I can say any letter of the Italian alphabet by its Italian name, write down a word someone spells out to me, and read every vowel as a full sound — stressed or not.
A letter's name isn't its sound
21 letters and seven vowel sounds
Italian has 21 letters, plus five foreign ones — j, k, w, x, y — needed to spell out an email or a last name. Letter names are for spelling aloud, not for reading: “A come Ancona” — “A as in Ancona”. Use the Italian names: e is “eh”, i is “ee”.
Five vowel letters, seven sounds. a, i, u never change. e and o have a closed and an open shade (il mare — la parola); we show them, but you never have to tell them apart.
No vowel is reduced. Unstressed o stays “oh”, unstressed e stays “eh”: il telefono has four full vowels, none of them “uh”. For English speakers, this is difficulty number one.
No Italian keyboard? Leave out accent marks (à, è, é, ì, ò, ù) and apostrophes: the answer still counts, and the answer key shows the right spelling.
Learn each noun with its article — il, lo, l', or la. Module 2 explains why; for now, it's part of the word.
Some letters surprise you: s between vowels is the z of “zoo” (la musica), and a double consonant is held longer (tt in la lettera). Lessons 2 and 3 give the rules; for now, listen and repeat.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “tuh-LEF-uh-noh” — unstressed vowels never turn into “uh”: il telefono.
• NOT “tuh-VOH-loh” — every vowel in il tavolo is full, and the stress is on TA.
• NOT “MYOO-zik-uh” — u is “oo” with no y, and the final a is “ah”: la musica.
Five letters — seven vowel sounds
e and o each have two shades — closed and open. We show them, but you'll never have to tell them apart.
| Letter | Sound | Word | NOT like this |
|---|---|---|---|
| a | /a/ | la parola | not “puh-ROH-luh” |
| e | /e/ and /ɛ/ | il mare · il telefono | not “MAH-ray” |
| i | /i/ | il libro | not “LIB-roh” |
| o | /o/ and /ɔ/ | il tavolo | not “tuh-VOH-loh” |
| u | /u/ | la luna | not “LOO-nuh” |
Lesson notes
21 letters and seven vowel sounds
Italian has 21 letters, plus five foreign ones — j, k, w, x, y — needed to spell out an email or a last name. Letter names are for spelling aloud, not for reading: “A come Ancona” — “A as in Ancona”. Use the Italian names: e is “eh”, i is “ee”.
Five vowel letters, seven sounds. a, i, u never change. e and o have a closed and an open shade (il mare — la parola); we show them, but you never have to tell them apart.
No vowel is reduced. Unstressed o stays “oh”, unstressed e stays “eh”: il telefono has four full vowels, none of them “uh”. For English speakers, this is difficulty number one.
No Italian keyboard? Leave out accent marks (à, è, é, ì, ò, ù) and apostrophes: the answer still counts, and the answer key shows the right spelling.
Learn each noun with its article — il, lo, l', or la. Module 2 explains why; for now, it's part of the word.
Some letters surprise you: s between vowels is the z of “zoo” (la musica), and a double consonant is held longer (tt in la lettera). Lessons 2 and 3 give the rules; for now, listen and repeat.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “tuh-LEF-uh-noh” — unstressed vowels never turn into “uh”: il telefono.
• NOT “tuh-VOH-loh” — every vowel in il tavolo is full, and the stress is on TA.
• NOT “MYOO-zik-uh” — u is “oo” with no y, and the final a is “ah”: la musica.