The Italian Alphabet
Italian uses a reduced Latin alphabet:
a |
b |
c |
d |
e |
f |
g |
h |
i |
k |
l |
m |
n |
o |
p |
q |
r |
s |
t |
u |
v |
z |
There are 5 vowels representing 7 sounds:
| Vowel | Example |
| a | caso |
| à | felicità |
| e | estero |
| è | piè |
| é | perché |
| i |
tipo |
| ì | capì |
| o | ora |
| ò | italiano |
| u | lupo |
| ù | virtù |
And 16 consonants, representing 18 sounds:
| Consonant | Example |
| b | bollo |
| c (hard) | casa |
| c (soft) | cera |
| d | danza |
| f | fantasia |
| g (hard) | gatto |
| g (soft) | gelsomino |
| h (mute: first position) | ha |
| h (mute: after c and g and followed by e and i) | che |
| l | lupo |
| m | mantello |
| n | nastro |
| p | patto |
| q (always combined with u) | questo |
| r | resto |
| s (unvoiced) | sarto |
| s (voiced) | casa |
| t | torta |
| v | vaso |
| z | zuppa |
And there are four letter groups, each one representing a single sound, adding to 3 sounds:
| letter group | example |
| sc (before e and i) | scena |
| sci (before a, o and u) | sciamma |
| gn | gnocchi |
| gli | togliere |
So we can say Italian has 7 vowels and 21 consonants, adding up to 28 distinct sounds.
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