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A1 Alphabet Summer 2015 PDF
A1 Alphabet Summer 2015 PDF
1
Italian
Alphabet
ALFABETO
ITALIANO
The
Italian
alphabet
consists
of
21
letters:
A
[a]
pronounced
like
“a”
in
“father”
M
[emme]
pronounced
like
“m”
in
“meter”
B
[b]
pronounced
like
“b”
in
“banana”
N
[enne]
pronounced
like
“n”
in
“need”
C
[ci]
pronounced
like
“ch”
of
“cheese
O
[o]
pronounced
like
“o”
in
“cost”
D
[di]
pronounced
like
“d”
in
“doll”
P
[pi]
pronounced
like
“p”
in
“person”
E
[e]
pronounced
like
“e”
in
“elephant”
Q
[qu]
pronounced
like
“q”
in
“quarter”
F
[effe]
pronounced
like
“f”
in
“feather”
R
[erre]
pronounced
like
“r”
in
“rock”
G
[gi]
pronounced
like
“g”
in
“gender”
S
[esse]
pronounced
like
“s”
in
“sell”
H
[acca]
always
silent
in
Italian
T
[ti]
pronounced
like
“t”
in
“time”
I
[i]
pronounced
like
“ee”
in
“deep”
U
[u]
pronounced
like
“u”
in
“bush”
L
[elle]
pronounced
like
“l”
in
lemon
V
[vi]
pronounced
like
“v”
in
“vault”
Z
[zeta]
pronounced
like
“z”
in
“Zen”
Letters
not
in
the
Italian
alphabet
but
retained
in
foreign
words
currently
used
in
Italian:
J
[i
lunga]
K
[kappa]
Y
[ipsilon]
X
[ics]
W
[doppia
vu]
The
Pronunciation
of
“C”
hard
“c”
soft
“c”
as
in
the
word
“color”
as
in
the
word
“cheese”
ca
[cantina
(cellar)]
cia
[ciascuno
(each
one)]
co
[colore
(color)]
cio
[ciotola
(bowl)]
cu
[custode
(guardian)]
ciu
[ciuffo
(tuft)]
chi
[chiesa
(church)]
ci
[cinema
(cinema)]
che
[schema
(scheme)]
ce
[celeste
(light
blue)]
I
APPENDIX
1
Notice
that
the
letter
“q”
always
has
a
hard
sound
(as
in
the
word
“color”)
and
is
always
followed
by
“u”:
quaderno
(notebook).
The
Pronunciation
of
“G”
hard
“G”
soft
“G”
as
in
the
word
“gold”
as
in
the
word
“gender”
ga
[garanzia
(guarantee)]
gia
[giardino
(garden)]
go
[godere
(to
enjoy)]
gio
[giovane
(young)]
gu
[gusto
(gusto)]
giu
[giusto
(right)]
ghi
[ghianda
(acorn)]
gi
[giro
(tour,
round)]
ghe
[ghetto
(ghetto)]
ge
[gelato
(ice
cream)]
Accents
In
general
the
phonetic
accent
falls
on
the
next
to
last
syllable.
For
example,
in
the
word
“matita”,
the
accent
falls
on
the
“i”.
In
some
words
the
phonetic
accent
falls
on
the
last
vowel.
In
this
case
the
vowel
is
written
with
an
accent.
The
accent
can
be
written
as
a
grave
or
as
an
acute
accent,
interchangeably:
perciò
=
perció
(therefore)
perchè
=
perché
(why,
because)
The
sound
“gn”
“gn”
is
pronounced
as
“ny”
in
the
English
word
“canyon”.
Pronounce
the
words:
bagno
(bath),
spegnere
(to
turn
off),
giugno
(June).
The
sound
“gl”
“gl”
is
pronounced
like
“ll”
in
the
English
word
“million”.
Pronounce
the
words:
figlio
(son),
luglio
(July),
giglio
(lily).
II
APPENDIX
1
Double
consonants
Some
words
have
double
consonants.
They
are
pronounced
by
slightly
prolonging
the
sound
of
the
consonant.
Pronounce
the
words:
mamma
(Mom),
nonna
(grandmother),
carro
(cart),
cadde
(he/she
fell),
palla
(ball)
III