The Alphabet, Spelling and Phonetic conventions.

To spell a word, particularly on the telephone, Italians refer to the names of cities.

To spell the word "CASA" (house) they will say: "COMO, ANCONA, SIENA, ANCONA."

The list of cities is not fixed. Thus, instead of "COMO," one could as well use "CATANIA," "CAPRI" or any other well known location.

Below you will find the alphabet spelled the Italian way.

Click on to hear the pronunciation.
Click on the city to connect to the Website.
A A come Ancona
B B come Bologna
C C come Como
D D come Domodossola
E E come Empoli
F F come Firenze
G G come Genova
H H Acca come Hotel
I I come Imola
L L come Livorno
M M come Milano

 

 
Click on to hear the pronunciation.
Click on the city to connect to the Website.
N N come Napoli
O O come Otranto
P P come Palermo
Q Q "Cu" come Quadro
R R come Roma
S S come Siena
T T come Torino
U U come Udine
V V come Venezia
Z Z Zeta Zero

 

Write the name of the city next to the corresponding letter

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
L
M

 

 

 
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
Z

 

 

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OTHER LETTERS?

Italian normally is written with only 21 letters.
The remaining letters (JKWXY) are used almost exclusively for foreign words.
And here is how they are pronounced....

J J = i lunga
K K = kappa
W W = doppia vu
X X = ics
Y Y = i greca

 

 

ITALIAN PHONETIC CONVENTIONS

Unlike English, Italian is written according to fixes phonetic conventions.
This means that the various sounds are written always (well, almost always) in the same way.

Learn a few rules and you will be able to read and pronounce any text accurately.

LETTERA C   In the textboxes below write other words with the featured sound
CA CASA
CO COMO
hear the pronunciation CU
 CUBO
hear the pronunciation CHI CHIANTI
hear the pronunciation CHE
 ORCHESTRA
BRUSCHETTA
     
hear the pronunciation CIA CIAO
hear the pronunciation CIO PASTICCIO
hear the pronunciation CIU CIUCO
hear the pronunciation CI CAPPUCCINO
PUCCINI
hear the pronunciation CE VERSACE
DOLCE

 

LETTERA G    
hear the pronunciation GA GABBANA
hear the pronunciation GO SPAGO
hear the pronunciation GU GUCCI
hear the pronunciation GHI GHIRO
hear the pronunciation GHE SPAGHETTI
     
hear the pronunciation GIA GIACOMO
hear the pronunciation GIO GIORGIO
hear the pronunciation GIU GIULIANI
hear the pronunciation GI GIGLI
hear the pronunciation GE GELATO
     
hear the pronunciation GN GNOCCHI
LASAGNA
hear the pronunciation GLI VOGLIO

 

GRUPPO SC-    
hear the pronunciation SCI SCIVOLARE
hear the pronunciation SCE SCENA
hear the pronunciation SCIA SCIAGURA
hear the pronunciation SCIO SCIOPERO
hear the pronunciation SCIU SCIUPARE