The Vowel Sound i/ee/ – “Rhymes with Tree” | ITALIAN LANGUAGE NUGGET o’ the week | Navigating Pronunciation Landmines

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Buongiornoooo! This week’s Language Nugget is brought to you by yet another pronunciation landmine Vowel Sound – today we’re looking at the Italian Vowel Sound i – which in Italian rhymes with tree and we (so really, it’s the Italian Vowel Sound /ee/) … Think of “This Little Piggy cried wee-wee-wee.”

For English speakers, this is one of the biggest pronunciation landmines… for a number of reasons… and mispronouncing it seems to be a hard habit to break.  Training/re-training the brain to pronounce it correctly – as simple of a sound as it is – proves very challenging for most students – even for those who’ve studied Spanish.

[Side note: The Italian Vowel Sound i is a non-issue for native and fluent Spanish speakers, since this letter has the same sound in both languages.]

Anatomy of the Italian Vowel Sound i/ee/

So for starters, the good news:  In Italian this vowel only ever sounds like /ē/, the long E English vowel sound that you hear in words like tree, bee, me, we, free, leave, teen, feel, sleep… I could go on, but I think you get the idea.

The wrong way to say it is like the short i, /ĭ/, English vowel, as in the words knit, sip, big, win, think, click, and ring.

Well alright, if it’s so darn simple, why is it so tricky? I think it’s because there are so many Italian-English cognates with the letter i.

[Cognate is a nerdy language term that refers to words that look and sound similar between two languages.]

Cognates are your friends in that they’re like instant vocabulary boosters because you can easily guess what they mean, and that also makes them easy to remember.

But cognates are sometimes a double-edged sword. Since they do look so similar, your brain and mouth are used to pronouncing them in one way, and (at least linguistically) once you know something well, you kind of go into autopilot mode. So, while understanding/remembering the meaning of a cognate is super easy, pronouncing it takes extra effort.

Commonly Mispronounced Italian Vowel Sound i/ee/ Words

The two biggest offenders, because of how common they are in Italian, are probably the words il (the) and in (has a plethora of meanings: in, to, into, by, made of).

Then there’s the trifecta of signore/signora/signorina (which also contain the gn sound).

Some commonly mispronounced cognates: diverso, minuto, cominciare, continuare, finire, visitare, camminare (also contains the frequently butchered Vowel Sound A), dimenticare, iniziare, sicuro, lista, informazione, ventilatore, condizionale, vicino, Vittorio.

Words beginning with the combination in are also frequently mispronounced, such as insieme, infatti, invece, inoltre.

Rarely Mispronounced Cognates with the Vowel Sound i/ee/

Proof that our brain often operates on autopilot (unless we intervene) is shown by cognates that in English are pronounced with same /ee/ sound as in Italian: ripetere (repeat), ritornare (return), rispondere (respond), ricevere (receive), and pizza.

Since the English equivalent contains the same /ree/ sound, English speakers rarely get these wrong. That’s because brain-muscle memory from the equivalent English words help them to automatically get it right, without needing to think about it.

Suggestions for Getting the Italian Vowel Sound i/ee/ Right (Avoiding icky pronunciation)

As with other language nuggets and pronunciation landmines I’ve highlighted in this series, practice makes perfect, and as I like to say, repetition is the mother of improvement. The Italian Vowel Sound i/ee/ is not hard to pronounce. It is as always, a question of looking before you leap and thinking before you speak.

I recommend making a list of target Italian words containing the Vowel Sound i/ee/, like the examples mentioned earlier.

Become Your Own Vowel Police

Get really clear on what the right and wrong pronunciation of the Italian Vowel Sound i/ee/ should feel like in your mouth and sound like in your ears. Train your brain to

Can’t see the forest for the trees? See trees in the i’s!

associate the letter i with a tree… so that when you come across an Italian word containing i you say aloud (or think of the actual word) “tree.”

Then with that memory fresh in your mind and mouth, proceed to pronounce the Italian word. 

Also build the habit of monitoring how the sound comes out of your mouth… if you pronounce the i as it would be in the English word ick, then it is in fact icky… say it again, aiming for the vowel sound in tree.

Read your Vowel Sound i/ee/ word list over and over, focusing meticulously on your pronunciation. Periodically record and listen to yourself to see how you’re doing. In time it will become habit and second nature.

Most importantly, be patient and kind with yourself, enjoy this journey, and remember: Language acquisition is an over time process, not an overnight phenomenon 😀

– Are you saying it correctly?? Listen to the mini podcast of this Language Nugget to hear and practice saying these words right!

Leave a comment! Is the Italian Vowel Sound i/ee/ easy or tricky for you? Are there any words that really trip you up? Let me know what other Italian pronunciation landmines you’d like me to cover. Love to hear your comments!

Word Glossary

• il | the
• in |  in, to, into, by, made of
• signore | Mr., mister, sir, gentleman
• signora | Ms., Mrs., ma’m, madam, lady, woman
• signorina
• diverso | miss, unmarried woman
• minuto | minute
• cominciare | to start, begin, commence
• continuare | to continue
• finire | to finish
• visitare | to visit
• camminare | to walk
• dimenticare | to forget
• iniziare | to begin, start, launch
• sicuro | secure, certain, safe, sure
• lista | list
• informazione | information
• ventilatore | fan, ventilator
• condizionale | conditional
• vicino | near, close (in the vicinity), neighbor
• Vittorio | Victor
• insieme | together
• infatti | in fact
• invece | instead
• inoltre | besides, moreover, also, in addition