Italian vowels pronunciation: There are five vowels in the Italian alphabet (a-o-u-i-e).
| Alfabeto Italiano (Italian alphabet) | Alfabeto fonetico internazionale (International phonetic alphabet) | Esempio (Example) | Grafia fonetica (Phonetic spelling) |
| A | a | Ape(Bee) Ala(Wing) | Ape Ala |
| E, é | e | Sera(Evening) Perché(Why/Because) | Sera Per’ke |
| E, è | ɛ | Testa(Head) Caffè(Coffee) | Tɛsta Caf’fɛ |
| I | i | inizio(Start) idea(idea) | i’nittsjo i’dɛa |
| O | o | Ottobre(October) Onore(Honor) | Ot’tobre O’nore |
| O, ò | ɔ | Ore(Hours) Oro(Gold) | ɔre ɔro |
| U | u | Unità(Unit) Uva(Grape) | Uni’ta Uva |
The vowels (e) and (o) can be read with a closed sound (if the accent is acute é/ó) or with an open sound (if the accent is grave è/ò).
Generally, there are no accents on the letter and correct pronunciation is only possible with use.
| open | closed | open | closed |
| è | é | ò | ó |
| erba (grass) | cortese (courteous) | corpo (body) | ombra (shadow) |
| bello (handsome) | brevetto (patent) | quota (quote) | goloso (gluttonous) |
| febbre (fever) | antenna (antenna) | porta (door) | lavoratore (worker) |
| castello (castle) | vena (vein) | gotico (Gothic) | pronto (ready) |
| metodo (method) | maestro (master) | roccia (rock) | ragione (reason) |
| bene (well) | mese (month) | trovo (I find) | fondo (bottom) |
| vespa (wasp) | capelli (hair) | voglia (wants) | ancora (still) |
| adesso (now) | vero (True) | diciotto (eighteen) | conoscere (know) |
| minestra (soup) | perché (why/because) | qualcosa (something) | persona (person) |
| biglietto (ticket) | sera (evening) | poco (little) | mondo (world) |
Some words, written in the same way (homonyms), change meaning if they are pronounced with a grave or acute accent.
| è | é | ò | ó |
| accetta (he/ she accepts) | accetta (axe) | botte (beatings) (barrels) | botte (he/she hits) |
| affetto (affection) | affetto (I cut) | colta (harvested) (gathered) | colta (cultured woman) (learned woman) |
| collega (colleague) | collega (he/she connect) | conservatori (conservatories) | conservatori (muisic conservatives) |
| pesca (peach) | pesca (finshing) | volto (turned | volto (face) |
| venti (winds) | venti (twenty) | volgo (I turn) | volgo (the masses) |
| legge (he/she reads) | legge (law) | rosa (he/she rose) | rosa (rose) |
| chiese (churches) | chiese (closed) | fosse (if it were) | fosse (ditches) |
Exercise on the lesson here.
Next lesson:
The diphthong and the triphthong