Italian grammar
The Italian alphabet
Italian uses 21 letters, plus five foreign ones for borrowed words. Learn the letter names, the silent h, and how Italians spell words aloud with city names.
Italian uses the same Latin letters as English, but fewer of them. Once you know the letter names and a few spelling habits, you can spell your name, an email address or a street name out loud.
21 Letters
The Italian alphabet (l’alfabeto) has 21 letters. Letter names are feminine: la a, la effe, la zeta.
| Letter | Name | Sounds roughly like |
|---|---|---|
| A | a | "ah" |
| B | bi | "bee" |
| C | ci | "chee" |
| D | di | "dee" |
| E | e | "eh" |
| F | effe | "EF-feh" |
| G | gi | "jee" |
| H | acca | "AHK-kah" |
| I | i | "ee" |
| L | elle | "EL-leh" |
| M | emme | "EM-meh" |
| N | enne | "EN-neh" |
| O | o | "oh" |
| P | pi | "pee" |
| Q | cu | "koo" |
| R | erre | "ER-reh" (rolled r) |
| S | esse | "ES-seh" |
| T | ti | "tee" |
| U | u | "oo" |
| V | vu | "voo" |
| Z | zeta | "DZEH-tah" |
Five Foreign Letters
J, K, W, X and Y are not part of the traditional Italian alphabet. You will still see them in words borrowed from other languages, in names, and in web addresses.
| Letter | Name | Example |
|---|---|---|
| J | i lunga | jeans - jeans |
| K | cappa | kiwi - kiwi |
| W | doppia vu | weekend - weekend |
| X | ics | taxi - taxi |
| Y | ipsilon or i greca | yogurt - yogurt |
Italian words usually keep the spelling of the original language, so weekend is pronounced much as in English.
The Five Vowels
Italian vowels are short and clear. They never glide the way English vowels do, and they keep the same sound whether or not the syllable is stressed.
- a - "ah" as in "father": casa - house
- e - "eh" as in "bed", or closer to "ay" without the glide: bene - well
- i - "ee" as in "see": vita - life
- o - "oh" as in "no", without the glide: dove - where
- u - "oo" as in "food": uno - one
E and o each have an open and a closed sound. The difference changes from region to region, so don’t worry about it as a beginner.
The Silent H
The letter h is never pronounced. It has two jobs:
- It keeps c and g hard before e and i: che ("keh") - that, chi ("kee") - who.
- It marks four forms of avere (to have), so you can tell them apart from words that sound the same: ho - I have (o - or), hai - you have (ai - to the), ha - he/she has (a - to), hanno - they have (anno - year).
So ho sounds exactly like o, and hanno like anno. In borrowed words like hotel, the h is silent too.
Spelling With City Names
English speakers say "B as in boy" to spell clearly. On the phone, Italians usually spell with city names instead: A come Ancona - A as in Ancona.
| Letter | Word | Letter | Word |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Ancona | N | Napoli |
| B | Bologna | O | Otranto |
| C | Como | P | Palermo |
| D | Domodossola | Q | Quarto |
| E | Empoli | R | Roma |
| F | Firenze | S | Savona |
| G | Genova | T | Torino |
| H | Hotel | U | Udine |
| I | Imola | V | Venezia |
| J | Jolly | W | Washington |
| K | Kappa | X | Xeres |
| L | Livorno | Y | York |
| M | Milano | Z | Zara |
H and the foreign letters have no well-known Italian city, so they use other familiar words.