Buongiorno a tutti! Last Tuesday was our first Italian Conversation Night at PPS Bridge Street – and it was a blast! Thank you to everyone who attended our first lesson with “Professor” Gabriella. Just in case you missed our first lesson I will be posting notes from each session to keep you up to date.
For our very first lesson Gabriella started with the basics – pronunciation. Although Italian uses many of the same letters as English they pronounce them very differently. Luckily Italian is a phonetic language, so if you master this step you can read every word like a pro.
This chart explains how to pronounce vowels in Italian. Use the English pronunciation to feel the shape of your mouth when you say each letter.
|
Italian Vowels |
English Pronunciation |
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|
[i] |
Vino |
ee as in meet |
|
|
[e] |
Vedi |
ay as in bait |
|
|
[ɛ] |
Era |
eh as in bet |
|
|
[a] |
Cane |
ah as in father |
|
|
[u] |
Uva |
oo as in boot |
|
|
[o] |
Sole |
oh as in boat |
|
|
[ɔ] |
Modo |
aw as in law |
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|
[Soft Break]Semi-Vowels |
|||
|
[w] |
quando, uomo |
wuh as in won |
|
|
[j] |
piano, ieri, piove |
yuh as in ye |
Next, we will work on common letter combinations found in Italian. Take note of the differences between what it sounds like in Italian compared to the way it’s read in English.
|
Italian consonant + vowel combinations |
Sounds like | Examples |
|
c + a, o, u, he, hi |
k |
amica, amico, amiche |
|
c + ia, io, iu, e, i |
ch |
bacio, celebre, cinema |
|
g + a, o, u, he, hi |
g |
gara, gusto, spaghetti |
|
g + ia, io, iu, e, i |
dj |
Giotto, gelato, magico |
|
sc + a, o, u, he, hi |
sk |
scala, scuola, scheda |
|
sc + ia, io, iu, e, i |
sh |
sciarpa, sciupato, scemo |
|
gn + a, e, i, o |
ny |
legna, gnomo, lasagna |
|
gl + ia, ie, io, iu |
|
Figlia, teglie, taglio |
|
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And finally (to test yourself) try saying the word bruschetta. Did you say something that sounded like broo-SKET-tah? Congratulations! As someone who has mispronounced this word for decades I look forward to ordering bruschetta correctly!
For more information on our Italian Conversation Night visit our previous blog post. If you’re interested in joining us for our next Italian Conversation Night on Tuesday, March 27 please email for reservations. Until then, here is an excellent video on how to say the alphabet in Italian. Ciao!
