Prima lezione di italiano

Lesson 1 - Lezione prima

Hello to all fans of Italian language and Italian culture! My aim here is to bring to you the bases of Italian language in lessons that are easy to understand, furthermore, that can serve you for self-learning.
Although it is hard to describe in written form how certain voices sound, I will do my best to make Italian alphabet and pronunciation as clear as possible.

Italian alphabet
Letters Names of the Letters Pronunciation
a a open A, as in sUn
b bi
c ci has a very interesting pronunciation: if
followed by A, O, U, or H, it is
pronounced as K; if followed by E or I,
it is pronounced as in Al Pacino.
d di
e e
f effe
g gi same rules as for C, plus, combination
of GN sounds like beginning of English
word "New"
h acca ALWAYS mute! We only write it, never
read it.
i i
l elle
m emme
n enne
o o
p pi
q cu is always followed by U, so we read this
combination (qu) as soft "kv", like in aqua
r erre
s esse if it is between two vowels, we read it as
Z in "buzzing", like in "casa". Otherwise,
it is "S". Combination of SC followed by
I or E (sci, sce), sounds like first sound
in English word "shoe".
t ti
u u
v vu
z zeta

Usually, Italian words are stressed on the next-to-the-last syllable. The written accent is used with a few monosyllables in order to distinguish them from others that have the same spelling but a different meaning, like in te', which means tea, and te, without accent means you.

For practice, you can try to read next words (it would be great to learn them, as well :)

casa house
fico fig
con with
Colesseo Colosseum
capo head
Cupido Cupid
cane dog
camera camera
caffè coffee
culla cradle

For the next group of words, bare in mind that c before e or i is like the English sound ch in chest:

cena supper
voce voice
cibo food
concerto concert
aceto vinegar
cinema cinema
cipolla onion
facile easy

For the next group, remember that ch (found only before e or i) is like the English k:

che that
chimica chemistry
perché because
fichi figs
chilo kilo
chi who
chiuso closed
anche also

Same rules that we have practiced here with C apply also to the letter G!
That would be all for the first lesson!
Practice hard, because very soon we will start with some grammar!
Ciao a tutti!
Milica