Lesson 1, part 9:" Gh", pronunciation

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Where is Italian Spoken?
Italian is not only spoken in Italy (Italia) and its islands. It is also spoken in Switzerland (Svizzera) although there are more speakers of German and French there.
There are large Italian communities in the USA (Stati Uniti) and Canada (Canada).

The Alphabet
In Italian, the alphabet is the same as for English, except that J, K, W, X , and Y are not used. These letters appear in some Italian words of foreign origin, however.

Accents
Acute (á, é, í, ó, ú) and grave (à, è, ì, ò, ù) accents are used in Italian, and are called accento acuto and accento grave. Strictly the grave accent mark is used to mark stress on open vowels, and the acute accent mark on closed vowels. However, in practice, there are many situations in which a grave accent is used on closed vowels. The usual use of accents in Italian is to indicate that the stress falls on the last vowel in a polysyllabic word. In poetry the circumflex (â, ê, î, ô, û) accent is sometimes used to indicate the contraction of two vowels, or show where a syllable has been dropped.

Consonants (and combinations)

b

• like b in boy, but softer

c

• before e or i - like ch in chin
• otherwise - like c in cat

ch

• like c in cat

d

• like d in dog, but softer

f

• like f in fish

g

• before e or i - like g in gymnastics
• otherwise - like g in go

gh

• like g in go

gl

• like lli million

gn

• like ni in onion

gu

• like gu in anguish

h

• always silent

l

• like l in lime

m

• like m in me

n

• like n in nice

p

• like p in pit, but softer

qu

• like qu in quick

r

• rolled/trilled like r in Spanish or Scottish

s

• between vowels - like s in nose
• otherwise - like s in sit

sc

• before e or i - like sh in shut
• otherwise - like sk in skip

t

• like t in tape, but softer

v

• like v in vase

z

• either like ts in spits or ds in pads

zz

• either like ts in spits or ds in pads



Vowels

a

• long like a in father

e

• (è) short like e in set, or
• (é) long like a in say

i

• like ee in meet

o

• short like o in often, or
• long like o in hope

u

• either like oo in foot or w in well

Vowel Groups:
• Strong vowels: a, e, o
• Weak vowels: i, u

strong + strong: pronounce as two seperate syllables.
strong + weak: pronounce the weak one more quickly and with less stress than the strong one, unless the weak vowel in stressed, in which case pronounce it as a seperate syllable.
weak + weak: generally the second is stressed more strongly.