Learn the Italian Alphabet

L'alfabeto

Learn to read the Italian Alphabet (L'alfabeto): all 26 letters with names, sounds and audio, plus flashcards, listening, typing and matching practice.

Letter	Name	Latin letters	Sound
A a	A	a	open a as in father, always the same
B b	Bi	b	b as in bed
C c	Ci	c	k as in cat; ch as in church before e or i (ce, ci); 'ch' keeps it hard
D d	Di	d	d as in dog, tongue touching the teeth
E e	E	e	e as in they (closed) or as in bet (open), without a glide
F f	Effe	f	f as in fish
G g	Gi	g	g as in go; j as in jam before e or i (ge, gi); 'gh' keeps it hard
H h	Acca	h	always silent; it hardens c and g (che, ghi) and starts ho, hai, ha
I i	I	i	ee as in see; like y in yes before another vowel
J j	I lunga	j	used in loanwords; y as in yes, or j as in jeans in English words
K k	Cappa	k	used in loanwords; k as in kite, same as hard c
L l	Elle	l	l as in lemon, always clear; 'gli' sounds like lli in million
M m	Emme	m	m as in mother
N n	Enne	n	n as in no; 'gn' sounds like ny in canyon
O o	O	o	o as in go (closed) or as in law (open), without a glide
P p	Pi	p	p as in pen, without a puff of air
Q q	Cu	q	always followed by u, so qu sounds like kw in queen
R r	Erre	r	rolled or tapped r, like Spanish r
S s	Esse	s	s as in sun; often z as in zoo between vowels
T t	Ti	t	t as in top, tongue on the teeth, no puff of air
U u	U	u	oo as in food; like w before another vowel (uomo)
V v	Vu	v	v as in very
W w	Doppia vu	w	used in loanwords; v or w as in the source language
X x	Ics	x	used in loanwords; ks as in box
Y y	Ipsilon	y	used in loanwords; ee as in see or y as in yes
Z z	Zeta	z	ts as in cats or dz as in kids

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