Italian Demystified. A self-Teaching Guide
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Introducing Yourself
To ask someone’s name directly in Italian you can say:
Come ti chiami? What is your name?
You answer with:
Mi chiamo… My name is . . .
If you’re speaking about a third party, you would say:
Lui come si chiama? What is his name?
Lei come si chiama? What is her name?
Or:
Come si chiama il tuo amico? What is your (male) friend’s name?
Come si chiama la tua amica? What is your (female) friend’s name?
Oral Practice
Practice saying the following sentences out loud. The focus here is on pronouncing
vowels as they occur in names.
Come ti chiami? What is your name?
Mi chiamo Anna. My name is Anna.
Come ti chiami? What is your name?
Mi chiamo Ugo. My name is Hugh.
Lui come si chiama? What is his name?
Lui si chiama Cesare. His name is Caesar.
Lei come si chiama? What is her name?
Lei si chiama Elena. Her name is Helen.
Come si chiama il tuo amico? What is your (male) friend’s name?
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8 Italian Demystifi ed
Il mio amico si chiama Guglielmo. My friend’s name is William.
Come si chiama la tua amica? What is your (female) friend’s name?
La mia amica si chiama Pasqualina. My friend’s name is Pasqualina.
Pronunciation of Italian Consonants
E adesso come si pronuncia? And now, how does one pronounce it? Note two use-
ful words within this question:
e and
adesso (ah-dEhs-soh) now
Single consonant sounds are produced by a blockage (partial or complete) of the
air expelled through the mouth. Most Italian consonants are pronounced in the
same way they are pronounced in English.
Bruno (brOOh-noh) Bruno
Franco (frAhn-koh) Frank
Mario (mAh-reeh-oh) Mario
Nora (nOh-rah) Nora
Vittoria (veeht-tOh-ryah) Victoria
There are some differences, however. The consonant sound represented by the
letter p is not accompanied by a small puff of air, as it is at the beginning of some
English words.
Piero (pyEh-roh) Pierre
Pina (pEEh-nah) Pina
In addition, the sounds represented by the letters t and d in Italian do not corre-
spond exactly to the English sounds represented by these letters. In Italian you must
place the tongue on the upper teeth, not just above them (as in English).
Tina (tEEh-nah) Tina
Tommaso (tohm-mAH-zoh) Thomas
Dina (dEEh-nah) Dina
Daniele (dah-nyEh-leh) Daniel
The sound represented by the letter l is identical to the English l sound in love.
However, in English, the back of the tongue is raised toward the back of the mouth
when l occurs at the end of a syllable or word, as in bill or fi l l e r . This feature, known
as the “dark l,” is not found in Italian pronunciation.
Aldo (Ahl-doh) Aldo
Paolo (pah-Oh-loh) Paul
The sound represented by gli is similar to the English lli in million, but much
more forceful. And the sound represented by gn is similar to the English ny in can-
yon, but, again, much more forceful.
Guglielmo (gooh-lyEhl-moh) William
Benigna (beh-nEEh-nyah) Benigna (Benign)
Ignazio (eeh-nyAh-tsyoh) Ignatius
The letter s can stand for both the s sound in the English word sip or the z sound
in zip. The Italian z sound is used before b, d, g, l, m, n, r, v, and between vowels;
otherwise, the s sound is used.
z sound
Cesare (chEh-zah-reh) Caesar
Osvaldo (oh-zvAhl-doh) Oswald
Giuseppe (jooh-zEhp-peh) Joseph
s sound
Cristofero (kreeh-stOh-fehroh) Christopher
Pasqualina (pah-s-kwah-lEEh-nah) Pasqualina
Sara (sAh-rah) Sarah
Sandra (sAhn-drah) Sandra
The letter z stands for the ts sound as in the English word cats or the ds sound as
in lads.
Vincenzo (veehn-chEhn-tsoh or veehn-chEhn-dsoh) Vincent
Renzo (rEhn-tsoh or rEhn-dsoh) Lawrence
The letter r stands for a sound that is different from the English r. To pronounce
the Italian sound, roll your tongue a few times on the ridge above your top front
teeth.
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10 Italian Demystifi ed
Rachele (rah-kEh-leh) Rachel
Riccardo (reehk-kAhr-doh) Richard
The hard k sound is spelled as c before consonants and the vowels a, o, u. It is
spelled as ch before the vowels e and i. The sound sequence kw is spelled (usually)
as qu.
Claudia (klAh-ooh-deeh-ah) Claudia
Carlo (kAhr-loh) Carlo, Charles
Concetta (kohn-chEht-tah) Concetta (Connie)
Marco (mAhr-koh) Mark
Chiara (kyAh-rah) Claire
Achille (ah-kEEhl-leh) Achilles
Michele (meeh-kEh-leh) Michael
Pasquale (pahs-kwAh-leh) Pascal
The soft ch sound (as in church) is spelled as c before the vowels e and i. It is
spelled as ci before the vowels a, o, u.
Cecilia (cheh-chEEh-leeh-ah) Cecile
Ciro (chEEh-roh) Cyrus
Felicia (feh-lEEh-chah) Felicia
Lucio (lOOh-choh) Lucius
The hard g sound is spelled as g before consonants and the vowels a, o, u. It is
spelled as gh before the vowels e and i. The sound sequence gw is spelled (usually)
as gu.
Gloria (glOh-reeh-ah) Gloria
Gabriella (gah-breeh-Ehl-lah) Gabrielle
Gustavo (goohs-tAh-voh) Gustav
il signor Gherli (gEhr-leeh) Mr. Gherli
The soft j sound is spelled as g before the vowels e and i. It is spelled as gi before
the vowels a, o, and u.
Gerardo (jeh-rAhr-doh) Gerard
Gino (jEEh-noh) Gino
Giacomo (jAh-koh-moh) Jack
Giovanni (joh-vAhn-neeh) John
Giulia (jOOh-leeh-ah) Julia
The sound sequence sk is spelled as sc before consonants and the vowels a, o, u.
It is spelled as sch before the vowels e and i. The soft sh sound (as in shoe) is spelled
as sc before the vowels e and i.
Francesco (frahn-chEhs-koh) Francis
Francesca (frahn-chEhs-kah) Frances
Surnames
il signor Franceschi (frahn-chEhs-keeh) Mr. Franceschi
la signora Boschi (bOhs-keeh) Mrs. Boschi
il signor Cascina (kah-shEEh-nah) Mr. Cascina
la signora Guscini (gooh-shEEh-neeh) Mrs. Guscini
DOUBLE CONSONANTS
Each single consonant has a corresponding double pronunciation in Italian, which
lasts twice as long and is slightly more forceful. The double consonant is shown,
generally, with double letters.
Riccardo (reehk-kAhr-doh) Richard
Giovanni (joh-vAhn-neeh) John
Tommaso (tohm-mAh-zoh) Thomas
Giuseppe (jooh-zEhp-peh) Joseph
Annabella (ahn-nah-bEhl-lah) Annabelle
Ferruccio (fehr-rOOh-choh) Ferruccio
Santuzza (sahn-tOOh-tsah) Santuzza
Vittoria (veeht-tOh-reeh-ah) Victoria
Alessandro (ah-lehs-sAhn-droh) Alexander
Raffaele (rahf-fah-Eh-leh) Ralph
The letters gl and gn between vowels are pronounced more forcefully than their
English counterparts lly and ny.
Guglielmo (gooh-lyEhl-moh) William
Ignazio (eeh-nyAh-tsyoh) Ignatius
The double or lengthened version of ch, ci, gh, and gi is achieved by doubling the
fi rst letter.
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12 Italian Demystifi ed
il signor Vecchiarelli (vehk-kyah-rEhl-leeh) Mr. Vecchiarelli
la signora Roccia (rOh-chah) Mrs. Roccia
il signor Loggia (lOhj-jah) Mr. Loggia
Introducing People
To introduce someone with a casual address in Italian, you would say:
Ti presento… Let me introduce you to . . .
In a more formal situation, you would say:
Le presento il signor… Let me introduce you to Mr. . . .
Le presento la signora… Let me introduce you to Mrs. . . .
Oral Practice
Practice saying the following sentences out loud.
Ti presento Carlo. Let me introduce you to Charles.
Ciao, Carlo. Hi, Charles.
Ti presento Chiara. Let me introduce you to Claire.
Ciao, Chiara. Hi, Claire.
Ti presento Felicia. Let me introduce you to Felicia.
Ciao, Felicia. Hi, Felicia.
Ti presento Giacomo. Let me introduce you to Jack.
Ciao, Giacomo. Hi, Jack.
Le presento il signor Michele Let me introduce you to Mr. Michael
Franceschi. Franceschi.
Piacere, signor Franceschi. A pleasure, Mr. Franceschi.
Le presento la signora Sara Marchi. Let me introduce you to Mrs. Sarah
Marchi.
Piacere, signora Marchi. A pleasure, Mrs. Marchi.
Le presento il signor Pasquale Let me introduce you to Mr. Pasquale
Boschi. Boschi.
Piacere, signor Boschi. A pleasure, Mr. Boschi.
Written Practice 1
Introduce each person with either the familiar or polite form. For example:
Raffaele (familiar) Ralph
Ti presento Raffaele.
Let me introduce you to Ralph.
Ciao, Raffaele.
Hi, Ralph.
1. Giuseppe (familiar) Joseph
. Let me
introduce you to Joseph.
. Hi, Joseph.
2. Alessandro (familiar) Alexander
. Let me
introduce you to Alexander.
. Hi,
Alexander.
3. il signor Vecchiarelli (polite) Mr. Vecchiarelli
. Let me
introduce you to Mr. Vecchiarelli.
. A pleasure,
Mr. Vecchiarelli.
Italian Spelling and Capitalization
Come si scrive? How does one write it? Italian uses many of the same alphabet
characters as English, except for the letters j, k, w, x, and y. The latter are found,
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14 Italian Demystifi ed
however, in words that Italian has borrowed from other languages, primarily
English.
il karatè karate il weekend weekend
il jazz jazz lo yacht yacht
The letter h exists in Italian, but it is not pronounced. It is used to achieve the
hard k and g sounds, as you have seen: mi chiamo, il signor Gherli. It is also found
in four forms of the verb avere: io ho (I have), tu hai (you have), lui/lei ha (he/she
has), loro hanno (they have)—which will be discussed later in this book. When-
ever an h appears in Italian, it is a silent h, as it is in English words such as hour.
The accent mark in Italian is not used to indicate differences in pronunciation.
The grave accent mark (`) is used in words that are stressed on the last vowel: -à, -è,
-ì, -ò, -ù. Here are some cognates that are written with fi nal accent marks. Cognates
are words that have the same root or origin in two languages (English and Italian in
this case).
città city sì yes
caffè coffee università university
tassì taxi
The grave accent mark is also used to distinguish a few single-syllable words, so
as to avoid confusion.
è it is dà he gives
e and da from
Many of the spelling conventions used in English with regard to capitalization
apply to Italian as well. For example, like English, capital letters are used at the
beginning of sentences and to write proper nouns (Alessandro, Sara, Italia,
Milano, etc.).
However, there are a few differences, too. For example, the pronoun io (I) is not
capitalized (unless it is the fi rst word of a sentence), but the pronoun Lei (you,
polite) is, to distinguish it from lei (she).
Titles are not capitalized, although this is optional, especially with professional
titles used in direct speech.
il signor Marchi Mr. Marchi
la signora Dini Mrs. Dini
la signorina Bruni Miss/Ms. Bruni
il professor Rossini Professor Rossini (male)
la professoressa Dini Professor Dini (female)
il dottor Franceschi Dr. Franceschi (male)
la dottoressa Martini Dr. Martini (female)
Other spelling peculiarities will be identifi ed as they surface throughout this
book.
Using the Verb Piacere
The verb piacere means to like, but it is a tricky one in Italian. Observe how it is
used by practicing your fi rst set of examples with it. Piacere will be discussed in
more detail later in this book.
Oral Practice
Practice saying the following sentences out loud.
Ti piace la città? Do you like the city?
Sì, mi piace. Yes, I like it.
Ti piace il karatè? Do you like karate?
Sì, mi piace. Yes, I like it.
Ti piace il jazz? Do you like jazz?
Sì, mi piace.
Ti piace il caffè? Do you like coffee?
Sì, mi piace.
Ti piace l’università? Do you like the university?
Sì, mi piace.
Asking People How They Are
To ask someone in Italian how they are doing you say:
Come va? How is it going?
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16 Italian Demystifi ed
Oral Practice
Practice saying the following phrases and sentences out loud.
il signor Marchi Mr. Marchi Come va, signor Marchi? How is it going,
Mr. Marchi?
la signora Dini Mrs. Dini Come va, signora Dini? How is it going,
Mrs. Dini?
la signorina Bruni Miss Bruni Come va, signorina Bruni? How is it going,
Miss Bruni?
il professor Rossini Professor Come va, professor Rossini? How is it going,
Rossini Professor Rossini?
Written Practice 2
Using the same pattern, ask how each of the following people are doing.
1. la professoressa Dini Professor Dini
. How is it going,
Professor Dini?
2. il dottor Franceschi Dr. Franceschi
. How is it going, Dr.
Franceschi?
3. la dottoressa Martini Dr. Martini
. How is it going, Dr.
Martini?
Names and Surnames
As you probably noticed, Italian names (nomi) are marked for gender: that is, the
ending of a name generally tells you if the person is male or female. If the name
ends in -o, it is (usually) the name of a male; if it ends in -a, it is (again, usually) the
name of a female. Some names end in -e. These can refer to either a male or a
female.