Italian sounds: consonants 1
Italian sounds: consonants
Italian consonant sounds can be divided in three sets:
- a sound that corresponds to a written symbol
- written symbols that correspond to different sounds, according to the following vowel
- sounds that do not exist in English.
A sound corresponds to a written symbol
| Written symbol | Phonetic symbol | Similar sound in English | Spoken sound in Italian |
|---|---|---|---|
| b | b | buy | banca |
| d | d | do | donna |
| f | f | fast | filo |
| h | – | no sound like in hour | ho |
| l | l | low | letto |
| m | m | man | mamma |
| n | n | nose | naso |
| p | p | pit | papà |
| q+u | kw | quality | qualità |
| r | r like the rolled Scottish [r] | right | raro |
| t | t | tall | tavolo |
| v | v | very | vaso |
The written symbols s and z can have two sounds each in standard Italian:
| Written symbol | Phonetic symbol | Similar sound in English | Spoken sound in Italian |
|---|---|---|---|
| s | s | sit | sedia |
| s | z | has | sgabello |
| z | dz | zero | zero |
| z | ts | Mozart, waltz | zampa |
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