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Quick Italian Tutorial
You should practice your Italian by learning basic and everyday Italian expressions that you will be able to use in day-to-day life either in a Italian-speaking country or with your friends who may be trying to learn Italian.
Phonetics
ca-cu-co hard like English in ka(ki)-coo(k)-(al)co(hol)
chi-che hard like English in kee-ke(nnedy)
ci-ce soft like English in chee-che(ck)
È acute accent (closed) like English e in (ad)e(quate) or (op)e(n)
Ë grave accent (open) like English e in chess
gi-ge soft like English gin-ge(neral)
ghi-ghe hard like English gui(lty)-gue(st)
ga-go-gu hard like English garden, golf, good
gn - like English canyon o gn in Franch or Ò in Spanish
gli like ll in northern Spain, or similar to English (mi)lli(on)
*few names are exceptions and pronunciation is like in English anglican, glicin, negligent, gerogliphic = anglicano (angliCAno), glicine (GLIcine), negligente (negliGENTe), geroglifico (geroGLIfico).
gle-glo-gla-glu like in English gla(d)-glo(rious)-gla(ss)-gloo(m)
Û acute accent (closed) like English in (c)o(ld)
Ú grave accent (open) like English in o(il)
s has the sound of English (plea)s(e) in some words and the sound of English s(olid) in other words
sci-sce like in English sh
sca-sco-scu-schi-sche have the English sounds of sk (remember the vowels have the Italian pronounciation of a-o-u-i-e)
z has the sound of English z(eal) in some words and the sound of English z(oom) in other words.
* In Italian all the consonants can be double in many words and they must be pronounced with a prolongation (or extension) of the sound of the first consonant; examples: sasso (sas-so), little stone; cappello (cap-pel-lo), hat; terra (ter-ra), land; acciaio (ac-ciaio), steel; mucchio (muc-chio), heap; oggetto (og-get-to), object; macchina (mac-china),car; nazionalizzazione (nazionaliz-zazione), nationalization;gatto-(gat-to), cat.
Basic Expressions
ciao - hello, goodbye (familiar)
salve - hello
addio - goodbye
bene - well
egli - he (literary)
lui - he (common speech), him
ella - she (literary)
lei - she (common speech), her
esso - it (masculine)
essa - it (feminine)
essi - they (persons or things)
loro - them (persons or things), they (common speech, persons)
grazie - thank you
spiacente - I'm sorry
noi - us, we (plural)
signore - sir, mister, mr.
signora - madame, mrs.
signorina - miss
tu - you (informal)
voi - you (plural, formal and informal)
io - I
Numbers 1-10
0 - zero
1 - uno
2 - due
3 - tre
4 -quattro
5 - cinque
6 - sei
7 - sette
8 - otto
9 - nove
10 - dieci
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