{"id":22291,"date":"2023-12-05T16:12:39","date_gmt":"2023-12-05T16:12:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/?p=22291"},"modified":"2023-12-05T17:59:37","modified_gmt":"2023-12-05T17:59:37","slug":"the-italian-alphabet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/en\/the-italian-alphabet\/","title":{"rendered":"The Italian alphabet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Alternar tabla de contenidos\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #636363;color:#636363\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #636363;color:#636363\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/en\/the-italian-alphabet\/#A_guide_on_how_to_master_the_Italian_alphabet_pronunciation\" >A guide on how to master the Italian alphabet &amp; pronunciation.<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/en\/the-italian-alphabet\/#The_basics_of_the_Italian_alphabet\" >The basics of the Italian alphabet<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/en\/the-italian-alphabet\/#The_Italian_alphabet_and_phonetic_pronunciation\" >The Italian alphabet and phonetic pronunciation<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/en\/the-italian-alphabet\/#Foreign_consonants\" >Foreign consonants<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/en\/the-italian-alphabet\/#Vowels_and_accents\" >Vowels and accents<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/en\/the-italian-alphabet\/#Practice_by_reading_the_following_words\" >Practice by reading the following words<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/en\/the-italian-alphabet\/#Italian_Alphabet_Chart\" >Italian Alphabet Chart<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/en\/the-italian-alphabet\/#Pronunciation_rules\" >Pronunciation rules<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/en\/the-italian-alphabet\/#C_and_G\" >C and G<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/en\/the-italian-alphabet\/#H_%E2%80%93_Acca\" >H &#8211; Acca<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/en\/the-italian-alphabet\/#S_%E2%80%93_Esse_Z_%E2%80%93_Zeta\" >S &#8211; Esse &amp; Z &#8211; Zeta<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"A_guide_on_how_to_master_the_Italian_alphabet_pronunciation\"><\/span><strong>A guide on how to master the Italian alphabet &amp; pronunciation.<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The Italian alphabet (alfabeto italiano) is the foundation of the Italian language, it is usually the first thing you learn when you begin taking Italian classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Italian language is derived from Latin and it is a phonetic language. This means that all words are pronounced the way they are written. The sounds (phonemes) and letters (graphemes) in this phonetic language are almost completely matched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Understanding the pronunciation of an Italian word becomes very easy and logical after learning the alphabet and its sounds, even if you don&#8217;t know the meaning. In contrast to English, where the correlation between sounds and letters is very weak, you may be able to pronounce Italian words correctly on the first try.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are twenty-six letters in the Italian alphabet, but some letters, depending on their position in a word, can have two or more different ways of pronunciation. Hence if we take those into account, we will realize that the number of sounds, or \u201cphonemes\u201d in the Italian language is thirty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_basics_of_the_Italian_alphabet\"><\/span><strong>The basics of the Italian alphabet<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The Italian alphabet is a Latin-based alphabet and it consists of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00b7&nbsp; <strong>5 vowels<\/strong> <em>A \u2013 E \u2013 I \u2013 O \u2013 U<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00b7&nbsp; <strong>16 Italian consonants <\/strong><em>B \u2013 C \u2013 D \u2013 F \u2013 G \u2013 H \u2013 L \u2013 M \u2013 N \u2013 P \u2013 Q \u2013 R \u2013 S \u2013 T \u2013 V \u2013 Z<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00b7&nbsp; <strong>5 foreign consonants<\/strong> <em>J \u2013 K \u2013 W \u2013 X \u2013 Y&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All these letters are shared by the English alphabet, but their Italian pronunciation is not the same!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Try to read all the Italian letters&#8217; pronunciation out loud, it\u2019s excellent practice for your mouth to get used to the new sounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2430\" height=\"1204\" src=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/alphabet-did-you-know.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-22297\" srcset=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/alphabet-did-you-know.png 2430w, https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/alphabet-did-you-know-1280x634.png 1280w, https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/alphabet-did-you-know-980x486.png 980w, https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/alphabet-did-you-know-480x238.png 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) and (max-width: 1280px) 1280px, (min-width: 1281px) 2430px, 100vw\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Italian_alphabet_and_phonetic_pronunciation\"><\/span><strong>The Italian alphabet and phonetic pronunciation<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table is-style-stripes\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Letter<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Letter name<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Phonetic transcription<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Letter<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Letter name<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Phonetic transcription<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>A<\/td><td><em>a<\/em><\/td><td><em>aah<\/em><\/td><td>N<\/td><td><em>enne<\/em><\/td><td><em>ehn-neh<\/em><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>B<\/td><td><em>bi<\/em><\/td><td><em>bee<\/em><\/td><td>O<\/td><td><em>o<\/em><\/td><td><em>oh<\/em><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>C<\/td><td><em>ci<\/em><\/td><td><em>chee<\/em><\/td><td>P<\/td><td><em>pi<\/em><\/td><td><em>pee<\/em><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>D<\/td><td><em>di<\/em><\/td><td><em>dee<\/em><\/td><td>Q<\/td><td><em>qu<\/em><\/td><td><em>koo<\/em><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>E<\/td><td><em>e<\/em><\/td><td><em>eh<\/em><\/td><td>R<\/td><td><em>erre<\/em><\/td><td><em>ehr-reh<\/em><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>F<\/td><td><em>effe<\/em><\/td><td><em>ehf-feh<\/em><\/td><td>S<\/td><td><em>esse<\/em><\/td><td><em>Ehs-seh<\/em><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>G<\/td><td><em>gi<\/em><\/td><td><em>gee<\/em><\/td><td>T<\/td><td><em>ti<\/em><\/td><td><em>tee<\/em><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>H<\/td><td><em>acca<\/em><\/td><td><em>ahk-kah<\/em><\/td><td>U<\/td><td><em>u<\/em><\/td><td><em>ooh<\/em><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>I<\/td><td><em>i<\/em><\/td><td><em>ee<\/em><\/td><td>V<\/td><td><em>vi \/ vu&nbsp;<\/em><\/td><td><em>vee \/ voo<\/em><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>L<\/td><td><em>elle<\/em><\/td><td><em>ehl-leh<\/em><\/td><td>Z<\/td><td><em>zeta<\/em><\/td><td><em>dze-tah<\/em><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>M<\/td><td><em>emme<\/em><\/td><td><em>ehm-meh<\/em><\/td><td><em>&nbsp;<\/em><\/td><td><em>&nbsp;<\/em><\/td><td><em>&nbsp;<\/em><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Foreign_consonants\"><\/span><strong>Foreign consonants<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As we mentioned earlier, the official Italian alphabet does not include J, K, W, X, and Y, but they still appear in foreign words acquired by the Italian language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table is-style-stripes\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Letter<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Italian letter name<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Phonetic transcription<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>J-j<\/td><td><em>i lunga<\/em><\/td><td><em>ee loon-gah<\/em><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>K-k<\/td><td><em>kappa<\/em><\/td><td><em>kah-ppa<\/em><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>W-w<\/td><td><em>vu doppia<\/em><\/td><td><em>voo dohp-piah<\/em><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>X-x<\/td><td><em>ics<\/em><\/td><td><em>eeks<\/em><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Y-y<\/td><td><em>ipsilon \/ i greca<\/em><\/td><td><em>ee-psee-lon<\/em><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Vowels_and_accents\"><\/span><strong>Vowels and accents<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There are five vowels in the Italian alphabet: <strong>A, E, I, O, U<\/strong>. Unlike in English, vowels always have the same pronunciation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In general, Italian vowels are longer than English ones, and are always pronounced clearly whether they\u2019re at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of a word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Vowels in Italian are very important. As you probably have noticed, Italian words have many vowels, and they almost always end in a vowel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1a1T_YChMKETaXTAQlyb6rbq5SdaOCHe-\/view\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2494\" height=\"628\" src=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/ITALIAN-ALPHABET-DOWNLOAD.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-22294\" srcset=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/ITALIAN-ALPHABET-DOWNLOAD.png 2494w, https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/ITALIAN-ALPHABET-DOWNLOAD-1280x322.png 1280w, https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/ITALIAN-ALPHABET-DOWNLOAD-980x247.png 980w, https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/ITALIAN-ALPHABET-DOWNLOAD-480x121.png 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) and (max-width: 1280px) 1280px, (min-width: 1281px) 2494px, 100vw\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Practice_by_reading_the_following_words\"><\/span><strong>Practice by reading the following words<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table is-style-stripes\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Letter<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>IPA<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Sounds like in English<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Example words<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>A<\/td><td>a<\/td><td>ah (like the \u201ca\u201d sound in \u201cfather\u201d)<\/td><td>amare, ascoltare, antica, antipatica<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>E <em>(open)<\/em><\/td><td>\u03b5<\/td><td>eh (like the \u201ce\u201d in \u201cbet\u201d)<\/td><td>bene, leggi, testa, zero<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>E <em>(closed)<\/em><\/td><td>e<\/td><td>eh (like the \u201cai\u201d in \u201chair\u201d)<\/td><td>menta, rete, sera, vela<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>I<\/td><td>i<\/td><td>ee (like the \u201cee\u201d in \u201csteep\u201d)<\/td><td>Italia, amici, isola, intero<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>O<em> (open)<\/em><\/td><td>\u0254<\/td><td>o \/ aw (like the \u201co\u201d in \u201chot\u201d)<\/td><td>poco, cosa, storia, brodo<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>O <em>(closed)<\/em><\/td><td>o<\/td><td>oh (similar to the \u201co\u201d in \u201cgo\u201d)<\/td><td>sono, sopra, forno, sconto<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>U<\/td><td>u<\/td><td>oo (like the \u201coo\u201d in \u201cstoop\u201d, or the \u201cu\u201d in \u201cdude\u201d)<\/td><td>uno, unico, punto, urlare<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Italian_Alphabet_Chart\"><\/span><strong>Italian Alphabet Chart<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table is-style-regular\"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan=\"2\"><strong>Lexicon<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>English approx<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Example<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>A<\/td><td>a<\/td><td>car<\/td><td>aria<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>B<\/td><td>bi<\/td><td>black<\/td><td>bello<\/td><\/tr><tr><td rowspan=\"2\">&nbsp;C<\/td><td rowspan=\"2\">&nbsp;ci<\/td><td>sketch<\/td><td>ciao<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>customer<\/td><td>chiaro<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>D<\/td><td>di<\/td><td>dogge<\/td><td>radio<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>E<\/td><td>e<\/td><td>traine<\/td><td>erba<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>F<\/td><td>effe<\/td><td>fig<\/td><td>fortua<\/td><\/tr><tr><td rowspan=\"2\">&nbsp;G<\/td><td rowspan=\"2\">&nbsp;gi<\/td><td>judge<\/td><td>giardino<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>gag<\/td><td>grillo<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>H*<\/td><td>acca<\/td><td>hotel<\/td><td>bicchiere<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>I<\/td><td>i<\/td><td>cred<\/td><td>isola<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>L<\/td><td>elle<\/td><td>long<\/td><td>lino<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>M<\/td><td>emme<\/td><td>mother<\/td><td>mare<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>N<\/td><td>enne<\/td><td>nurse<\/td><td>nonno<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>O<\/td><td>o<\/td><td>horse<\/td><td>&nbsp;ora<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>P<\/td><td>pi<\/td><td>prist<\/td><td>palla&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Q<\/td><td>cu<\/td><td>steak<\/td><td>quadro<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>R<\/td><td>erre<\/td><td>not present<\/td><td>re<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>S<\/td><td>esse<\/td><td>song<\/td><td>serenata<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>T<\/td><td>ti<\/td><td>train<\/td><td>tetto<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>U<\/td><td>u<\/td><td>blue<\/td><td>uccello<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>V<\/td><td>vu<\/td><td>vacation<\/td><td>vista<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Z<\/td><td>zeta<\/td><td>cats<\/td><td>zaffiro<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>* The letter -H (acca) is never pronounced in Italian; it just serves as a graphic sign instead.&nbsp;<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td>J<\/td><td>i lunga<\/td><td>jazz<\/td><td>jazz<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>K<\/td><td>kappa<\/td><td>crisis<\/td><td>kilo<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>W<\/td><td>doppia vu<\/td><td>wealth<\/td><td>webcam<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>X<\/td><td>ics<\/td><td>exaggerate<\/td><td>xilofono<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Y<\/td><td>ipsilon<\/td><td>yell<\/td><td>yogurt<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Pronunciation_rules\"><\/span><strong>Pronunciation rules<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Accents can only be placed on vowels in Italian, not on consonants. Accents can be tonic or graphic in nature. Accents with tonic tones are not written. You can hear them by paying attention to which parts of a word are stressed.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, the<strong> na<\/strong> in \u201cnation\u201d has a tonic accent. Graphic accents are written clearly. There are two types, acute and grave, and they affect how the vowel is pronounced:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00b7&nbsp; <strong>Acute accent: <\/strong>close sound, right-leaning accent mark [&#8216;]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00b7&nbsp; <strong>Grave accent:<\/strong> open sound, left-leaning accent mark [&#8216;]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00a0Be cautious: Pronouncing the same word with different accents may cause its meaning to change!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00a0Here are some basic pronunciation rules that will help you get your Italian flow just right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"C_and_G\"><\/span><strong>C and G<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The consonants C and G can have two pronunciations: one hard and one soft. What does this mean?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>C and G are pronounced like a hard \/k\/ sound (as in \u201ccar\u201d) and \/g\/ sound (as in \u201cgolf\u201d) when they are followed by the vowels A, O, and U, and by consonants (<em>cassa<\/em> \u2013 till, <em>credere<\/em> \u2013 to believe, <em>gatti<\/em> \u2013 cats, <em>grammo<\/em> \u2013 gram).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Otherwise, C and G are pronounced softly: a \/ch\/ sound for \u201cC\u201d and a \/j\/ sound for \u201cG\u201d when they are followed by the vowels <em>I<\/em> and <em>E<\/em> (<em>ceci<\/em> \u2013 chickpeas, <em>gente<\/em> \u2013 people).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Does this mean that we can never have a hard sound with the vowels I and E? Of course we can! We just need to put an <em>H <\/em>in between! So, <em>CHI<\/em> (pronounced as \/ki\/), <em>CHE<\/em> (\/ke\/), <em>GHI<\/em> (\/gui\/), <em>GHE<\/em> (\/gue\/) have a hard sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"H_%E2%80%93_Acca\"><\/span><strong>H &#8211; Acca<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Our friend \u201cacca\u201d is silent. This means it is never pronounced when it is at the beginning of a word. You can start the pronunciation with the next letter!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00b7 &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; <em>Hotel<\/em> (hotel): oh-tell<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00b7 &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; <em>Hanno<\/em> (they have): ahn-no<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As we just discovered, though, it is very useful in combination with C and G!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"S_%E2%80%93_Esse_Z_%E2%80%93_Zeta\"><\/span><strong>S &#8211; Esse &amp; Z &#8211; Zeta<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Just like \u201cC\u201d and \u201cG,\u201d \u201cS\u201d and \u201cZ\u201d are also interesting consonants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In most words, \u201cS\u201d is pronounced like a hard \/s\/ sound, as in the English word \u201csong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00b7 &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Semplice (simple) &#8211; sehm-plee-cheh<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00b7 &nbsp; Sasso (stone) &#8211; sahs-soh<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, it\u2019s pronounced like a \/z\/ sound, as in the English word \u201czebra,\u201d when placed between two vowels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00b7 &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Casa (house\/home): cah-zah<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00b7 &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Chiesa (church): kee-eh-zah<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00b7 &nbsp; Cosa (thing): coh-zah<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last but not least, \u201cZ\u201d is always pronounced like a \/ts\/ sound in the middle of words and when doubled, as in pizza (peeh-tsah), or <em>situazione<\/em> (see-too-ah-tsyo-neh).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, at the beginning of words, \u201cZ\u201d is pronounced like a \/dz\/ sound, as in the Italian word zio (uncle).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A guide on how to master the Italian alphabet &amp; pronunciation. The Italian alphabet (alfabeto italiano) is the foundation of the Italian language, it is usually the first thing you learn when you begin taking Italian classes. The Italian language is derived from Latin and it is a phonetic language. This means that all words [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":22305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_joinchat":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22291"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22311,"href":"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22291\/revisions\/22311"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}