Audio-ABCs & Special Sounds

 

Italian Alphabet & Special Sounds

PART 1

PART 2

 

L’alfabeto Italiano A    /ah/ B    /bee/ C    /chee/ D    /dee/ E    /ay/ F    /ehf-ay/ G    /gee/ H    /ahka/ (always silent) I     /ee/ J*   /ee loonga/ K*   /kahp-pah/ L     /ehl-ay/ M    ehm-ay * These are “foreign” letters.

N      /ehn-ay/ O      /oh/ P      /pee/ Q      /koo/ R      /ehrr-ay/ S      /ehss-ay/ T      /tee/ U     /ooh/ V      /vooh/ W*   /voo dohp-pyah/ X*    /eeks/ Y*    /eep-see-lon/ Z      /dzay-tah/

le vocali A      /ah/ E**/ay, eh/ (NB) I**   /ee/ O      /oh/ U      /ooh/ NB: E is usually /ay/, but when followed by 2 or more consonants; it is usually /eh/, or the English “short e”.   *Super Vowels, or “Softies” that give the ‘c’ and ‘g’ a soft sound.

 The letters C & G – hard or soft sound?

Soft ‘C’ = /ch/ church,     Hard ‘C’ = /k/ clock,  Soft ‘G’ = /j/ giant,            Hard ‘G’ = /g/ go

 

Memory Trick:

There are only two cases where ‘G ‘& ‘C ‘are soft:

===> when followed immediately by ‘e’ or ‘i’.

 ‘G’ & ‘C’ are hard when followed by any other letter.

Phonetic Pronunciation Guide (letters between slash marks / / indicate the English phonetic pronunciation)

ci /chee/, chi /kee/, ca /kah/,  ga /gah/, ghi /gee/, gi /jee/, ce /chey/, che /kay/, co /koh/, go /go/, ghe /gay/, ge /jay/, cu /kooh/, gu /gooh/

Esempi / Examples

Soft C & G:

cinque, Sicilia, città, Giorgio, parmiggiano

cento, piacere, concerto

gentile, generale, gente

Hard C & G:

chiesa, paghiamo, che, spaghetti

carino, gara, corretto, cuore,

albergo, guasto

Other Sounds

gn /n-y/ (g is silent) gnocchi, sognare, signora, signore

gli /lyee/ (g is silent) moglie, maglietta, tagliatelle, migliore, famiglia

sc + i or e: /sh/ sciarpa, scelta; sc + any other letter: /sk/ scuola, scarpa

z inside a word: /ts/ stazione, iniziativa; 1^st letter in a word: /ts or dz/ zia, zero

zz /ts/ (held slightly longer than single z) pizza, pazzo, piazza, Abruzzo

s between 2 vowels: /z/ casa, positivo; 1^st letter in a word: /s/ studente, sabato

ss /ss/ cassa, passare

Double consonants: Hold sound twice as long as single consonants: sete vs. sette.

Double consonants fall into 2 different syllables, e.g., sette /set-tay/ vs. sete /say-tay/