Download The Italian Alphabet and the Basics of Pronunciation

UNITA’ 1: LA PRIMA LEZIONE
L’Italiano, lingua dell’Arte e della Musica, è entrato nella nostra vita quotidiana in vari
modi. Vedrete che, anche senza conoscere la lingua, ci sono molte parole italiane
che già conoscete. Cominciamo, però con l’alfabeta.
THE ITALIAN ALPHABET AND THE BASICS OF PRONUNCIATION
You should note that:
a is pronounced as in ‘ah’
e is pronounced as in ‘egg’
i is pronounced like the English letter ‘e’
o is pronounced as in ‘orange’
c is pronounced as in ‘church’
g is pronounced like the English letter ‘j’
In Italian the letters j k w x y do not exist. If you see them in words it means that
word is of foreign origin.
The Italian letter h is not aspirated. It is used to turn the letter before it into a hard
sound. For example: ch makes a sound like the English ‘k’.
gh makes a sound like the English ‘g’ in ‘good’.
ss substitutes the letter ‘x’
Listen to the tape. Then write down all the Italian words you know. Put them into
categories and then try saying them with a proper Italian accent. Use your dictionary
to find the Italian translations of the words you want to use. Possible categories are:Sport
Arte e Musica
Città
Trasporto
Cibo
Bevande
Moda
Then look at the following English and Italian words and write down any rules you
think apply:possible
creation
confusion
ability
local
violence
positive
necessary
furious
possibile
creazione
confusione
abilita’
locale
violenza
positivo
necessario
furioso
Now that you have identified the rules, see if you can work out the Italian for the
following English words:
Impossible, invisible, station, television, quantity, identity, musical, natural, difference,
intelligence, negative, motive, anniversary, contrary, nervous, famous.
Of course, the rules you have discovered do not always apply, but they frequently do
and they can often allow you to ‘guess’ an Italian word even without a dictionary.
Gender and the use of the article
The article the in English must nearly always be used in Italian. The only exception
is when referring to close family members.
All Italian nouns are either masculine or feminine and any adverbs or adjectives
which refer to them should take the appropriate gender ending.
Il ragazzo e’ bello
la ragazza e’ bella
The boy is beautiful (handsome!)
The girl is beautiful (or pretty)
I ragazzi sono belli
Le ragazze sono belle
The boys are handsome
The girls are pretty
The rule, therefore, is:
Masculine singular words: the article is ‘il’ and the words end in ‘o’
Feminine singular words: the article is ‘la’ and the words end in ‘a’
Masculine plural words:
Feminine plural words:
the article is ‘i’ and the words end in ‘i’
the article is ‘le’ and words end in ‘e’
Italian has a strict grammatical structure. In this first lesson we have used one verb:
essere – to be. This is an essential, but an irregular, verb, so you will just have to
learn it. Because it is irregular, however, it does not provide us with any rule which
we can apply to other verbs. Essere conjugates as follows in the present tense:Io sono
Tu sei
Egli, ella è
Noi siamo
Voi siete
Essi, esse sono
I am
Thou art
He/She is
We are
You are
They are
Note: in the plural, use masculine endings unless all the persons referred to are
female.
Cultural Notes
Italians expect to be addressed by their correct professional titles. If they are
university graduates they bear the title dottore for a man and dottoressa for a
woman ( all university graduates not just medical doctors). In some cases, the
correct form of address is very specific. For example: Ingegnier Rossi (Engineer
Rossi), Avvocato Bianchi (Lawyer Bianchi).
Be very careful about using the internationally known ciao. In Italy this is only used
amongst the young, to the young by older people, or with people you know well. You
would definitely not use it to someone senior at work (even if they use it to you) or to
someone much older!
What you would say, as a greeting, is:Buongiorno – Good Morning
Buona sera – Good Evening
There is no ‘Good Afternoon’. This stems from the Italian habit of taking a siesta
after lunch and has persisted even though many Italian companies now work
‘northern’ hours. Buone notte – Goodnight is used only when it’s really time for bed.
Resources:
Amici, Carole Shepherd and David Aust, Oxford, 2004
Contatti, Mariolina Freeth and Giuliana Checketts, Hodder & Stoughton, first
published 1993