Dolce Far Niente

As important as consonants are, they can be a pain sometimes. This post will make it clear how to correctly pronounce Italian consonants.  For the most part, Italian consonants are similar to English, but there are some exceptions. C, G, S, H, Q, R, and Z tend to have some peculiarities about them.  C and G: For C , remember the basic rules (G follows these same rules):  C + e or i = ch (church) C + a, o, u , or any consonant = k  (cat) Ci + a, o, u = ch + the vowel   Do not pronounce the I when it is followed by a vowel (except E) Ch+ e or i = k (cat)  The H will always harden the C H: H is never pronounced, it's main purpose in Italian is only to harden the C and G though it appears first in some words. Q: Q is never without a U preceding it always making the "qw" sound like in quattro  or quando .  R: As in many things Italian's R is similar to the R in Spanish. It is not rolled but trilled when only one...

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 a...

Before learning words in Italian, the first thing you must do is to learn how to pronounce the Italian alphabet. This will allow you to confidently read in Italian and eventually help you in your conversations. a- ah b- bee c- chee d-  dee e-  eh f- ehf feh g- jee h- ahk kah i- ee l- ehl leh m- ehm meh n- ehn neh o- oh p- pee q- kooh r- ehr reh s- ehs seh t- tee u- ooh v- veeh z- dzeh tah As you may have noticed the letters j, k, w, x, and y are omitted from this list. That is because they do not exist in the Italian language, though some foreign words have slipped in.