FONETICA

ALFABETO

A

*ah

 B

 bi		 C

 ci		 D

 di		 E

*a

 F

effe		 G

 gi		 H

acca		 I

*ee

 L

elle		 M

emme		 N

enne		 O

*oh

 P

 pi		 Q

 cu		 R
 
 erre		 S

esse		 T

 ti		 U

*oo

 V

vi		 Z

zeta

* English phonetic convention

Italian is normally is written with only 21 letters.

The remaining letters (JKWXY) are used almost exclusively for foreign words.
And here is how they are pronounced....

J
i lunga		 K
kappa		 W
doppia vu		 X
ics 		Y
i greca  or ipsilon

 

ITALIAN PHONETICS
BACK VOWELS

A O U

in Italian as well as in English, these
are called BACK VOWELS because they are pronounced in the back of the mouth

 FRONT VOWELS

E I

So called FRONT VOWELS because they are pronounced in the front of the mouth.

Try

C  followed by a BACK VOWEL "K" as in car

THE CONSONANT C HAS TWO POSSIBLE SOUNDS:

 

and "ch" as in cherry

 


Sound  "K"

CASA COLORE CUBO

ORCHESTRA CHIMICA

Notice that we have to insert H  between  C  and E or I  (front vowels)
to produce the K sound. 

This is purely a convention.

 

 

Sound  "ch" (cherry)

ceramica Cina

ciao, cioccolato, ciuffo

 

For this sound, C precedes immediately the front vowels E or I  

With BACK VOWELS, we insert  I  between C and the vowels

This is purely a convention.

 

OF COURSE THIS IS CONFUSING TO ENGLISH SPEAKERS:

it would be much simpler if Italian used "H" instead of "I" to produce the CH sound with back vowels.

That at least would be symmetrical with the front vowels.
-- A --

ANOTHER WAY TO COMPARE THE PATTERNS

back vowels K sound ca co cu
  Ch sound cia cio ciu
                
front vowels Ch sound ce ci
  K sound che chi

-- B --


 

To summarize: 

C + back vowels:  CASA, COLORE, CUBO  (sound K)

C + front vowels: CERAMICA CINA (sound "ch")

 

For the sound K with E and I :   insert H   ORCHESTRA, CHIMICA

For the sound CH with A O U:   insert  I   CIAO, CIOCCOLATO, CIUFFO

 

By the way, here are two examples of a CIUFFO

                                                

 

ITALIAN PHONETIC CONVENTIONS

CONSONANT  G  followed by a VOWEL

G
behaves exactly like
C


GABBANA    SPAGO     GUCCI

SPAGHETTI      LAMBORGHINI


 

GELATO  GINO

GIALLO   GIORGIO    GIULIANI


 

Spelling word
on the phone

 

In Italian we use the name of cities (the initial).

For the word "CASA" (house) we would say: 

COMO, ANCONA, SIENA, ANCONA.


Some letters have a fixed city (Domodossola, Empoli) while for the others there are no strict rules.

 

  A come Ancona                         
  B come Bologna                         
  C come Como                             
  D come Domodossola                
  E come Empoli                            
  F come Firenze                           
  G come Genova                       
  H Acca come Hotel                   
  I come Imola                             
  L come Livorno                           
  M come Milano                          

full list

 
  N come Napoli                           
  O come Otranto                          
  P come Palermo                         
  Q "Cu" come Quadro                  
  R come Roma                             
  S come Siena                             
  T come Torino                             
  U come Udine                             
  V come Venezia                          
  Z Zeta Zero                                 

 

Write the name of the city next to the corresponding letter

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I 
L
M

N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
Z

 

C and G sound
BACK VOWELS A O U

in Italian as well as in English, these
are called BACK VOWELS because they are pronounced in the back of the mouth

FRONT VOWELS E I

So called FRONT VOWELS because they are pronounced in the front of the mouth.

 

C has two different sounds   "K" and "CH"  (car / cheese)

 

C in front of A O U

CA CO CU (casa / colore / cubo) 

 

C in front of E I

CI   CE  (circo / cemento)
   


Sound  "K"

CASA COLORE CUBO

ORCHESTRA CHIMICA

Notice that we have to insert H  between  C  and E or I  (front vowels)
to produce the K sound. 

This is purely a convention.

 

 

Sound  "ch" (cherry)

ceramica Cina

ciao, cioccolato, ciuffo

 

For this sound, C precedes immediately the front vowels E or I  

With BACK VOWELS, we insert  I  between C and the vowels

This is purely a convention.

 

OF COURSE THIS IS CONFUSING TO ENGLISH SPEAKERS:

it would be much simpler if Italian used "H" instead of "I" to produce the CH sound with back vowels.

That at least would be symmetrical with the front vowels.
-- A --

ANOTHER WAY TO COMPARE THE PATTERNS

back vowels K sound ca co cu
  Ch sound cia cio ciu
                
front vowels Ch sound ce ci
  K sound che chi
-- B --


 

To summarize: 

C + back vowels:  CASA, COLORE, CUBO  (sound K)

C + front vowels: CERAMICA CINA (sound "ch")

 

For the sound K with E and I :   insert H   ORCHESTRA, CHIMICA

For the sound CH with A O U:   insert  I   CIAO, CIOCCOLATO, CIUFFO

 

By the way, here are two examples of a CIUFFO