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Tiscali: Italian Phrase Finder: Pronouncing Italian

PHRASES

Pronouncing Italian

Spelling and pronouncing Italian are easy once you know the few basic rules. This section has been designed so that as you read the pronunciation of the phrases, you can follow the Italian. This will help you recognize how Italian is pronounced and give you a feeling for the rhythm of the language. Here are a few rules you should know:

italian	sounds like	example	pronunciation
* au	ow	autobus	ow-tobus
* ce	che	cena	chayna
* ci	chee	cibo	cheebo
* che *	kay	barche	barkay
* chi *	kee	chiave	kee-avay
* ge	jay	gelato	jay-lato
* ghe *	gay	traghetto	tra-gayt-to
* gi	jee	gita	jeeta
* ghi *	gee	ghiaccio	geeat-cho
* gli	lyee	degli	day-lyee
* gn	ny	ragno	ranyo
* iu	you	aiuto	a-yooto
* sc	sh	scena	shayna
* sch *	sk	schermo	skayrmo

* c and g are hard except when followed by e or i - to make them hard in Italian an h is added.

Double letters ss, tt, ll, etc. are distinctly pronounced - with a slight pause between the two:
posso pos-so, gatto gat-to, pelle pel-lay.

Stress usually falls on the second-to-last syllable. We have indicated the stressed syllable with bold italics in the pronunciation of the phrases.

PHRASE INDEX


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