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The charts below show how the International Phonetic Alphabet represents pronunciations of Standard Italian in popflock.com resource articles.

See Italian phonology for a more thorough overview of the sounds of Italian. There is also an Italian pronunciation guide at Wiktionary.

To learn more about the correspondence between spelling and sounds, see Italian orthography.

Consonants^[1]
IPA	Examples	English approximation
b	banca, cibo	bike
d	dove, idra	done
dz	zaino, azalea, mezzo^[2]^[3]	dads
d?	gelo, giù, magia, judo, gadget^[4]	job
f	fatto, cifra, phon	fast
?	gatto, agro, glifo, ghetto	gas
k	cosa, acuto, finché, quei, kiwi^[4]	scar
l	lato, tela	ladder
?	figli, glielo, maglia^[3]	billion
m	mano, amare, input, anfibio^[5]	mother
n	nano, punto, pensare^[5]	nest
?	unghia, anche, dunque^[5]	sing
?	gnocco, ogni^[3]	canyon
p	primo, ampio, apertura^[4]	spin
r	Roma, quattro, morte^[6]	trilled r
s	sano, scusa, presentire, pasto	sorry
?	scena, scià, pesci, flash, chic^[3]^[4]	shoe
t	tranne, mito, altro, thai^[4]	star
ts	zio, sozzo, marzo^[2]^[3]	cats
t?	certo, ciao, farmacia, chip^[4]	check
v	vado, povero, watt	vent
z	sbirro, presentare, asma	zipper
Non-native consonants
h	hobby, hertz^[4]^[7]	house
?	Thatcher, Pérez^[4]^[8]	thing
x	jota, Bach, khamsin^[9]	loch (Scottish English)
?	Fuji, abat-jour, garage, casual^[4]	vision

Vowels^[10]
IPA	Examples	English approximation
a	alto, sarà, must, clown	father
e	vero, perché, liaison	hey
?	elica, cioè, cash, play, spread	bed
i	viso, sì, zia, feed, team, sexy	ski
o	ombra, otto, show, coach	tow (American English), lord (RP)
?	otto, sarò, Sean	off
u	usi, ragù, tuo, look, tour	rule
Non-native vowels
ø	viveur, goethiano, Churchill^[11]	murder (RP)
y	parure, brûlé, Führer^[12]	future (Scottish English)

Semivowels
IPA	Examples	English approximation
j	ieri, saio, più, Jesi, yacht, news	you
w	uova, guado, qui, week-end	wine

Suprasegmentals
IPA	Examples	Explanation
'	Cennini [t?en'ni:ni]	primary stress
?	altamente [?alta'mente]	secondary stress^[13]
.	continuo [kon'ti:nu.o]	syllable break
:	primo ['pri:mo]	long vowel^[14]

Notes

^ If consonants are doubled after a vowel, they are geminated: all consonants may be geminated except for /z/. In IPA, gemination is represented by doubling the consonant (fatto ['fatto], mezzo ['m?ddzo]) or by using the length marker ⟨:⟩. There is also the sandhi of syntactic gemination: va via [?va v'vi:a]).
^ ^a ^b ⟨z⟩ represents both /ts/ and /dz/. The article on Italian orthography explains how they are used.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e /dz/, /ts/, /?/, /?/ and /?/ are always geminated after a vowel.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ In Tuscany [h], [?], [?], [?] and [?] are the common allophones of vowel-following single /k/, /p/, /t/, /t?/ and /d?/.
^ ^a ^b ^c Nasals always assimilate their place of articulation to that of the following consonant. Thus, the n in /n?/~/nk/ is a velar [?], and the one in /nf/~/nv/ is the labiodental [?] (but for simplicity, ⟨m⟩ is used here). A nasal before /p/, /b/ and /m/ is always the labial [m].
^ Non-geminate /r/ is generally realised with a single strike, as a monovibrant trill or tap [?], particularly in unstressed syllables.
^ /h/ is usually dropped.
^ /?/ is usually pronounced as [t] in English loanwords, and [dz], [ts] (if spelled ⟨z⟩) or [s] (if spelled ⟨c⟩ or ⟨z⟩) in Spanish ones.
^ In Spanish loanwords, /x/ is usually pronounced as [h], [k] or dropped. In German, Arabic and Russian ones, it is usually pronounced [k].
^ Italian contrasts seven monophthongs in stressed syllables. Open-mid vowels /?, ?/ can appear only if the syllable is stressed (coperto [ko'p?rto], quota ['kw?:ta]), close-mid vowels /e, o/ are found elsewhere (Boccaccio [bok'katt?o], amore [a'mo:re]). Close and open vowels /i, u, a/ are unchanged in unstressed syllables, but word-final unstressed /i/ may become approximant [j] before vowels, which is known as synalepha (pari età [?parj e'ta]).
^ Open-mid [oe] or close-mid [ø] if it is stressed but usually [ø] if it is unstressed. May be replaced by [?] (stressed) or [e] (stressed or unstressed).
^ /y/ is often pronounced as [u] or [ju].
^ Since Italian has no distinction between heavier or lighter vowels (like the English o in conclusion vs o in nomination), a defined secondary stress, even in long words, is extremely rare.
^ Stressed vowels are long in non-final open syllables: fato ['fa:to] ~ fatto ['fatto].

External links

(in Italian) Dizionario italiano multimediale e multilingue d'ortografia e di pronunzia (not based on IPA)
(in Italian) Dizionario di pronuncia italiana online by Luciano Canepari (based on IPA)

[1] If consonants are doubled after a vowel, they are geminated: all consonants may be geminated except for /z/. In IPA, gemination is represented by doubling the consonant (fatto ['fatto], mezzo ['m?ddzo]) or by using the length marker ⟨:⟩. There is also the sandhi of syntactic gemination: va via [?va v'vi:a]).

[z-2] ⟨z⟩ represents both /ts/ and /dz/. The article on Italian orthography explains how they are used.

[geminated-3] /dz/, /ts/, /?/, /?/ and /?/ are always geminated after a vowel.

[gorgia-4] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ In Tuscany [h], [?], [?], [?] and [?] are the common allophones of vowel-following single /k/, /p/, /t/, /t?/ and /d?/.

[nasal-5] Nasals always assimilate their place of articulation to that of the following consonant. Thus, the n in /n?/~/nk/ is a velar [?], and the one in /nf/~/nv/ is the labiodental [?] (but for simplicity, ⟨m⟩ is used here). A nasal before /p/, /b/ and /m/ is always the labial [m].

[6] Non-geminate /r/ is generally realised with a single strike, as a monovibrant trill or tap [?], particularly in unstressed syllables.

[7] /h/ is usually dropped.

[8] /?/ is usually pronounced as [t] in English loanwords, and [dz], [ts] (if spelled ⟨z⟩) or [s] (if spelled ⟨c⟩ or ⟨z⟩) in Spanish ones.

[9] In Spanish loanwords, /x/ is usually pronounced as [h], [k] or dropped. In German, Arabic and Russian ones, it is usually pronounced [k].

[10] Italian contrasts seven monophthongs in stressed syllables. Open-mid vowels /?, ?/ can appear only if the syllable is stressed (coperto [ko'p?rto], quota ['kw?:ta]), close-mid vowels /e, o/ are found elsewhere (Boccaccio [bok'katt?o], amore [a'mo:re]). Close and open vowels /i, u, a/ are unchanged in unstressed syllables, but word-final unstressed /i/ may become approximant [j] before vowels, which is known as synalepha (pari età [?parj e'ta]).

[11] Open-mid [oe] or close-mid [ø] if it is stressed but usually [ø] if it is unstressed. May be replaced by [?] (stressed) or [e] (stressed or unstressed).

[12] /y/ is often pronounced as [u] or [ju].

[13] Since Italian has no distinction between heavier or lighter vowels (like the English o in conclusion vs o in nomination), a defined secondary stress, even in long words, is extremely rare.

[14] Stressed vowels are long in non-final open syllables: fato ['fa:to] ~ fatto ['fatto].

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[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

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[12]

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[14]

Notes

Further reading

External links