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N.B.: We use a written accent mark to help students identify word stress and open/closed vowels even though Standard Italian may not require it.

Accented Monosyllables

This is a list of monosyllables that require a written accent mark in order not to be confused with similar words without accent mark.

Please note that in some cases the two words are pronounced differently, for example:

  1. "è"  (third person of the verb essere) is pronounced open
  2. "e" (conjunction)  is pronounced closed
  3. tè (name of plant and infusion) is pronounced open
  4. te (personal pronoun) is pronounced closed
ché     conjunction (perché, poiché) because    che      pronoun that
dà verb dare he/she gives da preposition from
dÌ noun day di preposition of
è verb (to be) he/she/it is e conjunction     and
là adverb there la article the
lì adverb there li pronoun them
né conjunction neither...nor ne part.pron. of it
sé pronoun himself/herself        se conjunction if
sì adverb yes si pronoun himself   
tè noun tea te pronoun you

There are a few instances of monosyllables that are spelled exactly in the same way (without any accent mark) but have radically different origin and meaning. Context generally helps understand the correct meaning. Here are some examples:

do first person of the verb " dare" do the musical note C
fa third person of the verb "fare" fa the musical note F
mi personal pronoun mi the musical note E
re king (pronounced with open è) re the musical note D (pronounced with closed é) 

 

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