Help:IPA/Italian

This is the pronunciation key for IPA transcriptions of Italian on Wikipedia.

It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Italian in Wikipedia articles, and example words that illustrate the sounds that correspond to them. Integrity must be maintained between the key and the transcriptions that link here. Some keys are built on consensus more strongly than others; if the conventions of this key are already in wide use, any substantive change to it should be discussed on the talk page first as it would affect a large number of articles. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

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The charts below show how the International Phonetic Alphabet represents pronunciations of Standard Italian in Simple Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Simple Wikipedia articles, see {{IPA-it}}, {{IPAc-it}} and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

Consonants^[1]
IPA	Examples	English approximation
b	banca, cibo	about
d	dove, idra	today
dz	zaino, azalea, mezzo^[2]^[3]	dads
dʒ	gelo, giù, magia, judo, gadget	job
f	fatto, cifra, phon	fast
ɡ	gatto, agro, ghetto, glicosio^[4]	again
j	ieri, saio, più, Jesi, yacht, news	yes
k	cosa, acuto, finché, quei, kiwi, koala	scar
l	lato, tela, glicosio^[4]	ladder
ʎ	figli, glielo, maglia^[3]	billion
m	mano, amare, input^[5]	mother
ɱ	anfibio, invece^[5]	comfort
n	nano, punto, pensare, mangiare^[5]	nest
ŋ	unghia, anche, dunque^[5]	sing
ɲ	gnocco, ogni^[3]^[5]	canyon
p	primo, ampio, apertura	spin
r	Roma, quattro, morte^[6]	trilled r
s	sano, scusa, presentire, pasto^[7]	sorry
ʃ	scena, scià, pesci, flash, chic^[3]	shoe
t	tranne, mito, altro, thai	star
ts	zio, sozzo, marzo^[2]^[3]	cats
tʃ	certo, ciao, farmacia, chip	check
v	vado, povero, watt	vent
w	uova, guado, qui, week-end	wine
z	sbirro, presentare, asma^[7]	amazon
Non-native consonants
h	hobby, hertz^[8]	house
θ	Thatcher, Pérez^[9]	thing
x	jota, Bach, khamsin^[10]	loch (Scottish English)
ʒ	Fuji, garage, casual	vision

Vowels^[11]
IPA	Examples	English approximation
a	alto, sarà, must	fast (Scottish English)
e	vero, perché, liaison	fade
ɛ	etto, cioè, spread	bed
i	viso, sì, zia, feed, team, sexy	ski
o	ombra, otto, show, coach	story
ɔ	otto, sarò, Sean	off
u	usi, ragù, tuo, tour	rule
Non-native vowels
ø	viveur, goethiano, Churchill^[12]	murder (RP)
y	parure, brûlé, Führer^[13]	future (Scottish English)

Suprasegmentals
IPA	Examples	Explanation
ˈ	Cennini [tʃenˈniːni]	primary stress
ˌ	altamente [ˌaltaˈmente]	secondary stress^[14]
.	continuo [konˈtiːnu.o]	syllable break
ː	primo [ˈpriːmo]	long vowel^[15]

Notes

↑ Except /z/, all consonants after a vowel and before /r/, /l/, a vowel or a semivowel may be geminated. Gemination in IPA is represented by doubling the consonant (fatto [ˈfatto], mezzo [ˈmɛddzo]), and can usually be told from orthography. After stressed vowels and certain prepositions and conjunctions, word-initial consonants become geminated too (syntactic gemination): va via [ˌva vˈviːa].
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 ⟨z⟩ represents both /ts/ and /dz/. The article on Italian orthography explains how they are used.
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 ^3.3 ^3.4 /ts, dz, ʃ, ɲ, ʎ/ are always geminated after a vowel.
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 ⟨gli⟩ represents /ʎ/ or /ʎi/, except in roots of Greek origin, when preceded by another consonant, and in a few other words, where it represents /ɡli/.
↑ ^5.0 ^5.1 ^5.2 ^5.3 ^5.4 A nasal always assimilates to the place of articulation of the following consonant. It is bilabial [m] before /p, b, m/, labiodental [ɱ] before /f, v/, dental, alveolar or postalveolar [n] before /t, d, ts, dz, tʃ, dʒ, ʃ, l, r/, and velar [ŋ] before /k, ɡ/. Utterance-finally, it is always [n].
↑ Non-geminate /r/ is generally realised with a single strike, as a monovibrant trill or tap [ɾ], particularly in unstressed syllables.
↑ ^7.0 ^7.1 /s/ and /z/ contrast only intervocalically. Word-initially, after consonants, when geminated, and before voiceless consonants, only [s] is found. Before voiced consonants, only [z] is found.
↑ /h/ is usually dropped.
↑ /θ/ is usually pronounced as [t] in English loanwords, and [dz], [ts] (if spelled ⟨z⟩) or [s] (if spelled ⟨c⟩ or ⟨z⟩) in Spanish ones.
↑ In Spanish loanwords, /x/ is usually pronounced as [h] or [k] or dropped. In German, Arabic and Russian ones, it is usually pronounced [k].
↑ Italian contrasts seven monophthongs in stressed syllables. Open-mid vowels /ɛ, ɔ/ can appear only if the syllable is stressed (coperto [koˈpɛrto], quota [ˈkwɔːta]), close-mid vowels /e, o/ are found elsewhere (Boccaccio [bokˈkattʃo], amore [aˈmoːre]). Close and open vowels /i, u, a/ are unchanged in unstressed syllables, but word-final unstressed /i/ may become approximant [j] before vowels, which is known as synalepha (pari età [ˌparj eˈta]).
↑ Open-mid [œ] or close-mid [ø] if it is stressed but usually [ø] if it is unstressed. May be replaced by [ɛ] (stressed) or [e] (stressed or unstressed).
↑ /y/ is often pronounced as [u] or [ju].
↑ Since Italian has no distinction between heavier or lighter vowels (like the English o in conclusion vs o in nomination), a defined secondary stress, even in long words, is extremely rare.
↑ Primarily stressed vowels are long in non-final open syllables: fato [ˈfaːto], fatto [ˈfatto].

Other websites

Dizionario italiano multimediale e multilingue d'ortografia e di pronunzia (not based on IPA) (in Italian)
Dizionario di pronuncia italiana online by Luciano Canepari (based on IPA) (in Italian)

[1] Except /z/, all consonants after a vowel and before /r/, /l/, a vowel or a semivowel may be geminated. Gemination in IPA is represented by doubling the consonant (fatto [ˈfatto], mezzo [ˈmɛddzo]), and can usually be told from orthography. After stressed vowels and certain prepositions and conjunctions, word-initial consonants become geminated too (syntactic gemination): va via [ˌva vˈviːa].

[z-2] 2.0 ^2.1 ⟨z⟩ represents both /ts/ and /dz/. The article on Italian orthography explains how they are used.

[geminated-3] 3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 ^3.3 ^3.4 /ts, dz, ʃ, ɲ, ʎ/ are always geminated after a vowel.

[gli-4] 4.0 ^4.1 ⟨gli⟩ represents /ʎ/ or /ʎi/, except in roots of Greek origin, when preceded by another consonant, and in a few other words, where it represents /ɡli/.

[nasal-5] 5.0 ^5.1 ^5.2 ^5.3 ^5.4 A nasal always assimilates to the place of articulation of the following consonant. It is bilabial [m] before /p, b, m/, labiodental [ɱ] before /f, v/, dental, alveolar or postalveolar [n] before /t, d, ts, dz, tʃ, dʒ, ʃ, l, r/, and velar [ŋ] before /k, ɡ/. Utterance-finally, it is always [n].

[6] Non-geminate /r/ is generally realised with a single strike, as a monovibrant trill or tap [ɾ], particularly in unstressed syllables.

[s-z-7] 7.0 ^7.1 /s/ and /z/ contrast only intervocalically. Word-initially, after consonants, when geminated, and before voiceless consonants, only [s] is found. Before voiced consonants, only [z] is found.

[8] /h/ is usually dropped.

[9] /θ/ is usually pronounced as [t] in English loanwords, and [dz], [ts] (if spelled ⟨z⟩) or [s] (if spelled ⟨c⟩ or ⟨z⟩) in Spanish ones.

[10] In Spanish loanwords, /x/ is usually pronounced as [h] or [k] or dropped. In German, Arabic and Russian ones, it is usually pronounced [k].

[11] Italian contrasts seven monophthongs in stressed syllables. Open-mid vowels /ɛ, ɔ/ can appear only if the syllable is stressed (coperto [koˈpɛrto], quota [ˈkwɔːta]), close-mid vowels /e, o/ are found elsewhere (Boccaccio [bokˈkattʃo], amore [aˈmoːre]). Close and open vowels /i, u, a/ are unchanged in unstressed syllables, but word-final unstressed /i/ may become approximant [j] before vowels, which is known as synalepha (pari età [ˌparj eˈta]).

[12] Open-mid [œ] or close-mid [ø] if it is stressed but usually [ø] if it is unstressed. May be replaced by [ɛ] (stressed) or [e] (stressed or unstressed).

[13] /y/ is often pronounced as [u] or [ju].

[14] Since Italian has no distinction between heavier or lighter vowels (like the English o in conclusion vs o in nomination), a defined secondary stress, even in long words, is extremely rare.

[15] Primarily stressed vowels are long in non-final open syllables: fato [ˈfaːto], fatto [ˈfatto].

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[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

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[15]

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Notes

Further reading

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