Understanding Vowels

The two main parts of alphabets are the consonants and vowels. Here we will discuss the vowels of Italian and how they are properly pronounced.


Vowels (A, E, I, O, U)

A: The pronunciation of A in Italian is always the same, sounding very much the the A in father. For example, sale (sah-leh) and casa (kah-sah). 

E: The pronunciation of E is generally pretty consistent, tending to be pronounced like a hard A in English such as day or late. For example, dolce (dohl-cheh) and sole (soh-leh). È, however, is a closed E, making it sound like the E in bed.

I: The Italian I is at all times pronounced like a hard E, similar to the E in bee or me. You can see this in words like domani (doh-mah-nee) and vita (vee-tah). 

O: The Italian O is said like the O in bone or show. Some examples are bimbo (beem-boh) and piccolo (peek-koh-loh).
Ò is pronounced differently. It is now a closed O and sounds more like the O in lot.

U: In Italian, U is always said as ooh, like zoo or coo. Some examples are luna (looh-nah) and tu (tooh). 

Vowel Clusters:

• oi - ohy (oink)
• ai - ahy (shy)
• ei - ehy (day)
• au - ou (out)