looks for the following vowel that seems to be a diphthong: however the stress is exactly on I so this creates a hiatus between it and A and 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) 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 sometimes

However Italian people love to talk, usually try to understand a foreigner 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 avoid 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==
* [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://accademiadellacrusca.it/it/consulenza/divisione-in-sillabe/302

<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, Alphabet, Pronunciation, Diacritics, Accents, Italian Language
|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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Language/Italian/Grammar/Italian-Alphabet

2024-05-31T20:08:09Z

Davide93: /* CLUSTERS OF LETTERS */

{{Italian-Page-Top}}

<div class="pg_page_title">Italian Grammar - Italian Alphabet and Pronunciation</div>

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== 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:

{| class="wikitable"
! 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 not stressed and inside the 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 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")

- /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 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''' ==
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 consonants 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.)

Sometimes words spelled and pronounced with short consonants or with than long ones mean different things, 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; if you you hear a double consonant things get a bit more difficult.

Anyway here are examples with all the letters and sounds:

* RUBA /'ruba/ --> he/she/it stoles - GOBBA /'gob:a/ --> humpback
* ROCA /'rɔka/ --> raspy (voice) - ROCCA /'rɔk:a/ --> little fortress
* VOCE /'votʃe/ --> voice - FACCIA /'fat:ʃa/ --> face
* SEDERE /se'dere/ --> to seat - 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 /'mad:ʒo/ --> 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 /'

''- work in progress -<br />''_________________________________________________________________________ ___ ___ __ __ _ _ _

'''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 /w, 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. In these cases I or U are still pronounced clearly but are considered non-syllabic vowels and are sometimes considered as halfvowel as well, even if in terms of pronounciation they are not. 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: V'''UOI''' /vwɔi/, where we have ascending UO /wɔ/ + discending OI /oi/ (this means "you want")
* triphthong made of ascending + discending diphthong: G'''UAI''' /gwai/, where we have ascending UA /wa/ + discending AI /ai/ (this means "trouble")
* triphthong made of two ascending diphthongs: CONTIN'''UIA'''MO /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 P'''O-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'''-R'''E-O'''
* hiatus made between vowels that could make a diphthong: VIA /'via/, (it means "road, street, avenue"); it is syllabized as V'''I-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 B'''A-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 is actually considerd 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 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 (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 it 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 to always mark in written form the stressed vowel and to repeat it 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)

* '''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. 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). 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:

#First step is recognizing vowels and consonants; Italian only has 5 vowels, A, E, I, O, U, while the other letters are all consonants
# 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.
#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.
#A consonant can be preceded only by '''letter S''' inside the same syllable like in STO, SLE, SFA, SBI etc.
#the two rules above con be applied together, so we can find syllables like STRA, SFRE, SCLU etc.
#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.), 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
#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
#There are some special clusters of letters that cannot be separated since together they make a new different sound:
##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
##GIA, GIE (rare), GIO, GIU /dʒa/, /dʒe/, /dʒo/, /dʒu/: same as before but considering sound /dʒ/ instead of /tʃ/
##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
##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
##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
##PN and PS: these are clusters coming from Greek (only used in Italian for technical o scientific terms) and must not be separated
##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-'<nowiki/>'''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-'<nowiki/>'''tʃi'''-a/ making the same effect as explained above; same goes for COMPAGNIA /kom-pa-''''ɲi'''-a/
#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
#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:

CR'''E'''DERE: 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

ASPRAM'''E'''NTE: 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

INFLORESC'''E'''NZA: 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

CONT'''I'''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

PU'''O'''I: 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

MAG'''I'''A: M looks for the following vowel A, G looks for the following vowel that seems to be a diphthong: however the stress is exactly on I so this creates a hiatus between it and A and 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 to pronounciation is, but compared to others, like Finnish for example, Italian is less consistent. For example:

* we have 3 letters the 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) exists but it is an artifical pronunciation 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 sometimes

However Italian people love to talk, usually try to understand a foreigner 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 avoid 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 they are stressed or not; no vowel can become silent outside the rules explained in this file
* 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 encounter, 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.

<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://accademiadellacrusca.it/it/consulenza/divisione-in-sillabe/302

<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, Alphabet, Pronunciation, Diacritics, Accents, Italian Language
|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>

{{Italian-0-to-A1-Course-TOC}}

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Language/Italian/Grammar/Italian-Alphabet

2024-05-31T19:35:00Z

Davide93:

{{Italian-Page-Top}}

<div class="pg_page_title">Italian Grammar - Italian Alphabet and Pronunciation</div>

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== 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:

{| class="wikitable"
! 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 not stressed and inside the 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 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")

- /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 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''' ==
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 consonants 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.)

Sometimes words spelled and pronounced with short consonants or with than long ones mean different things, 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; if you you hear a double consonant things get a bit more difficult.

Anyway here are examples with all the letters and sounds:

* RUBA /'ruba/ --> he/she/it stoles - GOBBA /'gob:a/ --> humpback
* ROCA /'rɔka/ --> raspy (voice) - ROCCA /'rɔk:a/ --> little fortress
* VOCE /'votʃe/ --> voice - FACCIA /'fat:ʃa/ --> face
* SEDERE /se'dere/ --> to seat - 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 /'mad:ʒo/ --> 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 /

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

'''CONSONANT CLUSTERS CREATING DIFFERENT SOUNDS'''

* '''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 /w, 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. In these cases I or U are still pronounced clearly but are considered non-syllabic vowels and are sometimes considered as halfvowel as well, even if in terms of pronounciation they are not. 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: V'''UOI''' /vwɔi/, where we have ascending UO /wɔ/ + discending OI /oi/ (this means "you want")
* triphthong made of ascending + discending diphthong: G'''UAI''' /gwai/, where we have ascending UA /wa/ + discending AI /ai/ (this means "trouble")
* triphthong made of two ascending diphthongs: CONTIN'''UIA'''MO /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 P'''O-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'''-R'''E-O'''
* hiatus made between vowels that could make a diphthong: VIA /'via/, (it means "road, street, avenue"); it is syllabized as V'''I-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 B'''A-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 is actually considerd 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 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 (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 it 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 to always mark in written form the stressed vowel and to repeat it 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)

* '''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. 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). 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:

#First step is recognizing vowels and consonants; Italian only has 5 vowels, A, E, I, O, U, while the other letters are all consonants
# 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.
#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.
#A consonant can be preceded only by '''letter S''' inside the same syllable like in STO, SLE, SFA, SBI etc.
#the two rules above con be applied together, so we can find syllables like STRA, SFRE, SCLU etc.
#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.), 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
#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
#There are some special clusters of letters that cannot be separated since together they make a new different sound:
##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
##GIA, GIE (rare), GIO, GIU /dʒa/, /dʒe/, /dʒo/, /dʒu/: same as before but considering sound /dʒ/ instead of /tʃ/
##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
##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
##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
##PN and PS: these are clusters coming from Greek (only used in Italian for technical o scientific terms) and must not be separated
##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-'<nowiki/>'''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-'<nowiki/>'''tʃi'''-a/ making the same effect as explained above; same goes for COMPAGNIA /kom-pa-''''ɲi'''-a/
#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
#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:

CR'''E'''DERE: 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

ASPRAM'''E'''NTE: 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

INFLORESC'''E'''NZA: 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

CONT'''I'''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

PU'''O'''I: 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

MAG'''I'''A: M looks for the following vowel A, G looks for the following vowel that seems to be a diphthong: however the stress is exactly on I so this creates a hiatus between it and A and 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 to pronounciation is, but compared to others, like Finnish for example, Italian is less consistent. For example:

* we have 3 letters the 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) exists but it is an artifical pronunciation 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 sometimes

However Italian people love to talk, usually try to understand a foreigner 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 avoid 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 they are stressed or not; no vowel can become silent outside the rules explained in this file
* 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 encounter, 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.

<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://accademiadellacrusca.it/it/consulenza/divisione-in-sillabe/302

<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, Alphabet, Pronunciation, Diacritics, Accents, Italian Language
|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===
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<div class="pg_page_title">Italian Grammar - Italian Alphabet and Pronunciation</div>

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== 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:

{| class="wikitable"
! 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 not stressed and inside the 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 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")

- /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 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''' ==
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 consonants 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.)

Sometimes words spelled and pronounced with short consonants or with than long ones mean different things, 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; if you you hear a double consonant things get a bit more difficult.

Anyway here are examples with all the letters and sounds:

* RUBA /'ruba/ --> he/she/it stoles - GOBBA /'gob:a/ --> humpback
* ROCA /'rɔka/ --> raspy (voice) - ROCCA /'rɔk:a/ --> little fortress
* VOCE /'votʃe/ --> voice - FACCIA /'fat:ʃa/ --> face
* SEDERE /se'dere/ --> to seat - 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 /'mad:ʒo/ --> 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 /

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

'''CONSONANT CLUSTERS CREATING DIFFERENT SOUNDS'''

* '''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 /w, 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. In these cases I or U are still pronounced clearly but are considered non-syllabic vowels and are sometimes considered as halfvowel as well, even if in terms of pronounciation they are not. 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: V'''UOI''' /vwɔi/, where we have ascending UO /wɔ/ + discending OI /oi/ (this means "you want")
* triphthong made of ascending + discending diphthong: G'''UAI''' /gwai/, where we have ascending UA /wa/ + discending AI /ai/ (this means "trouble")
* triphthong made of two ascending diphthongs: CONTIN'''UIA'''MO /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 P'''O-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'''-R'''E-O'''
* hiatus made between vowels that could make a diphthong: VIA /'via/, (it means "road, street, avenue"); it is syllabized as V'''I-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 B'''A-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 is actually considerd 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 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 (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 it 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 to always mark in written form the stressed vowel and to repeat it 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)

* '''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. 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). 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:

#First step is recognizing vowels and consonants; Italian only has 5 vowels, A, E, I, O, U, while the other letters are all consonants
# 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.
#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.
#A consonant can be preceded only by '''letter S''' inside the same syllable like in STO, SLE, SFA, SBI etc.
#the two rules above con be applied together, so we can find syllables like STRA, SFRE, SCLU etc.
#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.), 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
#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
#There are some special clusters of letters that cannot be separated since together they make a new different sound:
##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
##GIA, GIE (rare), GIO, GIU /dʒa/, /dʒe/, /dʒo/, /dʒu/: same as before but considering sound /dʒ/ instead of /tʃ/
##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
##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
##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
##PN and PS: these are clusters coming from Greek (only used in Italian for technical o scientific terms) and must not be separated
##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-'<nowiki/>'''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-'<nowiki/>'''tʃi'''-a/ making the same effect as explained above; same goes for COMPAGNIA /kom-pa-''''ɲi'''-a/
#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
#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:

CR'''E'''DERE: 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

ASPRAM'''E'''NTE: 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

INFLORESC'''E'''NZA: 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

CONT'''I'''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

PU'''O'''I: 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

MAG'''I'''A: M looks for the following vowel A, G looks for the following vowel that seems to be a diphthong: however the stress is exactly on I so this creates a hiatus between it and A and 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 to pronounciation is, but compared to others, like Finnish for example, Italian is less consistent. For example:

* we have 3 letters the 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) exists but it is an artifical pronunciation 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 sometimes

However Italian people love to talk, usually try to understand a foreigner 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 avoid 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 they are stressed or not; no vowel can become silent outside the rules explained in this file
* 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 encounter, 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.

<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://accademiadellacrusca.it/it/consulenza/divisione-in-sillabe/302

<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, Alphabet, Pronunciation, Diacritics, Accents, Italian Language
|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>

{{Italian-0-to-A1-Course-TOC}}

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Language/Italian/Grammar/Italian-Alphabet

2024-05-31T17:42:17Z

Davide93: /* SYLLABIZING */

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<div class="pg_page_title">Italian Grammar - Italian Alphabet and Pronunciation</div>

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== 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:

{| class="wikitable"
! 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''' ==
Some sounds do not have a specific letter, but a cluster of letters

'''CONSONANT CLUSTERS CREATING DIFFERENT SOUNDS'''

* '''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 other vowels are pronounced clearly as always, so '''IA /ja/, IE /je/ or /jɛ/, IO /jo/ or /jɔ/, IU /ju/''' and '''UA /wa/, UE /we/ or /w, 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 a English Y and U with an English W)
* '''discending diphthongs''': these are dipthongs in which the clear and stress vowel is the first one while the following one is I or U. In these cases I or U are still pronounced clearly but are considered non-syllabic vowel and are sometimes considered as halfvowel as well, even if in terms of pronounciation they are not. 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).

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

* triphthong made of ascending + discending diphthong: V'''UOI''' /vwɔi/, where we have ascending UO /wɔ/ + discending OI /oi/ (this means "you want")
* triphthong made of ascending + discending diphthong: G'''UAI''' /gwai/, where we have ascending UA /wa/ + discending AI /ai/ (this means "trouble")
* triphthong made of two ascending diphthongs: CONTIN'''UIA'''MO /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 wrong. 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 P'''O-E'''-TA
* hiatus made between vowels that do not create a diphthong by nature: AEREO /a'ɛɾeo/ (it means "plain"); this word has two hiatuses, one between A and E and the other between E and O); it is syllabized as '''A-E'''-R'''E-O'''
* hiatus made between vowels that could make a diphthong: VIA /'via/, (it means "road, street, avenue"); it is syllabized as V'''I-A'''
* hiatus made between vowels that could make a diphthong: BAULE /ba'ule/, (it means "(trasure)chest, trunk"); it is syllabized as B'''A-U'''-LE

== 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"

== STRESS ==
In the Italian language stress cannot 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 to always mark in written form the stressed vowel and to repeat it 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)

* 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 (preparoxytone 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)

* '''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. 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). 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 it will be easier for some new words guessing their stress, 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 anding 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 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:

#First step is recognizing vowels and consonants; Italian only has 5 vowels, A, E, I, O, U, while the other letters are all consonants
# A consonant always need a vowel after it so the most typical Italian syllable is made of consonant plus vowel, like BA, PE, SU, RI, CO, ZE etc.
#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.
#A consonant can be preceded only by '''letter S''' inside the same syllable like in STO, SLE, SFA, SBI etc.
#the two rules above con be applied together, so we can find syllables like STRA, SFRE, SCLU etc.
#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.), 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
#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
#There are some special clusters of letters that cannot be separated since together they make a new different sound:
##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
##GIA, GIE (rare), GIO, GIU /dʒa/, /dʒe/, /dʒo/, /dʒu/: same as before but considering sound /dʒ/ instead of /tʃ/
##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
##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
##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
##PN and PS: these are clusters coming from Greek (only used in Italian for technical o scientific terms) and must not be separated
##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-'<nowiki/>'''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-'<nowiki/>'''tʃi'''-a/ making the same effect as explained above; same goes for COMPAGNIA /kom-pa-''''ɲi'''-a/
#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
#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:

CR'''E'''DERE: 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

ASPRAM'''E'''NTE: 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

INFLORESC'''E'''NZA: 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

CONT'''I'''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

PU'''O'''I: 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

MAG'''I'''A: M looks for the following vowel A, G looks for the following vowel that seems to be a diphthong: however the stress is exactly on I so this creates a hiatus between it and A and must be separated (G will only take I)

* MA - GI - A
<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://accademiadellacrusca.it/it/consulenza/divisione-in-sillabe/302

<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, Alphabet, Pronunciation, Diacritics, Accents, Italian Language
|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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Language/Italian/Grammar/Italian-Alphabet

2024-05-31T15:00:19Z

Davide93: /* Syllabizing */

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<div class="pg_page_title">Italian Grammar - Italian Alphabet and Pronunciation</div>

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== 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:

{| class="wikitable"
! 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''' ==
Some sounds do not have a specific letter, but a cluster of letters

'''CONSONANT CLUSTERS CREATING DIFFERENT SOUNDS'''

* '''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 other vowels are pronounced clearly as always, so '''IA /ja/, IE /je/ or /jɛ/, IO /jo/ or /jɔ/, IU /ju/''' and '''UA /wa/, UE /we/ or /w, 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 a English Y and U with an English W)
* '''discending diphthongs''': these are dipthongs in which the clear and stress vowel is the first one while the following one is I or U. In these cases I or U are still pronounced clearly but are considered non-syllabic vowel and are sometimes considered as halfvowel as well, even if in terms of pronounciation they are not. 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).

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

* triphthong made of ascending + discending diphthong: V'''UOI''' /vwɔi/, where we have ascending UO /wɔ/ + discending OI /oi/ (this means "you want")
* triphthong made of ascending + discending diphthong: G'''UAI''' /gwai/, where we have ascending UA /wa/ + discending AI /ai/ (this means "trouble")
* triphthong made of two ascending diphthongs: CONTIN'''UIA'''MO /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 wrong. 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 P'''O-E'''-TA
* hiatus made between vowels that do not create a diphthong by nature: AEREO /a'ɛɾeo/ (it means "plain"); this word has two hiatuses, one between A and E and the other between E and O); it is syllabized as '''A-E'''-R'''E-O'''
* hiatus made between vowels that could make a diphthong: VIA /'via/, (it means "road, street, avenue"); it is syllabized as V'''I-A'''
* hiatus made between vowels that could make a diphthong: BAULE /ba'ule/, (it means "(trasure)chest, trunk"); it is syllabized as B'''A-U'''-LE

== 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"

== STRESS ==
In the Italian language stress cannot 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. When learning Italian, I suggest you to always mark in written form the stressed vowel and to repeat it 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)

* 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 (preparoxytone 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)

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

- parole bisdrucciole: words on stress on the fourth syllable counting from the end. 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). 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.

== 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 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.

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 and must be learnt by heart, like AIUTARE ('''vvv'''-c-v-c-v), CIAO (c-'''vvv'''), POETA (c-'''vv'''-c-v)

In order to syllabyze coretly:

# First step is recognizing vowels and consonants; Italian only has 5 vowels, A, E, I, O, U, while the other letters are all consonants (just do as you've seen above)
# Second: clusters of consonants must be separated according to the following rules:
#* clusters that creates different sounds cannot be separated: as we've seen above, GN (+ vowel) /ɲ'''/''', GL (+ I + vowel) '''/'''ʎ'''/''' SC(+ I or E) '''/'''ʃ'''/'''
#* letter S cannot be separated from the consonant the follows, so SB, SC, SD, SF, SG, SL, SM, SN, SP, SQ, SR, ST, SV will stick together
#* letters L and R cannot be separated form the consonant the precede (except the cluster -RL-), so BL, BR, CL, CR, DL, DR, FL, FR, GL, GR, ML, MR,

First rule to know is:

* every syllable must have only one vowel or one diphthong or one triphthong inside, and it could begin or end with one or more consonants. So the types of syllable we have are:
** "'''V'''" or "'''VV'''" or "'''VVV'''" - only one vowel/diphthong: '''A'''-BI-TA-RE, '''EU'''-RO-PA
** consonant(s) + vowel/diphthong: '''CRE'''-DE-RE, '''SPRO'''-FON-DA-RE
** vowel/diphthong + consonant(s): '''AR'''-RI-VA-RE
** consonant(s) + vowel/diphthong + consonant(s): '''COR'''-SA

* when you see more consonants attached one to the other, they must be devided according to these rules:
** R and L remain attached to the consonant before: AP- '''PRE'''-SO, RE-'''CLA'''-MO
** N and M

== 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://accademiadellacrusca.it/it/consulenza/divisione-in-sillabe/302

<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, Alphabet, Pronunciation, Diacritics, Accents, Italian Language
|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>

{{Italian-0-to-A1-Course-TOC}}

[[Category:Course]]
[[Category:Italian-Course]]
[[Category:0-to-A1-Course]]
[[Category:Italian-0-to-A1-Course]]

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Language/Italian/Grammar/Italian-Alphabet

2024-05-31T10:22:34Z

Davide93:

Language/Italian/Grammar/Italian-Alphabet

2024-05-19T20:33:29Z

Davide93: /* Sources */

<span pgnav>
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|[[Language/Italian/Grammar/Nouns-and-Articles|Next Lesson — Nouns and Articles ▶️]]
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<div class="pg_page_title">Italian Grammar - Italian Alphabet</div>

__TOC__

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.

<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 ==

The Italian alphabet includes the following 26 letters:

{| class="wikitable"
! 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!

<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)/

<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, Alphabet, Pronunciation, Diacritics, Accents, Italian Language
|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>

{{Italian-0-to-A1-Course-TOC}}

[[Category:Course]]
[[Category:Italian-Course]]
[[Category:0-to-A1-Course]]
[[Category:Italian-0-to-A1-Course]]

{{Italian-Page-Bottom}}
<span links></span>
<span pgnav>
{| class="wikitable pg_template_nav"

|[[Language/Italian/Grammar/Nouns-and-Articles|Next Lesson — Nouns and Articles ▶️]]
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Language/Italian/Grammar/Italian-Alphabet

2024-05-19T20:28:45Z

Davide93: /* Accents and Diacritics */

<span pgnav>
{| class="wikitable pg_template_nav"

|[[Language/Italian/Grammar/Nouns-and-Articles|Next Lesson — Nouns and Articles ▶️]]
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{{Italian-Page-Top}}

<div class="pg_page_title">Italian Grammar - Italian Alphabet</div>

__TOC__

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.

<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 ==

The Italian alphabet includes the following 26 letters:

{| class="wikitable"
! 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!

<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]

<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, Alphabet, Pronunciation, Diacritics, Accents, Italian Language
|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>

{{Italian-0-to-A1-Course-TOC}}

[[Category:Course]]
[[Category:Italian-Course]]
[[Category:0-to-A1-Course]]
[[Category:Italian-0-to-A1-Course]]

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Language/Italian/Grammar/Italian-Alphabet

2024-05-19T18:55:06Z

Davide93: /* Accents and Diacritics */

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<div class="pg_page_title">Italian Grammar - Italian Alphabet</div>

__TOC__

Italian's alphabet contains 21 letters (5 vowels and 16 consonants). The letters J, K, W, X, and Y are only used in foreign names, and in scientific or technical terms of foreign origin.

<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 ==

The Italian alphabet includes the following 21 letters:

{| class="wikitable"
! 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.
|}

== 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.

Their 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 were once used the circumflex accent and the umlaut accent 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 wirds 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!

<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]

<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, Alphabet, Pronunciation, Diacritics, Accents, Italian Language
|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>

{{Italian-0-to-A1-Course-TOC}}

[[Category:Course]]
[[Category:Italian-Course]]
[[Category:0-to-A1-Course]]
[[Category:Italian-0-to-A1-Course]]

{{Italian-Page-Bottom}}
<span links></span>
<span pgnav>
{| class="wikitable pg_template_nav"

|[[Language/Italian/Grammar/Nouns-and-Articles|Next Lesson — Nouns and Articles ▶️]]
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Language/Italian/Grammar/Italian-Alphabet

2024-05-19T13:10:22Z

Davide93: /* Italian Alphabet */

<span pgnav>
{| class="wikitable pg_template_nav"

|[[Language/Italian/Grammar/Nouns-and-Articles|Next Lesson — Nouns and Articles ▶️]]
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{{Italian-Page-Top}}

<div class="pg_page_title">Italian Grammar - Italian Alphabet</div>

__TOC__

Italian's alphabet contains 21 letters (5 vowels and 16 consonants). The letters J, K, W, X, and Y are only used in foreign names, and in scientific or technical terms of foreign origin.

<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 ==

The Italian alphabet includes the following 21 letters:

{| class="wikitable"
! 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.
|}

== Accents and Diacritics ==

'''ACCENTS'''

Every language uses accents for different purposes: in French for example they are mostly used to show the correct pronunciation of a vowel, to distinguish homophone words that have different grammar roles, but they are not used to show the stress, since it is implicit that it always falls on the last syllable; in Castellano, on the other hand, it have the purpose to distinguish homophone words with different grammar roles, to show the right stress when needed, but it is hardly used to show the correct pronunciation of a vowel, since it is very regular already (the only exception could be the dieresis on Ü when the letter must be pronounced in syllables GÜE, GÜI, because it would be silent otherwise).

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.

Their purposes are the following ones:

- distinguishing 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)

- marking 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 we knoe we 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/

- distinguishing homograph words that olny differs for the stress; '''non''' '''mandatory for correct spelling'''

*

=== Acute Accent (L'accento Acuto) ===

The acute accent (´) shows that the vowel 'e' and 'o' are closed, thus pronounced respectively as /e/ and /o/. It must be written only when:
*

=== Grave Accent (L'accento Grave) ===

The grave accent (`) that in Italian is called l'accento grave, is used exclusively on the vowel "e" and "a". It specifies a different pronunciation, indicating that the stressed syllable is on the penultimate syllable, while without an accent in the same word with the stressed syllable on the final vowel. It is also used to distinguish homographic words.

Examples:
* né (nor) - stressed on 'e'
* ne' (short for 'nei' or 'nella', in the + female/male/feminine/masculine) - stressed on 'e'
* là (there) - stressed on 'a'
* la (the + feminine) - stressed on final 'a'

=== Circonflexe Accent (L'accento Circonflesso) ===

The circumflex accent (ˆ) that in Italian is called l'accento circonflesso, is only applied on the vowel "i" and "u". When applied on the vowel "i" it indicates that it is pronounced separately from the other vowels in the word.

Example:
* vergogna (shame) - pronounced as "ver-gò-gna"

While when on the vowel "u", an accent is placed to distinguish homophonic forms.

Examples:
* tuo (your + masculine) ~ to (so)
* su (on) ~ sù (up)

=== Diaresis (La dieresi) ===

The diaeresis (¨) that in Italian is called la dieresi, is placed on the vowel "i" and "u" to indicate that these vowels are to be pronounced separately.

Example:
* lingua (*language) - pronounced as "lin-gua" with separate "i"

== 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]

<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, Alphabet, Pronunciation, Diacritics, Accents, Italian Language
|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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