Pronti? Ready to order?
You know that feeling when the server is looking at you, and you’re not quite sure how to pronounce the dish you want?
Instead of panicking and pointing, you want to make a bella figura, a good impression, and order like the locals do.
In this lesson, you’ll learn a few simple rules that will help you pronounce gnocchi, bruschetta, tagliatelle and any other Italian dish with confidence.
So next time you go to an Italian restaurant, you’ll feel comfortable reading the menu and impress your family and friends.
Psst… subscribe to our youtube channel here! Soon, you’ll find some fresh new videos on there to help you learn Italian. To celebrate our return, we’re sharing some oldies but goodies in this lesson.
How to pronounce BRUSCHETTA (Italian CH)
This is probably the biggest offender when pronouncing Italian dishes! Outside of Italy, many people pronounce the CH as SH, but actually, it should be a hard K sound. A bit like the English word “ski”:
Bruschetta – BROO-SKEH-TAH
Learn more about how to pronounce the Italian CH in this lesson.
Here are some common Italian menu words that contain this sound:
| Italian | Translation | Pronunciation |
| Bruschetta | Toasted bread with toppings | BROO-SKEH-TAH |
| Zucchini | Zucchini, courgettes | DZOO-KEE-NEE |
| Gnocchi | Italian potato dumplings | NYOH-KEE |
| Radicchio | Radicchio, Italian chicory | RAH–DEE–KYOH |
| Orecchiette | Small oval-shaped pasta | OH–REH–KYEH–TEH |
Good to know: In Italy, bruschetta is usually served as an antipasto, which means “starter” in Italian.
How to pronounce GNOCCHI and LASAGNE (Italian GN)
If you know how to say the GN in “lasagne”, you can already pronounce “gnocchi”! It sounds a lot like a N followed by a Y.
Gnocchi – NYOH-KEE
To make it sound really Italian, you’ll need to slide the tongue flat against the roof of your mouth. Learn more details in this mini lesson: how to pronounce the Italian GN, like in lasagne.
Here are some common Italian menu words that contain this sound:
| Italian | Translation | Pronunciation |
| Gnocchi | Italian potato dumplings | NYOH-KEE |
| Lasagne | Lasagne | LAH-SAH-NYEH |
| Alla bolognese | Describes dishes from Bologna | AH-LAH BOH-LOH-NYEH-SEH |
Good to know: Spaghetti bolognese isn’t actually a typical Italian dish! Instead, you’ll find ragù alla bolognese, a special sauce from Bologna made from ground beef and tomatoes. It’s usually served with tagliatelle (flat strips of egg pasta) and it’s buonissimo!
How to pronounce TAGLIATELLE (Italian GLI)
Speaking of tagliatelle pasta, this is another word people tend to mispronounce on Italian menus. The trickiest part is the GLI sound, pronounced a bit like an L followed by a Y:
Tagliatelle – TAH-LYAH-TEL-LEH
Notice anything strange about the pronunciation guide above? There’s no G sound! When you see GLI, it’s important not to say “G” by accident. You can listen to the pronunciation and practise here: how to pronounce the Italian GLI
Here are some common Italian menu words that contain this sound:
| Italian | Translation | Pronunciation |
| Tagliatelle | Flat strips of egg pasta | TAH-LYAH-TEL-LEH |
| Bottiglia | Bottle | BOT-TEE-GY |
| Aglio | Garlic | AH–LYOH |
| Pizza al taglio | Sliced pizza (al taglio = sliced) | PEET-SAH AL TAH–LYOH |
Good to know: In most pizzerias Italians order a whole pizza per person. Pizza al taglio (sliced pizza) refers to a street food originating from Rome, where you can order a slice from a giant rectangular tray and pay by weight.
How to pronounce SPAGHETTI and FUNGHI (Italian GH)
Did you know that GH in Italian follows a similar rule to the pronunciation of CH? It’s always a hard G, like in the English word “go”.
Learn more about how to pronounce GH sound in this mini lesson:
Here are some common Italian menu words that contain this sound:
| Italian | Translation | Pronunciation |
| Spaghetti | Spaghetti | SPAH–GHET–TEE |
| Funghi | Mushrooms | FOON–GHEE |
| Margherita | Tomato and mozzarella pizza | MAR–GHEH–REE–TAH |
Good to know: When trying out new pizzerias, some Italians like to order the margherita, because it’s easier to judge the quality from simple ingredients. If a pizzeria does a margherita well, the other pizzas will probably be tasty too!
How to pronounce ARANCINI, CARBONARA, and RAGÙ (Italian R)
Ahhh, the Italian R! For some people, it comes naturally, and if that’s you, feel free to skip to the next section. If you struggle (like Katie did), you’ll find some handy tricks to get you rrrrrrolling in this lesson:
It turns out, you might already be able to pronounce it without realising! Did you know that the single Italian R also exists in American English? It’s the same as the T or D in words like “matter” and “ladder”. So if you speak American English, or you can mimic the accent, you can already say the Italian R.
Let’s practice with the word arancini. Start by saying “matter” in an American accent, focusing on the T. Notice how the tongue flaps up and down quickly? Now try to insert the same sound in the A-RA part of the word arancini.
For more practice, here are some common menu words with R:
| Italian | Translation | Pronunciation |
| Arancini | Sicilian rice balls | AH-RAN-CHEE-NEE |
| Carbonara | Pasta with eggs and pork jowl | CAR–BOH–NAH-RAH |
| Ragù | Meat sauce | RAH-GOO |
| Carne | Meat | CAR–NEH |
| Rigatoni | Tube pasta with lines | REE–GAH–TOH–NEH |
| Ravioli | Square-shaped stuffed pasta | RAH–VEE–OH–LEH |
| Alla romana | Describes dishes from Rome | AL–LAH ROH-MAH-NAH |
Good to know: You’ll find the best carbonara in Rome, because it originates from the capital. And while you’re there, don’t forget to try the delicious carciofi alla romana – Roman style pan-fried artichokes.
How to pronounce PASTA, PIZZA and TIRAMISÙ (Italian vowels)
When pronouncing Italian dishes, don’t forget about the vowels! Italians carefully articulate each one, which contributes to the lovely musical sound.
To sound Italian, you’ll need to move your mouth more for each vowel, so “pizza” is pronounced PEET-SAH, not *peetsuh, like in English.
Italian vowels are quick and easy to learn, and they’ll really help you sound more local! Check out this lesson on how to have an Italian accent to find out more.
Here are some common Italian menu words you can practice with:
| Italian | Translation | Pronunciation |
| Pizza | Pizza | PEET-SAH |
| Pasta | Pasta | PAH-STAH |
| Arancini | Sicilian rice balls | AH-RAN-CHEE-NEE |
| Bruschetta | Toasted bread with toppings | BROO-SKEH-TAH |
| Tiramisù | Dessert with cream, coffee, biscuits and cocoa | TEE-RAH-MEE-SOO |
| Panino | A sandwich | PAH-NEE-NOH |
Good to know: Outside of Italy, panini often refers to a special type of grilled sandwich. In Italy, panini actually just means “sandwiches”! It’s the plural of the word panino, which means “sandwich”.
How to pronounce SPAGHETTI, FOCACCIA and RISOTTO (double letters)
This last detail is la ciliegina sulla torta – the cherry on the cake, when pronouncing Italian dishes. In Italian, double letters are long, so you should hold the double tt in words like spaghetti.
Spaghetti – SPAH-GHET-TEE
Here’s another common Italian dish that has a double NN and a double TT.
Panna cotta – PAN–NAH COT-TAH
To get the pronunciation right, it often helps to imagine a little pause between the double letters: spaghet-ti, pan-na cot-ta.
Here are some common Italian menu words with double letters:
| Italian | Translation | Pronunciation |
| Spaghetti | Spaghetti | SPAH–GHET–TEE |
| Panna cotta | Dessert based on cooked cream | PAN–NAH COT-TAH |
| Tagliatelle | Flat strips of egg pasta | TAH-LYAH-TEL-LEH |
| Risotto | A creamy rice dish | REE-SOH-TOH |
| Formaggio | Cheese | FOR-MAD-JOH |
Good to know: Pronunciation is important, so we focus on it a lot in our podcast episodes! You can hear Italian doubles, and the other sounds from this lesson, by listening to the episode at the top of this lesson.
From Gnocchi to Bruschetta: Review
Ben fatto! Well done. Now you know how to pronounce famous Italian dishes like gnocchi, bruschetta and any other dish on the menu by following these rules:
- CH is a hard K sound, for example, in bruschetta
- GN sounds like NY, for example, in lasagne
- GLI sounds like LY, for example, in tagliatelle
- GH is a hard G sound, for example, in spaghetti
- To say R, flap your tongue up and down quickly, for example in arancini
- Remember to articulate your vowels in words like pizza and pasta
- Italian double letters are long, like in panna cotta
Don’t forget to check out the podcast lesson at the top of the page. You’ll hear the audio and practice saying the words, so you’ll be ready to impress next time you’re at an Italian restaurant. Buon appetito!
Join our old, embarrassing youtube channel!
To get regular Italian lessons with audio (and see our teachers’ lovely faces) subscribe to our Italian youtube channel here. We’ll be relaunching it soon with new videos.
At the moment, you’ll find our old videos on there, which are quite low quality. So we wondered, should we delete them before posting the new and improved stuff?
But we kind of liked the idea of showing you our awkward past videos! There are some useful lessons in there, and you can see where we started and how far we’ve come over the years.
A bit like learning Italian – the important thing is to get started, you don’t need to be perfect or polished. Just keep at it and over time you’ll make lots of progress!
From Gnocchi to Bruschetta: Quiz and Vocabulary Cards
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: From Gnocchi to Bruschetta
Vocabulary
Bruschetta = A starter of toasted bread with toppings (remember the hard CH sound!)
Tagliatelle = A type of fresh egg pasta in thick strips (contains the GLI sound)
Gnocchi = Italian potato dumplings (starts with the GN sound)
Spaghetti = A very famous type of long pasta (with a hard GH and double TT)
Panna cotta = A dessert which means “cooked cream” (contains a double NN and TT)
Arancini = Sicilian rice balls (the R sounds a lot like the t in the American “matter”)
Flashcards: From Gnocchi to Bruschetta
Remember the vocabulary from this lesson by downloading the digital flashcards
Not sure how it works? Click here to watch the tutorial
Transcript: From ‘Gnocchi’ to ‘Bruschetta’: Learn to Pronounce an Italian Menu
Please note, this is not a word for word transcript.
K: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti! Hi everyone and welcome to “Learn Italian with Joy of Languages”.
M: Before we get started, we have news! We have a new youtube channel, so you can now learn Italian with our videos over there, too.
K: Well, it’s not completely new, there are some old, embarrassing videos of us teaching Italian from about five years ago!
M: We’re bringing it back, and we’ll start sharing new lessons there very soon.
K: So we’d like to ask you a favour – could you click the link in the description and subscribe? This will help our channel grow, and you’ll see more of our new videos.
M: For now, you can check out some of our old ones – the quality could be better, but there are still some useful lessons in there.
K: We considered deleting them, but then we thought, what’s wrong with showing the awkward beginning stages? It’s a bit like learning Italian – we don’t need to be perfect, and we don’t expect our students to be perfect either.
M: Yes, the most important thing is to get started and keep at it. Then you’ll make lots of progress along the way!
K: And speaking of feeling a bit awkward, let’s move on to today’s topic – that feeling you get when you’re about to order from a menu, but you’re not quite sure how to pronounce the dish. In this episode we’ll teach you how to pronounce dishes like bruschetta and tagliatelle, so you can order from an Italian menu with confidence.
M: Katie, you just said bruschetta, with a K. This is something I feel awkward ordering outside of Italy, because when I say it the Italian way, bruschetta, everyone looks at me like I’m saying it wrong!
K: It’s true. In most places outside of Italy, people are used to saying SH, like *brushetta. But in Italian, when you have the letters C and H together, it’s always a hard K. So the letters S, C and H together sound like “sk.” In Italian, we say:
M: Bruschetta (x3).
K: The Italian G works in a similar way. When you see gh together, it’s always a hard G. Like in spaghetti.
M: Spaghetti.
K: Earlier I mentioned a different type of pasta, tagliatelle – this is another Italian menu favourite that can be tricky to pronounce.
M: Tagliatelle (x3). Mmm, these are thick strips of egg pasta, typical of the Emilia Romagna region. What makes it hard for learners to pronounce?
K: I think the main thing is the gli letter combo in the middle. A lot of people pronounce the G, so they say *tag–lee-ah-teh-leh. But in Italian, when you have GL followed by an I or an E, like in tagliatelle, it’s pronounced: LY, LY. This sound doesn’t exist in English, so it can take a bit of getting used to. It’s kind of a cross between an L and a Y. So start with the L – L, L, L, then try and smush a Y sound in there too: LY, LY, LY. You’re basically saying the L sound, but keeping the tongue flat against the top of the mouth and sliding it forward: LY, LY, LY.
M: LY, LY, LY. Tagliatelle (x2)
K: And speaking of tagliatelle, these are often served with ragu alla bolognese, a meat sauce from Bologna. The word Bolognese actually means that it’s from the city of Bologna.
M: Bolognese (x3)
K: Here’s another sound that’s important to master for pronouncing Italian dishes. The GN combo. In many ways, this is similar to our GL combo. Although you see the letter G, you don’t pronounce it. The GN combo is a bit like a cross between an N and a Y. Start with N, N, N, then try to smush a Y in there. NY, NY, NY. This time you’re saying the N sound, but keeping the tongue flat against the top of the mouth and sliding it forward. NY, NY, NY
M: NY, NY, NY, Bolognese (x2)
K: You’ll need this sound for quite a few Italian dishes! Can you think of any more? There are two very famous ones. [....] We have lasagne.
M: Lasagne (x3)
K: And one that starts with GN… gnocchi:
M: Gnocchi (x3).
K: And what about words like ragù, rigatoni and arancini? These all contain the Italian R, which can be a bit tricky to pronounce! I used to really struggle with it, until I learned something interesting, which is that the single Italian R is the same as the American T between vowels, for example in words like matter: M–A–T–T–E–R. Try saying it in an American accent: matter, matter, matter. Feel how the tongue flaps up really quickly just behind that ridge behind your teeth? Matter, matter, matter. That’s the sound you want to make.
M: Let’s practice with the word arancini, Sicilian rice balls. Arancini (x2).
K: So start with “matter”, then try to say the same sound at the beginning of the word arancini = ara. Matter, matter… ara, ara, ara.
M: Then just add on the rest of the word: arancini (x3).
K: Once you’re used to making that sound between two vowels, you can try at the beginning of words like ragù. R, R, R, ragù!
M: Ragù (x3)
K: And rigatoni, a tube-shaped pasta with lines on them. RI, RI, RI, rigatoni!
M: Rigatoni (x3)
K: Next, there are a few dishes where the English pronunciation is close enough, but if you’re learning Italian, you’ll want to focus on the details so you can say them like the locals. The first is pasta. Can you hear how Matteo pronounces the two As?
M: Pasta (x2). In Italian, we really articulate the vowels a lot. You have to open your mouth more. Pasta.
K: Notice how it doesn’t end in uh, like in English. Not pas-tuh, but past–AH.
M: Pasta. We also have pizza (x2)
K: Hear the I and A? To pronounce words like an Italian, it’s important to really enunciate all the vowels.
M: Pizza
M: Another important detail is the double letters, in words like panna cotta. This Italian dessert literally means “cooked cream”. “Cream” is panna, with two NNs: panna (x2). And cooked is cotta, with two TTs. Cotta (x2).
K: Hear how Matteo makes the double letters really long? The NN and the TT.
M: Panna cotta (x2)
K: Now we’ve finished dessert, I’d say that’s it for today’s episode! To see everything written down, and get bonus materials, like vocabulary cards and a quiz, head over to our website by clicking on the link in the description.
M: And don’t forget to subscribe to our old but soon to be new youtube channel! You’ll find the link for that in the description too. See you next time.
K - Or as we say in Italian.
Alla prossima!
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