Italian is read the way it is written, so a few rules let you say almost any word. Keep vowels short and clear, hold double consonants longer (pala, palla), soften c and g before e and i (cena, giovane), treat gli and gn as single sounds, and stress most words on the second-to-last syllable.
- Vowel letters
- Five: a, e, i, o, u (e and o can be open or closed)
- Double consonants
- In about 14% of words in Contos A1 chapters
- c or g right before e or i
- About 7% of words
- Written accent
- Only on a stressed final vowel and a short list of one-syllable words
- Most common accented word
- è (is), 160 times in the free A1 chapters
How do Italian letters sound?
Most Italian letters keep one sound wherever they appear, and the exceptions follow rules you can see in the spelling. That is why beginners can read aloud long before they understand. The table covers the spellings English speakers most often get wrong, with words from the free A1 chapters of the Contos Italian library.
| Spelling | How to say it | Examples from A1 chapters |
|---|---|---|
| a, e, i, o, u | Short and pure, never sliding into a second vowel: a as in father, e as in bet or day without the y, i as in machine, o as in hot or more rounded, u as in rule | casa, sera, mano, nome, subito |
| c, g before e or i | Soft: c like ch in church, g like j in jam | dice, cucina, cena, giovane, gentile |
| ch, gh before e or i | Hard: like k and g in kit and get; the h only keeps the sound hard | che, chi, chiave, occhi, ghiaia |
| ci, gi before a, o, u | The i is usually silent and just softens the c or g | ciao, già, giorni, mangia |
| sc before e or i | Like sh in shop | conosce, esce, pesce, sciarpa |
| gli | Like the lli in million, as one sound | gli, biglietto, famiglia, foglio |
| gn | Like ny in canyon | signora, bisogno, ogni |
| h | Always silent; it only tells words apart in writing | ho, ha, hanno (not o, a, anno) |
| r, rr | Tapped with the tip of the tongue; rr is a longer roll | porta, cuore, rumore, terrazza |
| z, zz | ts as in cats, or dz as in adze, depending on the word | negozio, silenzio, pranzo, ragazza |
| qu | Like kw | qui, questa, qualcosa, quando |
The two rules worth drilling first are the soft c and g, and the silent h. A c or g sits right before e or i in about 7% of all words in the free A1 chapters (names left out), led by dice (says). The h never makes a sound: ho (I have) sounds exactly like o (or), and hanno (they have) like anno (year).
How do double consonants work?
In Italian, a written double consonant is held longer: you pause slightly on the t of tutto, or lengthen the n of nonna. The Accademia della Crusca points out that standard Italian is one of relatively few languages where this length changes the meaning of a word.
| Single | English | Double | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| pala | shovel | palla | ball |
| caro | dear | carro | cart |
| fato | fate | fatto | done; fact |
| nono | ninth | nonno | grandfather |
| sete | thirst | sette | seven |
| capello | a hair | cappello | hat |
They are everywhere. About 14% of the words in the free A1 chapters (names left out) contain a double consonant: sorride, occhi, tutto, mattina, anni, messaggio. One sentence from a family mystery set in Puglia has two in a single word:
Marco guarda il biglietto del treno e non dorme.Biglietto is bi-GLIET-to: the gli sound, then a held t. Two details from the Crusca help with what you hear. Northern speakers tend to shorten double consonants, while from Rome southwards b and soft g are often lengthened even when written single. And z is always long in standard Italian, even with one z on the page, as in grazia and azienda.
You will also hear doubling across word boundaries, called raddoppiamento fonosintattico: after certain words such as a and tre, the next consonant is lengthened, so a casa sounds like "accasa". The Crusca describes it as natural for Tuscan and Roman speakers but absent from northern speech. Beginners can safely leave it for later.
Which syllable do you stress, and when is it written?
- Most words: the second-to-last syllable. CA-sa, NO-me, mat-TI-na, si-GNO-ra.
- Quite a few: the third-to-last. TE-le-fo-no, SU-bi-to, SA-ba-to, e-co-NO-mi-co. The spelling doesn't mark these, so learn the stress with the word.
- Stress on the final vowel: always written. The Crusca's rule is that words of more than one syllable stressed at the end carry an accent: città, perché, lunedì, caffè.
Among one-syllable words, only a short list takes an accent, mostly to tell pairs apart: è (is) and e (and), sì (yes) and si (oneself), là (there) and la (the), plus words such as già, più and può. The Crusca also distinguishes two accents on e: acute for the closed e of perché, grave for the open e of caffè and è. In the free A1 chapters about 6% of words carry an accent, and è alone accounts for 160 of them.
Perché l'affitto è così economico?Read it aloud: per-CHÉ (closed e), laf-FIT-to (held f, held t), È (open e), co-SÌ, e-co-NO-mi-co. Three written accents, two doubles and a word stressed on its third-to-last syllable in six words.
How do you practise Italian pronunciation as a reader?
Contos is a reading app with no audio, so use it to learn words and spellings and get the sounds from elsewhere.
- Read one paragraph aloud each day from your current chapter. Slow and clear beats fast.
- Exaggerate the doubles at first. Hold tutto and nonna too long rather than too short; you can relax later.
- Pick one accent to imitate. Standard Italian is taught everywhere, but regional speech differs, especially in the doubles. Listen to podcasts or films and copy one voice.
- Mark the stress on new flashcards for words like telefono where the spelling doesn't show it.
- Say the sentence, not the word. Italian links words smoothly; practise lines like Giulia beve caffè e ascolta as one breath.
Coming to Italian from Spanish? The sounds are close but not the same; see Italian vs Spanish. For how pronunciation fits the wider difficulty picture, see is Italian hard to learn?
Open an A1 Italian chapter and read the first paragraph aloud. Tap any word to check its meaning.
Read free in your browserFrequently asked questions
Do I really have to pronounce double consonants?
Yes, as far as you can. In standard Italian they change meaning: pala is a shovel, palla a ball. Northern Italians shorten them somewhat, so you will be understood if yours are imperfect, but aim to hold them.
How do you pronounce gli in Italian?
As one sound, close to the lli in million, with the middle of the tongue against the roof of the mouth. Don't say a hard g: famiglia is fa-MI-glia, not fam-ig-lia.
What is the difference between è and e?
È with an accent is the verb "is"; e without one means "and". They differ in writing and, in standard pronunciation, in the vowel: è is open. The accent is never optional on the verb.
Why is the h silent in Italian?
It no longer represents a sound in Italian. It survives in a few forms of avere (ho, hai, ha, hanno) to tell them apart from o, ai, a and anno, and after c and g to keep them hard, as in che and ghiaia.
Which Italian accent should I learn?
Aim for standard Italian, the one used in teaching and national media, and imitate one clear voice. Regional accents differ, especially in double consonants and in open and closed vowels, but standard Italian is understood everywhere.