Published on December 9, 2024
The ultimate guide to the Italian alphabet
The Italian alphabet is simpler than the English alphabet in the sense that it contains fewer letters. But there’s still plenty to learn and master here, from the alphabet’s rich history to the melodic pronunciation of its letters.
This guide will explore what makes the Italian alphabet distinct: the role of “foreign” letters, how vowels and their combinations create distinct sounds, how certain consonants have soft and hard pronunciations, and how doubling a consonant can change the entire meaning of a word. We’ll go through some handy pronunciation tips and some practical learning strategies, too.
Get ready to master the building blocks of this beautiful language!
The Italian alphabet consists of only 21 letters, compared to the 26 letters found in English.
| Italian letters | Pronunciation |
| A | ah |
| B | bee |
| C | chee |
| D | dee |
| E | eh |
| F | ef-eh |
| G | jee |
| H | ah-kah |
| I | ee |
| L | eh-leh |
| M | em-meh |
| N | en-ne |
| O | oh |
| P | pee |
| Q | coo |
| R | eh-rreh |
| S | es-seh |
| T | tee |
| U | oo |
| V | voo |
| Z | tseh-tah |
Like many languages, Italian borrows some of its words from other languages. In some of these words, you’ll find so-called “foreign letters,” or letters that aren’t native to the Italian alphabet. These tend to pop up in modern nouns like “jeans,” “ketchup,” “weekend,” “taxi” and “yoga.”
| Foreign letters | Pronunciation |
| J | ee loon-ga (lit. long i) |
| K | kap-pa |
| W | voo dohp-pee-ah |
| X | eex |
| Y | ee-gre-ka (lit. Greek i) |
Fortunately, the pronunciation of Italian letters is generally straightforward, so you should be able to sound most words out after learning the basics.
Italian vowels have a clear pronunciation. There are seven distinct sounds produced by the five vowels:
‘A’ is always pronounced as in “father”:
‘E’ can be either closed (as in “they”) or open (as in “bet”):
‘I’ is pronounced like the ‘ee’ in “see”:
‘O’ also has two sounds. It can be closed (as in “go”) or open (as in “or”):
‘U’ is pronounced like the ‘oo’ in “food”:
Italian diphthongs are combinations of two vowels in the same syllable. They create a smooth glide between sounds.
‘AI’ sounds like the English “eye”:
‘AU’ sounds like the ‘ow’ in “cow”:
EI sounds like the ‘ay’ in “say”:
EU is a sound blending from ‘eh’ to ‘oo’:
OI sounds like the ‘oy’ in “toy”:
IU sounds like the ‘ew’ in “few”:
The pronunciation of ‘C’ and ‘G’ in Italian can be soft or hard depending on the vowel that follows them:
| Italian | Pronunciation | English |
| centro | chen-troh | center |
| ciao | chow | hello/goodbye |
| gente | jen-teh | people |
| gioco | jee-oh-koh | toy |
| Italian | Pronunciation | English |
| casa | kah-sah | house |
| colore | koh-loh-reh | color |
| gatto | gah-toh | cat |
| gomma | goh-mah | rubber |
If you want to get the soft sound but the following vowel is ‘A’, ‘O’ or ‘U’, you just need to add an ‘I’ before the vowel:
On the contrary, if you keep the hard sound with ‘E’ or ‘I’, you add an ‘H’:
In Italian, the letter ‘H’ is silent when pronounced, but it plays an important role in distinguishing the meaning of words. This is especially noticeable in verb forms and some homonyms.
‘O’ vs. ‘HO’
‘A’ vs. ‘HA’
The distinction between soft and hard ‘S’ or ‘Z’ often depends on regional accents (in some areas, the rules may blur slightly). Nevertheless, what follows are the generally accepted pronunciations:
Hard ‘S’ is voiced like the ‘z’ sound in “rose.” It occurs:
Soft ‘Z’ is voiceless when it’s not the first letter of the word. It sounds like ‘ts’ in “bits”:
Hard ‘Z’ is voiced when it’s the first letter of the word. It sounds like ‘dz’ in “adze”:
In Italian, double consonants (called le doppie) are pronounced with a longer, more emphatic sound compared to single consonants. They can change the meaning of a word, so it’s important to get the pronunciation right!
| Italian | Pronunciation | English |
| pala | pah-lah | shovel |
| palla | pahl-lah | ball |
| casa | kah-sah | house |
| cassa | kahs-sah | box |
| sete | seh-teh | thirst |
| sette | set-teh | seven |
Italian evolved directly from Latin, which does not use the following letters in its classical form:
The Italian alphabet reflects this heritage, focusing on the letters essential for representing sounds in Latin and early Italian. Since Italian is a highly phonetic language, the sounds associated with the “foreign” letters were already represented by other letters or combinations, so the adoption of the graphemes was unnecessary:
The ‘J’ sound (as in “jeans”) was covered by the combination of ‘G’ with ‘I’ or ‘E’:
The ‘K’ sound was handled by ‘C’ (or ‘CH’ when followed by ‘I’ or ‘E’):
Incorporating listening and repetition through audio resources like podcasts or pronunciation apps can be helpful. Listen carefully, repeat aloud and memorize the sounds.
You can also boost your rhythm and recognition with Italian alphabet songs, which can be a fun way to internalize pronunciation patterns, or by engaging in spelling games like word scrambles or flashcards. Practice daily by writing out Italian words and saying them aloud to reinforce the connection between letters and sounds.
If you feel inspired and committed to learning Italian with professional help, we also recommend starting with Lingoda’s online Italian classes, where expert teachers can guide you through pronunciation and practical exercises!
J, K, W, X and Y are considered “foreign” letters and are not found in the Italian alphabet.
‘The Italian word Juventus starts with ‘J’ because it reflects the archaic Latin spelling, where ‘J’ was used as a variant of ‘I’ for a consonant sound. Modern Italian now uses ‘GI’ for this sound, but older spellings like Juventus remain in proper names.
There’s no W in the Italian alphabet because it isn’t native to Latin, which Italian descends from. W appears only in loanwords or foreign names.
Learning the Italian alphabet is about more than just memorizing letters — it’s about understanding the sounds, rules and quirks that make the language so beautiful. We’ve explored the 21-letter alphabet, the role of “foreign” letters, and how Italian vowels are musical and stable sounds you can always rely on. We’ve also learned the nuances of certain consonants that can sound hard, soft, doubled or simply vary depending on their position in the word. Ready to take your Italian to the next level? With Lingoda, you can start speaking from Day One, guided by native-level teachers in flexible, online classes. Gain confidence with interactive lessons designed to fit your schedule and help you speak like a pro!
