The Italian alphabet
Alphabet letters. The Italian alphabet formally includes 21 native letters (5 vowels and 16 consonants) derived from the classical Latin alphabet. Actually 5 more foreign letters (J, K, W, X, Y; letters K, X, Y were also present in the ancient Latin alphabet. They are highlighted in red in the following table) are added to the letter list due to the current wide spread of foreign words in the Italian language, imported mainly from English and French. Foreign words introduced into the Italian language are called loanwords. Now look carefully at the table and listen to the Italian letter names and the pronunciation examples by clicking on the volume icon ( ). The examples consist of commonly used words: if you feel ready, start to familiarize yourself with the Italian language by learning their meaning (click or hover over the examples to read the translation and the dictionary entry).
alphabet letters / lettere dell’alfabeto | |||
letter | letter name | type | pronunciation example |
---|---|---|---|
A | a | vowel | amore |
B | bi | consonant | barca |
C | ci | consonant | casa ciao |
D | di | consonant | dito |
E | e | vowel | energia |
F | effe | consonant | fuoco |
G | gi | consonant | gola gioco |
H | acca | consonant | hotel |
I | i | vowel | Italia |
J | i lunga / jay | semiconsonant | Jesi |
K | cappa | consonant | kilobyte |
L | elle | consonant | luna |
M | emme | consonant | mare |
N | enne | consonant | nave |
O | o | vowel | oro |
P | pi | consonant | pane |
Q | qu | consonant | quadro |
R | erre | consonant | Roma |
S | esse | consonant | sale |
T | ti | consonant | testa |
U | u | vowel | uomo |
V | vu | consonant | vino |
W | doppia vu | consonant | weekend |
X | ics | consonant | xenofobo |
Y | ipsilon | consonant | yogurt |
Z | zeta | consonant | zaino |
The letter J. The letter J was introduced into medieval Latin writing and spread to various European languages to graphically express different sounds. In Italian it was mainly used to replace the letter I at the beginning of a word in front of another vowel or, in some cases, for the I at the end of a word. However, the use of J in Italian words almost entirely disappeared between the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century; today the letter J is preserved in the writing of some proper names, as in the first name Jacopo, in some surnames and toponyms (for example the city of Jesi). In all other cases the presence of the J indicates that the word has a foreign origin.
Gender of letters. The letter names of the Italian alphabet are feminine; articles or adjectives must therefore agree in the feminine form (for example: la a, una emme).
Division into syllables. As in many other languages, the letters of the Italian alphabet are associated to form syllables (for example: a-mo-re, te-so-ro). One or more syllables form a word. The division between syllables is important in writing, when it is necessary to break the word due to lack of space in the line: a word can be written on two successive lines, separating it into two parts by a separation sign (-), but you must be careful not to separate the letters that form a syllable (for example: teso– on the first line, ro on the next line is correct; the division tesor-o is an error). We will return to syllable division later.
Select the words of foreign origin that have become part of the Italian vocabulary (loanwords). To recognize the loanwords pay attention to the letters composing each word: you should remember what you have learned about the native and foreign letters of the Italian alphabet. Note that sometimes foreign words are introduced into the Italian language in their original form, other times they are nouns, adjectives or verbs containing the foreign word in their root (for example, the verb linkare, from the English link).
Click on the volume icon to listen to a word pronounced in Italian, then select the first letter of the word you heard.
Click on the volume icon to listen to the Italian name of a letter, then select a word starting with that letter.
Click on the volume icon to listen to the spelling of an Italian word, then write the word in the available space.
Click on the volume icon to listen to the pronunciation of the Italian word, then select the correct transcription.