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Alphabet & Pronunciation
Italian alphabet, vowels, double consonants, c/g rules and stress
Dittonghi: ie, uo, ai, au
Diphthongs: ie, uo, ai, au
pieno, buono, mai, auto
Two vowels pronounced in one syllable
Iato: due vocali, due sillabe
Hiatus: two vowels, two syllables
paura (pa-u-ra), via (vi-a)
Some vowel pairs split into separate syllables
z — [ts] o [dz]
z — ts or dz sound
pizza [pittsa], zero [dzero]
z can be voiceless [ts] or voiced [dz]
s — [s] o [z]
s — s or z sound
sole [sole], rosa [roza]
s between vowels is often voiced [z]
Consonanti doppie: significato
Double consonants: meaning changes
nonno/nono, casa/cassa
Doubling changes meaning: must be pronounced long
Accento grave e acuto
Grave and acute accents
è (is) vs é (in perché)
Final-stress accents; è open, é closed
Elisione: l'amico, un'amica
Elision: dropping the vowel
lo+amico = l'amico
Article vowel dropped before a vowel
Apocope: troncamento
Apocope: truncation
buono → buon, grande → gran
Some words drop their final vowel/syllable
Pronuncia di gn, gli, sc
Pronouncing gn, gli, sc
gnomo, figlio, scena
Review of special consonant clusters
Sillabazione
Syllable division
ca-sa, bel-lo, fa-mi-glia
Rules for dividing Italian words into syllables