informal way to address people is with the pronoun tu, which is used with family, friends, pets, always among students, young people, and often colleagues. The formal way to address people is instead with the pronoun Lei, which is used with persons you’ve just met, acquaintances, your boss, strangers, dignitaries, and store clerks.
The difficult part of this differentiation for non-natives is not the concept by itself—easy to grasp—but the fact that the other parts of your sentence, like verb forms, possessives, and so on, have to agree in their conjugation with the tu or the Lei.And Italian verbs’ conjugations can be, with all their irregular forms, pretty complicated.
In this book, devoted to the goal of “making out in Italian” in an everyday, clear and direct way, we have chosen to use the informal approach.The sentences provided, aside from very few exceptions, use the informal tu.
Be assured: Italians will understand you perfectly and they will probably volunteer—you being a foreigner—the following sentence: “Puoi darmi del tu.” (You can use the “tu” with me.)
On your side you can politely ask:“Posso darle del tu?” (Can I use the “tu”?)
ASKING QUESTIONS
To pose questions, Italians do not have any equivalent of the “do/does” sort of word arrangement used in English.They simply use the tone of their voice, along with gestures and facial expressions.The context of the sentence will tell you very clearly if a sentence is declarative or interrogative.
| Hai parenti in America. | (You have relatives in America.) |
| Hai parenti in America? | (Do you have relatives in America?) |
| Sei felice! | (You are happy.) |
| Sei felice? | (Are you happy?) |
ALPHABET AND PRONUNCIATION: SOME TRICKS AND TIPS
The Italian alphabet consists of 21 letters plus another 5 letters present only in foreign words. These are the Italian letters:
a b c d e f g h i l m n o p q r s t u v z
These are the foreign ones: j k w x y
Italian pronunciation is pretty easy compared with English, since Italian is spoken the way it is written, but there are some rules.
Consonants, and Combinations
Here some “tricky” pronunciations to keep in mind:
| C | When it is before the vowels i and e, it has to be pronounced like the “ch” in ch ur ch. Examples: città (city), circo (circus), centro (center). But otherwise, it has a sound like “k” (as in “c ard”). Examples: casa (home), conto (bill). |
| G | Must be pronounced like the “j” in “j elly” when it is before the vowels i and e. Example: giardino (garden). But otherwise, it is pronounced like the “g” of “g ate.” Examples: galleria (gallery), gara (contest). |
| GL | This is a bit unfamiliar at first for many foreigners who don’t have this sound in their own language, but it’s not difficult. The gl present in Italian words like “meglio” (better) is pronounced in a similar way to the “lli” in the English word “mi lli on.” |
| H | The h in Italian is always silent, no aspiration, not a sound, just a mute presence…think of the pronunciation of “h” in “Ah.” |
| QU | Pronounced as in “qu ick.” |
| SC | When it is before the vowels i and e, it is pronounced as “sh.” Example:“scena” (scene). But otherwise, it has a sound like the “sk” in “sk eleton.” Example: brusco (rude / brisk). |
| R | This is a tough one. Italian rolls the r powerfully, as in rrrrr. Just do your best. |
The “double” risk
Every Italian consonant—except the h —can be doubled. It is very important to stress the double when you speak, since otherwise the sense of the word can be altered: sette means seven, while sete means thirst. Americans should be particularly attentive when doubling the tt to not make a “d” sound. Pronounce both t ’s using the softness of the “t” in the English word “table.”
Vowels
Of the five vowels, three—a, i, u —are always pronounced in the same way. Two—e, o —can be pronounced with either a short or a long sound.
“ah” as in “father”.
| A | Example:casa(house) |
| I | “ee” as in “mar i ne”. Example: vino (wine) |
| U | “oo” as in “r u de”. Example: luna (moon) |
| E | Long sound “ay”, as in “l a te”. Example: sete (thirst) Short sound “eh”, as in “l e ss”. Example: bello (beautiful) |
| O | Long sound “oh”, as in “m o st”. Example: sole (sun) Short sound “o”, as in “c o st”. Example: modo (way) |
Also, vowels in Italian are always clearly pronounced, never “skipped” like the silent vowels that exist at the end of many English words. Thus, the word sole (sun) is pronounced “SOH-lay”. Contrast that to the English word for the bottom of a shoe!
Where to Put the Stress
Most words in Italian are pronounced with the stress on the next-to-last syllable.Think about how the word parola is said, for instance: pah-ROH-lah.
There are some words that are stressed on their last syllable, instead.Those always have an accent mark written on their final vowel, so if you are reading a word, it will be easy for you to notice and you’ll know to pronounce it correctly, as in Così così (so-so), pronounced koh-ZEE koh-ZEE.
There are some words that have their stresses on irregular syllables; you will learn these as you go.And remember, even if you stress a word on the wrong syllable, Italians will still understand you.
One more note about accent marks: sometimes an accent mark is used on a word of just one syllable. Many times this happens when there are two words that sound alike but have different meanings, like la (the) and là (there).
AVOIDABLE LITTLE MISTAKES
If you want to make a great impression on your new Italian friends, pronounce the following words correctly; these are usually mispronounced by English speakers.
Pinot Grigio : Always avoid pronouncing the i that comes after the g in the combinations “gia,” “gio,” “giu.” The famous Italian wine Pinot Grigio should be pronounced GREE-jyoh (not gree-jee-oh); same thing for the name Giovanni (jyoh-VAHN-nee).
Bruschetta : The “sch” should not be pronounced as “sh.” Avoid the common American mispronunciation of this word; say “sk” for the correct pronunciation, broo-SKEHT-tah.
Prosciutto : In this case, the “sciu” must sound like “shoo”: proh-SHOOT-toh. Do not say proh-skee-oo-toh!
Spaghetti : Please, please, please: the double “tt” has a doubled sound, even though it’s soft, so say both t ’s. And avoid like the plague the “d” sound of spah-geh-dee.
A simplified phonetic transcription system is used throughout the book to help remind you of the correct Italian pronunciations. Read as if it were English, and your “imitated”