Italian Language Course

Alphabet

Grammar

Greetings & Basics

The Italian Alphabet

The Italian alphabet has 21 letters. J, K, W, X, Y are not traditionally part of it but are used in foreign words and names.

Letter	Pronunciation (IT)	Italian Example	English Example	Polish Example
A	a	Amico	Apple	Auto
B	bi	Bambino	Book	Bilet
C	ci	Casa / Cibo	Cat / City	Cena
D	di	Donna	Dog	Dom
E	e	Era	Elephant	Ekonomia
F	effe	Fiore	Fish	Film
G	gi	Gatto / Gelato	Go / Genius	Gra / Göra
H	acca	Hotel	House	Hotel
I	i	Italia	Island	Informacja
L	elle	Libro	Love	Las
M	emme	Mare	Mother	Most
N	enne	Notte	Night	Noo
O	o	Oro	Orange	Okno
P	pi	Pane	Pen	Polska
Q	qu	Quadro	Queen	Quiz
R	erre	Roma	Red	Rzeka
S	esse	Sole	Sun	Samochód
T	ti	Tavolo	Table	Telefon
U	u	Uva	Umbrella	Ulica
V	vi / vu	Vino	Voice	Warszawa
Z	zeta	Zucchero	Zoo	Zima

What about J, K, W, X, Y?

These five letters do not belong to the traditional Italian alphabet. However, they are used in loanwords, foreign names, scientific terms, and abbreviations:

J → "jeans", "Jessica"
K → "kilo", "Karate"
W → "whisky", "Würstel"
X → "xylophone", "taxi"
Y → "yogurt", "yeti"

Differences with English

Italian letters have a fixed pronunciation, unlike English.
C and G change before E and I:
- C → "Casa" [k], "Cibo" [ch]
- G → "Gatto" [g], "Gelato" [j]
No J, K, W, X, Y in native Italian words.

Differences with Polish

Polish has 32 letters, including diacritics: ą, ę, ś, ź, ż.
Polish spelling is close to pronunciation, Italian is simpler but has exceptions (C/G).
Italian Z = [ts] or [dz], different from Polish pronunciation.
Italian does not have sounds like "sz", "cz", "dz".

Reading Exercise

Read aloud the words in all three languages:

Italian: Casa – Gatto – Zucchero – Quadro – Amico

Grammar: Alphabet and Pronunciation

The Italian alphabet consists of 21 characters:

A (a)	H (akka)	Q (ku)
B (bi)	I (i)	R (erre)
C (ci)	L (elle)	S (esse)
D (di)	M (emme)	T (ti)
E (e)	N (enne)	U (u)
F (effe)	O (o)	V (vu)
G (gi)	P (pi)	Z (zeta)

In Italian, the following letters borrowed from other languages are also used:

J (i lunga) or (jei)
K (kappa)
W (vu doppia)
X (iks)
Y (ipsilon)

Pronunciation Rules

C before e and i is pronounced as [che], [chi]:

la cena (dinner) - [che-na]
il cinema (cinema) - [chi-ne-ma]

C before a, o and u is pronounced as [ka], [ko], [ku]:

la casa (house) - [ka-sa]
la cosa (thing) - [ko-sa]
la cucina (kitchen) - [ku-chi-na]

G before e and i is pronounced as [je], [ji]:

la gente (people) - [jen-te]
la gita (trip) - [ji-ta]

G before a, o and u is pronounced as [ga], [go], [gu]:

la gamba (leg) - [gam-ba]
la gola (throat) - [go-la]
il gufo (owl) - [gu-fo]

H is always silent:

l'hotel [l'otel] (hotel)
l'hamburger [l'amburger] (hamburger)

SC before e and i is pronounced as [she], [shi]:

la scena (scene) - [she-na]
la scimmia (monkey) - [shim-mia]

SC before a, o and u is pronounced as [ska], [sko], [sku]:

la scala (stairs) - [ska-la]
lo scopo (purpose) - [sko-po]
la scuola (school) - [sko-wo-la]

Z at the beginning of a word is pronounced as [dz]:

lo zucchero (sugar) - [dzuk-ke-ro]

Z in other cases can be voiced or voiceless:

la tazzina (cup) - [tat-tsi-na]
la zanzara (mosquito) - [dzan-dza-ra]

S between vowels and when followed by consonants b, d, g, l, m, n, r, v is pronounced as [z]:

la casa (house) - [ka-za]
la sveglia (alarm clock) - [zve-glia]

Double S and S in other cases is pronounced as [s]:

la cassa (cash desk) - [kas-sa]
il sale (salt) - [sa-le]

QU is pronounced as [ku]:

quando (when) - [ku-an-do]
quanto (how much) - [ku-an-to]

GN is pronounced as [ny]:

la lavagna (blackboard) - [la-va-nya]

GL followed by i is pronounced as [ly]:

il figlio (son) - [fi-lyo]

Greetings, Basic Questions & Verb "Essere"

Greetings and Basic Expressions

Italian	English
Ciao	Hi / Bye
Buongiorno	Good morning
Buon pomeriggio	Good afternoon
Buonasera	Good evening
Arrivederci	Goodbye
Come ti chiami?	What's your name?
Mi chiamo...	My name is...
Piacere!	Nice to meet you!
Quanti anni hai?	How old are you?
Ho 29 anni	I'm 29 years old
Dove sei nato?	Where were you born?
Sono nato a...	I was born in...
Dove vivi?	Where do you live?
Vivo a...	I live in...
Che lavoro fai?	What do you do for a living?
Lavoro come... / Mi occupo di...	I work as... / I deal with...
Come stai?	How are you?
Bene, grazie. E tu?	Fine, thank you. And you?
Male / Così così, e tu?	Bad / So-so, and you?
Che ore sono?	What time is it?
Sono le...	It's...
Che tempo fa?	What's the weather like?
Mi piace... / Non mi piace...	I like... / I don't like...

Conversation Example

[Andrea]

Ciao, piacere di conoscerti! Mi chiamo Andrea, tu come ti chiami?

Hi, nice to meet you! My name is Andrea, what's your name?

[Anna]

Ciao, piacere mio! Mi chiamo Anna!

Hi, nice to meet you too! My name is Anna!

[Andrea]

Bel nome! Quanti anni hai?

Nice name! How old are you?

[Anna]

25 anni, e tu?

25 years old, and you?

[Andrea]

Io 29! Sei qui per lavoro? O per le vacanze?

I'm 29! Are you here for work? Or on vacation?

[Anna]

Per le vacanze, tu?

On vacation, and you?

[Andrea]

Io vivo qui e lavoro, mi occupo di servizio clienti.

I live here and work, I work in customer service.

[Anna]

Wow, bello! Scusa, che ore sono?

Wow, nice! Sorry, what time is it?

[Andrea]

Le 13:30. (L'una e mezza)

1:30 PM (literally: One and a half)

[Anna]

Scusa, devo andare al museo! È stato un piacere! Buona giornata!

Sorry, I have to go to the museum! It was a pleasure! Have a good day!

[Andrea]

È stato un piacere! Ciao!

It was a pleasure! Bye!

Personal Pronouns + Verb "Essere" (To Be)

Italian	English
io	I
tu	you (informal)
lui	he
lei	she
noi	we
voi	you (plural)
loro	they

Italian	English
io sono	I am
tu sei	you are
lui/lei è	he/she is
noi siamo	we are
voi siete	you (plural) are
loro sono	they are

Activity: Build simple sentences

Io sono Maria. – I am Maria.

Tu sei Marco. – You are Marco.

Lui è Paolo. – He is Paolo.

Noi siamo amici. – We are friends.

Grammar Note: Why and How "Essere" is used in Italian

The verb essere means "to be", and it's one of the most essential and commonly used verbs in Italian. It's an irregular verb, which means it doesn't follow standard conjugation rules – so it must be memorized.

You use essere:

To describe yourself or others → Io sono italiano (I am Italian)
To describe states or conditions → Lei è felice (She is happy)
To say where people are → Loro sono a casa (They are at home)
In combination with adjectives, professions, or origins → Noi siamo studenti (We are students)

Tips: In Italian, the subject pronoun can be dropped because the verb form already tells you who is speaking. Example: Sono felice (I am happy) — "io" is optional here.

However, in beginner conversations, it's helpful to keep using pronouns to make learning clearer.