Let's Learn Italian Lesson 2!

 

:Cominciamo (let's begin)

C. Alfabeto e suoni ( Alphabet and sounds)

  Italian is a Romance language that derives from Latin. This language was the language of the ancient Romans that was spoken throughout the Roman empire. As of today, Italian is spoken in Italy by 60 million Italians, & in southern Switzerland & in other areas of the world especially the United States, South America, & Australia where a lot of Italians have immigrated.

Italian is a phonetic language, this means that it is pronounced as it is written. Although Italian & English share the same Latin alphabet, the sounds that are represented by the letters are different between these two languages.  Every letter is pronounced in Italian except the letter h. The Italian alphabet consists of 21 letters, but it uses 5 additional letters with words that are of foreign origin. The ones on the right are sounds, & the ones on the left are the letters.

                                                                   a             a

                                                                   b            bi

                                                                   c            ci

                                                                   d            di

                                                                   e            e

                                                                   f             effe

                                                                   g             gi

                                                                   h             acca*

                                                                   i              i ( sounds like e)

                                                                   l              elle

                                                                  m            emme

                                                                  n              enne
                                                                  o              o
                                                                  p             pi
                                                                 q              cu
                                                                  r              erre
                                                                 s               esse
                                                                 t                ti
                                                                 u               u
                                                                 v               vu
                                                                 z              zeta
                                                             
                                                                 5 additional letters
                                                              
                                                                 j           i lunga
                                                                 k          cappa
                                                                 w         doppia vu
                                                                 x             ics
                                                                 y             ipsilon

              

:  Vocali (vowels)

In the Italian language ,  the Italian vowels are  a, e , i, o, & u.  Vowel are pronounced differently in the Italian language than in the English language. In the Italian language, the vowels are shown in a stronger context.

                                                                      a (father)

                                                                      e (late) closed e* (quest) open e"

                                                                      i ( marine)

                                                                      o (cozy) closed o* (cost) open o*

                                                                      u (rude)

                                                                     

: Consonanti ( Consonants)

  Many Italian consonants are not very different than the words in English.          

                                                                                                  

: Rules

1. If the consonants c & g come before a, o, or u, they have a hard sound.

2. If the consonants c & g & the combination sc come before e or i they have a soft sound.

3. The combinations gh, sch, & ch have a hard sound.

4. The combination gl  is pronounced like ll in million, if it is before a final i & before i + vowel.

5. The combination gn is pronounced like ny in canyon.

: Consonanti doppie: (double consonants)

 Every Italian consonant expect q has a corresponding double consonant. The pronunciation  is different than the single consonant.

:   Accent stress

:Rules

1. Many Italian words are pronounced with the next to last syllable being stressed.

2. Some words have the last syllable stressed. These words are written with the final vowel of that word having an accent mark.

3. Some words have a different syllable stressed. This is an irregular stress with a dot below the stressed vowel.

4. A couple one-syllable words have a written accent. This helps to identify them from words that are spelled & pronounced the same but mean different things.  Examples are si = oneself (no accent), si = yes (no accent), & sì or così = so (yes accent)