So you want to improve your Italian pronunciation quickly? You’re in the right place!
You might think you can’t improve your pronunciation – you’re either born with the skills or you’re not. But that’s not true. My English accent used to be so strong when speaking Italian that my Italian friends loved imitating me!
Now, when Italians learn that I’m English, they sometimes ask why I don’t have an accent. Some even say I sound like a native speaker.
What changed? I practised… a lot!
As my pronunciation got better, I learned it’s like any other skill: if you work at it, you’ll improve.
In this lesson, I’ll show you exactly what I did to learn how to pronounce the most difficult sounds in Italian. Rapidly, or should I say… rapidamente!
Italian Pronunciation: GN as in GNOCCHI
Good news: If you can say the word lasagne, you can already pronounce this sound in Italian! When you see GN together in Italian, it’s similar to the letter N, but the tongue is flat and it slides across the roof of your mouth.
Kind of like the letters NY smushed together. Imagine saying ‘you’, then add the letter N to the beginning, and you’ve got it: NYOU, NYOU, NYOU….
Here are some common words to practise with:
| Gnocchi | Potato dumplings | NYOH–KEE |
| Lasagne | Lasagne | LAH–ZAH–NYEH |
| Bagno | Bathroom | BAH–NYOH |
Psst! If you want to hear the audio, be sure to listen to the podcast at the top of this page.
Italian Pronunciation: GLI as in FAMIGLIA
Even more good news, this sound is kind of similar to the previous one! Gli sounds like the letter L, but the tongue is flat and it slides across the roof of your mouth.
Kind of like the letters LY smushed together. Imagine saying ‘you’, then add the letter L to the beginning, and you’ve got it: LYOU, LYOU, LYOU….
Here are some common words to practise with:
| Famiglia | Family | FAH–MEE–LYAH |
| Bottiglia | Bottle | BOH–TEE–LYAH |
| Voglio | I want | VOH–LYOH |
Learn more in this episode: How to pronounce “GLI” in Italian
The Single Italian R as in MARE
Here’s the big one… the Italian R! But did you know that not all Rs in Italian are rolled? In fact, even if you can’t roll your Rs, you can probably pronounce the single R.
This is surprising, but it’s exactly the same as the American ‘tt’ in words like ‘butter’ or ‘matter’. Try saying the word matter with an American accent. Notice how your tongue flaps up and down really quickly on the ridge behind your teeth?
That’s the single Italian R! Now try inserting it into these Italian words:
| Mare | Sea | MAH–TTEH ( Like tt in the American “matter”) |
| Caro | Expensive | CAH–TTOH ( Like tt in the American “cotton”) |
| Bere | To drink | BEH–TTEH ( Like tt in the American “better”) |
It really helps to hear this one, in the podcast at the top of the page, we’ll walk you through the process step by step.
The Rolled R as in BURRO
If you’re one of the lucky ones who can roll your Rs without any effort, feel free to skip this section! If you need to work at it, here’s how I eventually learned:
To see these techniques in action, check out our vintage video on how to roll your Rs in Italian . Then, try saying the double RR in these common words:
| Burro | Butter | BOOR–ROH |
| Birra | Beer | BEER–RAH |
| Arrivare | To arrive | AR–REE–VAH–REH |
Pro tip! At first it can help to practise silently, like the brrrr sound when you’re cold, but instead of blowing your lips, you’re blowing your tongue against the ridge behind your teeth. This allows more air to come through, which can make the R easier to roll at first. I recommend finding a quiet place, as you can end up sounding a bit like a flushing toilet!
Italian Vowels: Say Them Like You See Them!
Italian vowels are really simple – if you see A, say AH. If you see U, say OOO. The tricky thing for native English speakers is that we’re not used to enunciating our vowels so carefully. For example, while we say opera like “opra”, Italians carefully say every vowel:
OH–PEH–RAH
This also means that Italian words with lots of vowels can be a bit of a mouthful, for example:
| Aereo | Plane | AH–EH–REH–OH |
| Pausa | Break | PAH–OO–ZAH |
| Euro | Euro | EH–OO–ROH |
Enunciating your vowels slowly and carefully is key to getting that musical quality of the Italian accent !
To practise, we recommend breaking the word down into its individual syllables, and practising those first, then gradually putting them together. Give it a try with this lesson on how to pronounce euro in Italian .
Italian Double Letters: Hats or Hair?
Do you ever worry about making a mistake and saying something silly in Italian by accident? It won’t happen often, and when it does Italians are very kind. But when it does, the culprit might just be a double letter! Here are some words that are easy to mix up:
Cappelli – Hats (double p)
Capelli – Hair (single p)
Anno – Year (double n)
Ano – Anus (single n)
Cammino – I walk (double m)
Camino – Fireplace (single m)
Ecco – Here it is
Eco – Echo
For learners the difference can be quite hard to hear and pronounce, so here’s a little secret! When there’s a double letter, try to pause a teeny tiny bit between the letters. This will make them nice and long. For example:
| Cappelli | Hats | CA P–P EH–LEE |
| Anno | Year | A N–N OH |
| Cammino | I walk | CA M–M EE–NOH |
| Ecco | Here it is | E K–K OH |
Italian Pronunciation in 12 Minutes: Review
Ben fatto! Well done, you just learned the most tricky to pronounce sounds in Italian. Here they are again:
GN, like in gnocchi
Try saying the letter N, but slide your tongue across the roof of your mouth.
GL, like in famiglia
Try saying the letter L, but slide your tongue across the roof of your mouth.
The Single R
Just like the American T in words like ‘matter’!
The Rolled R (Double RR)
Practise saying t-d really, flapping the tongue up and down on the ridge behind your teeth. This can take some practice, so remember to be patient.
Italian Vowels
Remember to enunciate them really carefully and say them exactly how you see them!
Double Letters
Double letters are longer than single ones in Italian. To help you get it right, Imagine pausing for a split second in the middle of the double letter.
Finally, remember that mastering la pronuncia italiana is a little like going to the gym – understanding how to make the sounds is the first step, but to pronounce them with confidence, it takes practice! Listen to the podcast at the top of this page and practise the words in the list little and often over the next few weeks. You’ll be amazed at the difference it makes.
K: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti! Hi everyone and welcome to “Learn Italian with Joy of Languages”.
M: So how did you improve your Italian pronunciation, and what should our students do to improve theirs?
K: Luckily, there’s no magic involved! You just need to focus on learning Italian sounds, in the same way you might study other things, like grammar and vocabulary. Then practise… a lot!
M: So just like any other skill really: when you ignore it, you might not be very good at it, but when you work at it, you can improve.
K: Yeah exactly. We’ll focus on the sounds that don’t exist in English, because if you’re an English speaker, those are the ones you probably struggle with the most!
M: Let’s start with the GN in words like gnocchi .
K: When you see the letters G and N together, it’s like an N, but the tongue slides forward flat across the top of your mouth. GN, GN, GN.
M: GN, GN, gnocchi, gnocchi.
K: Some other words with this sound are: lasagne.
M: GN, GN, lasagne.
K: Bagno, which means bathroom.
M: GN, GN, bagno.
K: In one of the most useful phrases of all time: where’s the bathroom?
M: Dov’è il bagno? (x2)
K: Next, another consonant combo. GLI, in words like famiglia , family. This is similar to the letter L, but the tongue is flat and it slides across the roof of your mouth. GL, GL, GL
M: GL, GL, famiglia
K: Other words with this sound are: bottiglia , which means bottle.
M: GL, GL, bottiglia
K: I want, v oglio
M: GL, GL, voglio
K: Next, the Italian rrr, which is more doable than you might think!
M: But first, if you’re finding this lesson useful could you do us un favore hit the subscribe or follow button? This way you’ll get notified when we release a new episode and you’ll help our podcast grow so we can keep making free lessons like this. Grazie!
K: Did you know that not all Rs are rrrroled in Italian? In fact, even if you can’t roll your Rs, you can probably pronounce the single R. This is surprising, but it’s the same as the American ‘tt’ in words like ‘butter’ or ‘matter’. Try saying the word matter with an American accent. Notice how your tongue flaps up and down really quickly on the ridge behind your teeth? Matter, matter!
M: That’s really like the single Italian R!
K: Infact, once you can do that, try saying the Italian word mare, which means “sea” and is quite similar: Mare, mare
M: Mare, mare
K: Bere means to drink. Bere. Start with better in an American accent. Better, better. Now change it to bere, bere.
M: Bere, bere.
K: Next, the rolled R, as in burro, which means “butter”.
M: Burrrrrrrrro
K: You can still do it a lot better than me, I’m jealous of that rolled R! But after many years of believing it was one of those things you can either do or you can’t (and I couldn’t), I had an Italian teacher who insisted I could learn. I started practising to try to prove her wrong, but she was right, in the end I learned! So maybe you can too.
M: How do you suggest that people learn?
K: I started with the single R, which we know is the same as the double T in the American pronunciation of ‘matter’. Notice how the tongue flaps up really quickly on the ridge behind your teeth? Matter.
In the same position, with the same speed and lightness, I spent a lot of time T followed by D. t-d, t-d, t-d, t-d. Then I gradually tried to get quicker and quicker and quicker.
M: Try it yourself if you’re listening, keeping your tongue relaxed. The more you relax your tongue and let it move quickly, the more it will sound like the Italian rolled rrrrrrr!
K: t-d, t-d, t-d, t-d, t-d, t-d, rrrrrr, rrrrrr
M: rrrrrrrrr!
K: A couple of tips. First, don’t round your lips like in the English R. Keep them in a neutral, relaxed position, like in the English T. Practising with no sound can also help at first. Try whispering:
K: [Whispered]: t-d, t-d, t-d, t-d, t-d, t-d, rrrrrr, rrrrrr.
M: You sound a bit like a flushing toilet, but if it works, it works!
K: Apparently it increases the air pressure which helps the tongue flap more. Finally, remember to be patient and practise little and often over several weeks. It takes time to get your tongue and mouth muscles used to this new sound.
M: You can practise in the shower, or while doing the dishes!
K: Then, you can practise in these common words: beer. Birra
M: birra, birra
K: Arrive, which is arrivare
M: arrivare, arrivare
K: Next, the vowels! These are actually quite easy and very fun to learn, once you grasp a very important difference between English and Italian.
M: Yes. [muffled] English speakers speak with their mouth more closed, like this.
Italian speakers open their mouths and carefully enunciate every vowel.
K: If you see an A, it’s a strong, clear AH. Not like the uh in the English word ‘about’. A good example of this is the word opera. In English, we say opruh. In Italian its:
M: Opera, opera.
K: This also means that Italian words with lots of vowels can be a bit of a mouthful, for example: Aereo, which means aeroplane. Spelt AEREO. It helps to break it down first, and really focus on the individual syllables: AH – EHHH – REH – OH. AH – EHHH – REH – OH. Then you can put them together and say it a bit faster:
M: Aereo, aereo. You’ll be moving your mouth a lot more than you do in English, so if it feels weird, that means you’re probably doing it right!
K: Next, double letters… which can be a bit of a minefield. If you’re not careful, you can end up saying hats instead of hair, or worse, anus instead of year!
M: When you have two of the same consonants in a row, this means you should make it longer. For example, to say year, there is a double N. Anno, anno.
K: Make the N nice and long to avoid saying anus by mistake, which has a single N. I find it helps to almost imagine a micro pause between the two letters. Anno. More examples of this are capelli, hair, which has a single p. Make the p really short and light:
M: Capelli, capelli, capelli
K: Then cap-pelli, with two Ps, which means ‘hats’. Make the p really nice and long, imaging a little pause in between the two pps.
M: Cappelli, cappelli, cappelli
K: The difference can feel tricky to hear and pronounce in the beginning, so don’t worry if it seems hard, all learners struggle with it. With practice it will get easier over time.
M: And that’s really the most important thing about learning Italian pronunciation in general. It’s a bit like going to the gym, but for your mouth!
K: Understanding how to make the sounds is the first step, but to pronounce them with confidence, it takes practice. Keep listening to this episode and practising the sounds, and the words with these sounds little and often over the next few weeks. You’ll be amazed at the difference it makes.
M: If you’d like to see these words written down, and practise with some more common words which contain these sounds, you can go to our blog post for this episode.
K: You’ll also get vocabulary cards and a quiz. Head over by clicking the link in the description, or by going to italian.joyoflanguages.com/podcast and search for episode 144.
M - See you next time.
K - Or as we say in Italian.
Alla prossima!
Time to check your understanding and remember everything you just learned! Below you’ll find a mini-quiz and some vocabulary cards to help it all go in.
Quiz
How much did you learn? Find out in the quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: Learn Italian Pronunciation in 12 Minutes
Vocabulary
Gnocchi = Gnocchi
Lasagne = Lasagne
Bagno = Bathroom
Famiglia = Family
Bottiglia = Bottle
Voglio = I want
Mare = Sea
Bere = To drink
Burro = Butter
Arrivare = To arrive
Opera = Opera
Aereo = Aeroplane
Anno = Year (long double n)
Capelli = Hair (short single p)
Cappelli = Hats (long double p)
Flashcards: Learn Italian Pronunciation in 12 Minutes
Not sure how it works? Click here to watch the tutorial
