L’alfabeto italiano
The Italian alphabet
Capitolo 1: Lessico
Pagine 7 – 8
08/09/2009
1
L’italiano
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TIP: Learn the sounds of Italian & acquire good
pronunciation by listening closely to & imitating
Profa. Butcher and the native speakers on the
Listening Comprehension CDs.
Italian is a phonetic language.
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This means that it is spoken the way it is
written!
In most cases, one letter represents one
sound.
Every letter is pronounced except for H.
There are special combinations of
consonants & vowels.
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2
L’alfabeto italiano
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A
B (bi)
C (ci)
D (di)
E
F (effe)
G (gi)
H (acca)
I
L (elle)
M (emme)
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N (enne)
O
P (pi)
Q (cu)
R (erre)
S (esse)
T (ti)
U
V (vu)
Z (zeta)
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Le lettere straniere (foreign)
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J (i lunga)
K (cappa)
The Italian alphabet
W (doppia vu) has 21 letters, but it
recognizes an extended
X (ics)
set of 5 additional letters
Y (ipsilon)
that occur in words of
foreign origin.
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4
I vocali italiani
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A
E
I
O
U
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For the most part,
Italian vowels are
pronounced the same.
5
La pronuncia
Italian Pronunciation
Capitolo 1: Lessico
Pagine 7-8
08/09/2009
6
La pronuncia:
consonanti doppie
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sete
pala
papa
moto
dona
fato
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sette
palla
pappa
motto
donna
fatto
(double consonants)
All Italian consonants
except q have a
corresponding
double consonant.
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Ripetete
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ballerina
antenna
mamma
spaghetti
zucchini
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piccolo
confetti
Anna
motto
villa
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Suoni speciali
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c:
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Followed by a, o, u has a hard sound like
cat
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casa
corso
musica
Followed by e, i has a soft sound like
church
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cena
ciao
arrivederci
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Suoni speciali
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ch:
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Also has a hard sound like chemistry
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macchina
chittara
perché
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Suoni speciali
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g:
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Followed by a, o, u has a hard sound like
go
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gatto
gondola
gusto
Followed by e, i has a soft sound like gem
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gelato
Gina
Giorgio
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Suoni speciali
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gh:
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Also has a hard sound like spaghetti
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ghiaccio
ghetto
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Suoni speciali
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gn:
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Has a sound like the ny in canyon
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lasagne
bagno
This is like the ñ in Spanish.
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Suoni speciali
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gli:
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Has a sound like the lli in million (lyee)
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famiglia
luglio
moglie
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Suoni speciali
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sc:
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Followed by e, i has a soft sound like
sheriff
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sceriffo
sci
sciare
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Suoni speciali
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schi:
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Has a hard sound like ski
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maschile
maschio
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Suoni speciali
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sche:
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Has a hard sound like skeleton
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scheletro
pesche
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