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This is the pronunciation key for IPA transcriptions of Italian on Wikipedia.

It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Italian in popflock.com resource articles, and example words that illustrate the sounds that correspond to them. Integrity must be maintained between the key and the transcriptions that link here; do not change any symbol or its value without establishing consensus on the talk page first.

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The charts below show how the International Phonetic Alphabet represents pronunciations of Standard Italian in popflock.com resource articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to popflock.com resource articles, see {{IPA-it}}, {{IPAc-it}} and popflock.com Resource: Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

See Italian phonology and Italian orthography for a more thorough look at the sounds of Italian.

Consonants^[1]
IPA	Examples	English approximation
b	banca, cibo	about
d	dove, idra	today
dz	zaino, azalea, mezzo^[2]^[3]	dads
d?	gelo, giù, magia, judo, gadget^[4]	job
f	fatto, cifra, phon	fast
?	gatto, agro, ghetto, glicosio^[5]	again
j	ieri, saio, più, Jesi, yacht, news	yes
k	cosa, acuto, finché, quei, kiwi, koala^[4]	scar
l	lato, tela, glicosio^[5]	ladder
?	figli, glielo, maglia^[3]	billion
m	mano, amare, input^[6]	mother
?	anfibio, invece^[6]	comfort
n	nano, punto, pensare^[6]	nest
?	unghia, anche, dunque^[6]	sing
?	gnocco, ogni^[3]	canyon
p	primo, ampio, apertura^[4]	spin
r	Roma, quattro, morte^[7]	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
w	uova, guado, qui, week-end	wine
z	sbirro, presentare, asma	amazon
Non-native consonants
h	hobby, hertz^[4]^[8]	house
?	Thatcher, Pérez^[4]^[9]	thing
x	jota, Bach, khamsin^[10]	loch (Scottish English)
?	Fuji, garage, casual^[4]	vision

Vowels^[11]
IPA	Examples	English approximation
a	alto, sarà, must	fast (Scottish English)
e	vero, perché, liaison	fade
?	elica, cioè, spread	bed
i	viso, sì, zia, feed, team, sexy	ski
o	ombra, otto, show, coach	story
?	otto, sarò, Sean	off
u	usi, ragù, tuo, tour	rule
Non-native vowels
ø	viveur, goethiano, Churchill^[12]	murder (RP)
y	parure, brûlé, Führer^[13]	future (Scottish English)

Suprasegmentals
IPA	Examples	Explanation
'	Cennini [t?en'ni:ni]	primary stress
?	altamente [?alta'mente]	secondary stress^[14]
.	continuo [kon'ti:nu.o]	syllable break
:	primo ['pri:mo]	long vowel^[15]

Notes

^ If consonants are doubled after a vowel, they are geminated: all consonants may be geminated except for . Gemination is represented by doubling the consonant (fatto ['fatto], mezzo ['m?ddzo]). 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 , , , and are the common allophones of vowel-following single /k/, /p/, /t/, /t?/ and /d?/
^ ^a ^b ⟨gli⟩ represents /?/ or /?i/, except in roots of Greek origin, when preceded by another consonant, and in a few other words, where it represents /?li/
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Nasals always assimilate their place of articulation to that of the following consonant. Thus, the ⟨n⟩ in /n?/ and /nk/ is a velar , and the one in /nf/ and /nv/ is the labiodental . A nasal before /p/, /b/ and /m/ is always the labial .
^ 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 in English loanwords, and , (if spelled ⟨z⟩) or (if spelled ⟨c⟩ or ⟨z⟩) in Spanish ones.
^ In Spanish loanwords, /x/ is usually pronounced as , or dropped. In German, Arabic and Russian ones, it is usually pronounced .
^ 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 before vowels, which is known as synalepha (pari età [?parj e'ta]).
^ Open-mid or close-mid if it is stressed but usually if it is unstressed. May be replaced by (stressed) or (stressed or unstressed).
^ /y/ is often pronounced as 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

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) (in Italian)

[1] If consonants are doubled after a vowel, they are geminated: all consonants may be geminated except for . Gemination is represented by doubling the consonant (fatto ['fatto], mezzo ['m?ddzo]). 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 , , , and are the common allophones of vowel-following single /k/, /p/, /t/, /t?/ and /d?/

[gli-5] ⟨gli⟩ represents /?/ or /?i/, except in roots of Greek origin, when preceded by another consonant, and in a few other words, where it represents /?li/

[nasal-6] Nasals always assimilate their place of articulation to that of the following consonant. Thus, the ⟨n⟩ in /n?/ and /nk/ is a velar , and the one in /nf/ and /nv/ is the labiodental . A nasal before /p/, /b/ and /m/ is always the labial .

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

[8] /h/ is usually dropped.

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

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

[11] 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 before vowels, which is known as synalepha (pari età [?parj e'ta]).

[12] Open-mid or close-mid if it is stressed but usually if it is unstressed. May be replaced by (stressed) or (stressed or unstressed).

[13] /y/ is often pronounced as or [ju].

[14] 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.

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

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

Notes

Further reading

External links