How to pronounce Italian - a few basics
- Italian isn't hard to pronounce for English speakers. You need to know a few basic rules.
- Italian ci and ce are both pronounced like the English 'chi, che'. In cia, cio, ciu the 'i' is not pronounced, so it sounds like 'cha, cho, chu'.
ciabatta
Botticelli
- chi and che are pronounced like the hard English 'k':
Chianti
orchestra
- gi and ge have a soft sound, like the 'j' in 'Jim'. In gia, gio, giu the 'i' is not pronounced, so it sounds like 'ja, jo, ju':
Parmigiano
Genova
- ghi and ghe are hard, like the 'g' in 'gate':
Lamborghini
spaghetti
- gn sounds like 'ni' in 'onion'
lasagne
- gli sounds like 'lli' in 'million'
Modigliani
Cagliari
- z is pronounced like a 'dz' or a 'tz'.
Venezia
grazie
- Most double zz's have the 'tz' sound:
pizza
piazza
- Most other z's have a 'dz' sound:
zona
Gorgonzola
- Italian vowels are clear, distinctive and consistent. Click to hear how these place names are pronounced:
a as in Parma
e as in Venezia
i as in Rimini
o as in Torino
u as in Murano
Click for more about
pronouncing Italian
Try and write these names down correctly. Click to hear them and then type in the missing letters.
Here are the correct answers
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Check the Key Words
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