Learn about Italian vowels
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| Hi everyone. |
| Welcome to The Ultimate Italian Pronunciation Guide. |
| In this lesson, you'll learn all 7 Italian vowel sounds. |
| a, ɛ, e, i, ɔ, o, u |
| With these sounds, you can pronounce any vowel that could possibly appear in Italian! |
| Some vowels may be hard for you to distinguish, especially for English speakers, so make sure you listen carefully! |
| Are you ready? |
| Then let's get started! |
| The first vowel is... |
| a |
| sarà (it will be) |
| casa (house) |
| alto (tall, high) |
| It's identical to the A sound in the word 'father', except that it's held for a little longer. Open your mouth wide and let the air pour out. |
| a, a (slowly) |
| a, a (slowly) |
| The next vowel is... |
| ɛ |
| bene (good) |
| cioè (i.e., that is) |
| elica (propeller) |
| It's identical to the E sound in the word 'red'. This is an 'open' sound, so be sure to widen your mouth. |
| ɛ, ɛ (slowly) |
| ɛ, ɛ (slowly) |
| The next vowel is... |
| e |
| vero (true) |
| inglese (English) |
| stelle (stars) |
| It's very similar to the E sound in the word 'neigh'. Drop your jaw just a tiny tiny bit, until you hear a slight change in sound, but be careful not to widen your mouth too much. This will prevent you from carrying over the I sound and will allow you to properly pronounce this sound. |
| e, e (slowly) |
| e, e (slowly) |
| The next vowel is... |
| i |
| imposta (tax) |
| colibrì (hummingbird) |
| bile (bile) |
| It's identical to the double E sound in the word 'see'. |
| i, i (slowly) |
| i, i (slowly) |
| The next vowel is... |
| ɔ |
| parola (word) |
| posso (I can) |
| otto (eight) |
| It's identical to the OU sound in the word 'ought'. This is an 'open' sound, so be sure to widen your mouth. |
| ɔ, ɔ (slowly) |
| ɔ, ɔ (slowly) |
| The next vowel is... |
| o |
| ombra (shade) |
| come (as, like) |
| foro (hole) |
| This is like the previous sound, except your tongue is positioned a little bit higher. |
| It's quite similar to the O sound in the word 'owe'. |
| Just make sure not to widen your mouth too much. You only want to carry over the W sound slightly. |
| Listen to [the native speaker]. |
| o, o (slowly) |
| o, o (slowly) |
| And the last vowel is... |
| u |
| tutto (all) |
| tuo (your) |
| ultimo (last) |
| It's identical to the double OO sound in the word 'boot'. |
| u, u (slowly) |
| u, u (slowly) |
| Well done! You just learned all 7 vowel sounds in Italian! |
| a, ɛ, e, i, ɔ, o, u |
| With these sounds, you can properly pronounce any vowel that could possibly appear in the Italian language! Isn't that great? |
| Well, that's all for vowels. |
| In the next lesson, you'll start learning consonant sounds. |
| Which vowel sound was the most difficult for you to learn? Please comment and share your thoughts. |
| See you in the next Ultimate Italian Pronunciation Guide lesson! |
9 Comments
HideWhich vowel sound was the most diffucult for you to learn?
Ciao Luca,
"Meglio" si pronuncia con la "e" aperta, /ɛ/.
You can listen to it, here: https://www.italianpod101.com/learningcenter/reference/dictionary/meglio :thumbsup:
Grazie e a presto!
Ofelia
Team ItalianPod101.com
Come si pronuncia 'Meglio'?? Con un 'e' chiuso o aperto? GRAZIE :smile:
Luca
Buongiorno, Ofelia!
Prego! :smile::thumbsup:
Giovanni
Hi Jano20,
:smile::smile::smile:
Thank you from all of us!
Ofelia
Team ItalianPod101.com
Hi everyone!
Thank you for posting!
@Jano20 Great! :laughing::thumbsup:
@nathaly The blue dot t indicates the place of articulation, which is the contact point. I hope this helps!
If you have other questions, please let us know!
Grazie,
Ofelia
Team ItalianPod101.com
i get confused when everything it shows a image about how to make the sound. what is the blue dot?
Hi Jano20,
Thank you for posting!
It's a very slight difference and actually it almost never affects the meaning of the words, except for some rare case!
If you try pronouncing the word "elica" and the word "vero" several times after Desirè, little by little the difference should become clearer though.
Keep up the good work!
Grazie,
Ofelia
Team ItalianPod101.com
It isn't that difficult as I thought it, but I can't really hear the difference betwwen 'ɛ' and 'e'. Could you help me, per favore?