Pronunciation is relatively easy in Italian since most words are pronounced exactly how they are written. Unless accented, words are normally pronounced with the emphasis on the second to last syllable. Double consonants tend to affect how the preceding vowel is pronounced; e.g. in “sono” (I am) the “o” is pronounced like the “o” in “close”, while in “sonno” (sleep) the “o” is pronounced like the “o” in “dot” and the “n” sound is a bit longer. Similarly in “sera” (evening) the “e” is pronounced like the “e” in “error” [ a long 'e' sound ], while in “serra” the “e” is said as a short closed “e” as in “set” and the rolled “r” is a bit more marked
Vowels
- a
- as in “father”
- e
- as in “set”, but more closed, identical to “e” in New Zealand English
- i
- as in “machine”
- o
- as in “close”, but undiphthongized
- u
- like ‘oo’ in “hoop”
Consonants
- b
- like ‘b’ in “bed”
- c
- like ‘ch’ in “chipper” (before ‘i’ or ‘e’), ‘k’ in “kid” (before ‘a’, ‘o’, ‘u’)
- d
- like ‘d’ in “dog”
- f
- like ‘ph’ in “phone”
- g
- like ‘g’ in “go” (before ‘a’, ‘o’, ‘u’), like ‘j’ in “jello” (before ‘i’ or ‘e’); silent before an ‘l’ as in ‘Luglio’
- h
- silent
- l
- like ‘l’ in “love”
- m
- like ‘m’ in “mother”
- n
- like ‘n’ in “nice”
- p
- like ‘p’ in “pig”
- q
- like ‘q’ in “quest” (with “u”, almost always)
- r
- trill with the tip of the tongue
- s
- like ’ss’ in “hiss”, like ‘z’ in “haze”
- t
- like ‘t’ in “top”
- v
- like ‘v’ in “victory”
- z
- as in “pizza” or “adze”
Common diphthongs
- ai
- like ‘i’ in “fight”
- au
- like ‘ow’ in “brown”
- ei
- like ‘ay’ in “say”
- eu
- like the ‘eu’ similar to the Spanish word “Europa”
- ee
- identical vowels [ stress on the first vowel " idee " (ee-DEH-eh)]
- ia
- like ‘ia’ similar to the Spanish word “mia”
- ie
- like ‘ie’ similar to the Spanish word “miedo”
- ii
- identical vowels [ stress on the first vowel " addii " (ahd-DEE-ee)]
- io
- like ‘io’ as in the Spanish word “tio” Similar to the ‘eo’ in “Leo”
- iu
- like ‘ew’ in “few”
- oi
- like ‘oy’ in “boy”
- oo
- identical vowel [ stress on the first vowel " zoo " (DZOH-oh)]
- uo
- like ‘wo’ in “won’t”
Digraphs
- ch
- like ‘k’ in “keep”
- sc
- before “e” or “i”, like ’sh’ in “sheep”
- sch
- before ‘e’ or ‘i’ like the ’sk’ in “sky”
- gn
- like the ‘ny’ in “canyon”
- gh
- like “g” in “get”
- zz
- like the ‘ds’ in “toads”
- gli
- like the ‘lee’ in “leeks”