Mastering the Italian Alphabet With a Pronunciation Guide to the ABCs

51

Diving into a new language by consuming advanced content is an irresistible temptation for an avid language learner like you. Songs, movies, and social media are great ways to immerse yourself in a new language and culture.

However, starting with ABC is the basis of everything and essential in your learning path. The good news is that the Italian alphabet is the easiest part of Italian grammar. So, get familiar with it in the blink of an eye while you learn Italian with the Rosetta Stone App.

How many letters does the Italian alphabet have?

While the English alphabet has 26 letters, the Italian alphabet has only 21 letters.

• Five vocali (vowels): a, e, i, o, u
• Sixteen consonanti (consonants): b, c, d, f, g, h, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, z

The Italian alphabet is straightforward to learn for English speakers because the letters’ positions are the same in both languages. Also, it’s missing five letters compared to English, so you have fewer letters to learn!

The five missing consonants in the Italian alphabet are: j, k, w, x, y. Even though these letters are not part of the alphabet, all Italian speakers use them in loanwords and foreign and native names. Here are some examples:

• the city Jesolo (a popular holiday destination in Italy)
• the fruit kiwi
• the word “weekend” (which is used as frequently as its Italian counterpart: fine settimana)
• words from ancient Greek like xilofono (xylophone) and xenofobia (xenophobia)
• loanwords like yogurt and yoga

How do you pronounce the Italian letters of the alphabet?

Italian is a phonetic language, meaning that learning Italian pronunciation is easy because you simply pronounce nearly every letter in a word. The chart below shows you how to say the letter in Italian, and how it sounds when you put it into a word. You’ll see a few letters have unique sounds to learn!

*There can be regional variations for pronouncing the letter “v.”

Italian pronunciation has evolved faster than writing, so not all of the Italian letters of the alphabet have a unique sound. The chart above shows how to pronounce the Italian alphabet letters. Each letter has a unique name, but some letters can produce two or more sounds depending on the letters that come before or after them in a word.

For instance, the letter “c” has two distinct sounds:

• oca (goose) has the sound “k,” like “class” in English.
• luce (light) has a softer sound of “ch,” like “cheese.”

Additionally, pronunciation can vary significantly by region. In some parts of Italy, vowel sounds are more “open,” while people in cities like Bologna tend to have a softer pronunciation of certain consonants, such as the letter “z.”

However, Italian pronunciation is still very easy compared to French or English. So, learning the Italian alphabet will be a piece of cake for you and accelerate your learning journey.

How to pronounce “cc” in Italian

You can learn the rules for how to pronounce a double “c” or “cc” in Italian. You may notice they’re actually the same as for a single “c.”

• “cc” sounds like “k” when it comes before consonants and the vowels a, o, or u
  • macchina is pronounced ma-KEE-nah
• “cc” sounds like “ch” when it comes before vowels e and i
  • cuccia is pronounced KOO-chya (the “eyuh” sound from the “y” is barely noticeable)

How do Italians pronounce the five foreign letters in the Italian alphabet?

People usually refer to these five consonants as the missing or foreign letters. But, even if the Italian language alphabet officially excludes them, they are not truly foreign.

The letter “k” and “x” were largely used in the volgari (the languages spoken locally before the standardization of the Italian language alphabet). Until about 1300, notarial documents used “k” instead of the letter “c.” Also, the use of “x” and “y” was so widespread that the grammarian Ludovico Dolce lists them among the Italian letters of the alphabet in his 1550 study of the volgari.

A rule of thumb to understand Italian accent marks

Accent marks help you correctly pronounce words when you speak Italian. They can also differentiate between different meanings, like e (and) and é (is), or se (if) and sé (oneself). The good news is that learning how to use Italian accents is effortless if you memorize these three easy rules:

1. There are only two accent marks in Italian: the accento acuto (acute accent), like é, and the accento grave (grave accent), like è.
2. The acute accent is found only on the letter “e.”
3. Accent marks only apply to vowels at the end of a word.

How to use the Italian acute accent

The acute accent mark only applies to the letters “e.” You will find it in:

• Preposizioni (prepositions) ending in “-che”
  • perché = why/because
  • poiché = since
  • purché = as long as), etc.
• Congiunzioni (conjunctions) with just one syllable:
  • Non voglio né l’una né l’altra. = I don’t want either one or the other.
• The pronome (pronoun) sé (oneself/himself/herself):
  • Deve prendersi cura di sé. = He must take care of himself.

The acute accent influences Italian pronunciation by making the vowel sound “closed” and shorter. So, when you see an “-é” at the end of a word, pronounce it like the “e” in “they,” but quicker and more clipped. For example, in perché (why/because), the “é” is pronounced with a tighter and more focused sound.

How to use the Italian grave accent

The grave accent applies to all vowels: à, è, ì, ò, and ù.

It makes a vowel sound more “open” and longer. When a word ends with “-è,” pronounce it like the “e” in “bet.” For example, in caffè (coffee), the è has a broader, more relaxed sound like “say.”

Examples of Italian words with grave accents are:

• città = city
• caffè = coffee
• lì = there
• però = but
• virtù = virtue

Important: Italian accents can be crucial for distinguishing between words or letters with different meanings.

For example, you must always use the grave accent to write the third person singular of the verb “to be” in Italian—è (he/she/it is)—to differentiate it from the conjunction e (and):

• Andrew è un bravo ragazzo. = Andrew is a good boy.
  Andrew e un bravo ragazzo. = Andrew and a good boy.

Other examples where the Italian letters of the alphabet can change the meaning of a word, depending on whether they are accented or not, include:

• da (from/since) / dà (he/she gives)
• di (of) / dì (day)
• la (feminine of the article “the”) / là (there)
• si (itself/herself/himself or the musical note B) / sì (yes)

Something to keep in mind about emphasizing syllables in Italian

Italian also has accent marks in the middle of words, but these are only pronounced and never written. For example, the word telefono (telephone) is pronounced teh-LEH-foh-no. There is a natural emphasis on the second “e,” but no accent is written to show that, just as there isn’t in most languages.

In Italian, all words have a natural emphasis called accento tonico. The emphasis can be on:

• the second-to-last syllable
  • matita (pencil) = “mah-TEE-tah”
• the third-to-last syllable
  • telefono (telephone) = “teh-LEH-foh-no”
• the fourth-to-last syllable
  • telefonami (call me) = “teh-LEH-foh-nah-mee”
• the last syllable
  • caffè (coffee) = “kah-FEH”

The emphasis is only indicated with an accent mark when it is on the last syllable (except for monosyllables or words ending with an apostrophe).

There is no other way to know where the emphasis is in these three categories but by checking a dictionary. But don’t worry, it’s something you’ll learn as you practice listening to how Italian words are spoken! 

And finally, a little cultural tip: when writing by hand, many Italians don’t always distinguish between acute and grave accents. Don’t be surprised if you see an acute accent where there should be a grave one! It’s a common practice for convenience that applies to handwriting. However, following the correct accent rules in typed or formal text is important to avoid mistakes.

How to spell Italian words

If you master the Italian alphabet, you can simply state the name of each letter instead of each pronunciation or sound. However, learning how Italians spell words, may be an excellent ally to quickly fill communication gaps.

Imagine you are in Italy and have to spell your name to an Italian speaker who needs you to get it right for an important document. Perhaps your name includes the letter “h,” which is silent in Italian. Knowing the Italian alphabet will help you pronounce it! 

For example, if you want to spell the name “Sarah”, you can do it like this:

• “s” = esse (say: “ehs-seh”)
• “a” = a (“aah”)
• “r” = erre (“ehr-reh”)
• “a” = a (“aah”)
• “h” = acca (“ahk-kah”)

What if the name or word you want to spell includes the letter “p” or “d” which sound very similar, especially over the phone? In cases like this, Italians spell the word using a phonetic alphabet with words like:

• place names
• objects
• common words that start with the same letter.

Using the alphabet pronunciation above, to spell the name “Sarah” using this spelling method, you would say:

• “s” = esse di Savona
• “a” = a di Ancona
• “r” = erre di Roma
• “a” = a di Ancona
• “h” = acca di hotel

In essence, you’re saying “s” as in Savona, “a” as in Ancona and so on. This is extremely common in Italy, more so than is typical in the United States.

The following chart shows the common cities and nouns used to spell a name or word in Italian.

If you find it hard to remember the names of the cities, don’t worry. Feel free to use any word in Italian, starting with the letter you want to spell. Italians will understand you perfectly if you use ciao (hi) instead of Como.

Things to know about the Italian alphabet

If you love a good story, the birth of the Italian alphabet has some interesting behind-the-scenes information. Like many other Romance languages in English, the Italian alphabet uses the Latin alphabet derived from the Greek alphabet. The Greeks adopted the Phoenician syllabic system, creating the revolutionary idea of a one-sound-one-sign correspondence instead of using symbols to represent objects in the world.

This became the foundation of the alphabet used in Italian today. However, the Italian alphabet didn’t officially exist until the 1500s! Even after creating the alphabet, deciding which letters to include or exclude was debated for many years.

From Latin to Italian alphabet: the letters “k”, “x”, “y”, and “u”

Latin has 23 letters, including “k,” “x,” and “y,” which are absent in the Italian language alphabet. However, these letters kept being used for years, even in official documents.

In addition, the Latin alphabet did not have the letter “u”—the letter “v” served double duty as both a consonant and a vowel. And the distinction between “u” and “v” wasn’t established in Italian until the 17th and 18th centuries.

The letter “k” was later replaced by “c.” As a fun fact: The license plate code for the city Crotone is “KR,” which comes from its ancient name Kroton. Similarly, the letter “j” was officially excluded from the Italian alphabet in the 1500s but continued to appear in texts by many writers for centuries. It still pops up in the names of cities like Jesolo and Jesi.

The controversy even led to amusing situations, like debates over the inclusion and use of certain letters. These discussions even sparked a new genre known as the satira alfabetica (alphabet satire). It’s a collection of humorous poems targeting and criticizing the grammatical rules set by the Accademia della Crusca, the oldest linguistic academy in the world.

From ABC to mastering Italian with Rosetta Stone

Now that you have unveiled all the secrets of the Italian alphabet, niente ti potrà fermare (nothing can stop you!). Every step of your journey into the Italian language and culture will be fantastic, from the first shy buongiorno (good morning) to confidently mastering an entire conversation.

Rosetta Stone is the best companion to do so! Starting from its proven Dynamic Immersion method, which divides your learning path into easy-to-digest, bite-size lessons, to the TruAccent speech recognition engine that uses AI to perfect your pronunciation in real-time.