Italian Phonetics Part 1: Vowel Sounds

If we want to learn Italian, the first thing we have to do is learn what all the letter combinations sound like! That way when we learn vocabulary, we will know how to pronounce everything. Let's start with the vowel sounds, since those are usually the trickiest. But in Italian, they are actually quite straightforward!
Script by Patrizia Farina, Professor of Italian at Western Connecticut State University and Purchase College.
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[@mnation694]

Guys, this person, Professor Dave, he is literally role model to me. He taught me chemistry, because of him I made it into the medical school, he teach me allways something new about biology and now I am getting perfect at Italian thanks to this amazing person, because Iam just part of Italian, living in Slovakia since childhood, so I really need to work harder to be proper "half" Italian. Thank you once again Professor Dave, you are one of the greatest person I know :)

[@ProfessorDaveExplains]

my pleasure, friend!

[@williampai8333]

yeah man I am also in premed track completely rely on him haha i am learning Spanish

[@sardinhunt]

there are 5 vowels but 7 vowel sounds

[@nnelizikoraife7198]

If he's that Good,I will subscribe to the channel

[@gabor6259]

​@@ProfessorDaveExplains At 1:04 you say there are just 5 vowel sounds. Later you explain that there are 7. Please pay attention.

[@99flutter]

i got déjà vu watching this and i just realised why you helped me pass chemistry last year and now you're helping me with my italian

[@thealonepunk]

Now that's what I like. Free language tutorials. Subbed.

[@alessandrovigano8149]

I think it's fairer to say Italian has 7 spoken vowels, as an open or closed e or o can change the meaning of the word (for example vènti is winds, vénti is the number 20)

[@bacicinvatteneaca]

To me, they're both vénti. However, minimal pairs aren't necessary for phonemic distinction. I say pèrde, but vérde, péto and véto, meaning that the é/è distinction doesn't follow rules and is therefore phonemic.

[@boghund]

​@@bacicinvatteneaca what about è (is) and e (and)?

[@ilmassimo74]

The vocalic sounds represented by and are always closed. The Italian letters and can have a consonant sound. The Italian may sound as the in "well" or the in "quick", e.g.: "fuori" (out) or "uomo" (man). The Italian may sound as the English in "yell", e.g.: "fiori" (flowers) or "ieri" (yesterday).

[@richfratello8181]

Wow, you're becoming another professor Dave in teching italian. I enjoyed your brief explanation about vowels pronunciation. Grazie tanto!!!

[@janeyre82]

Just a clarification about diphthongs. In Italian, a diphthong is always given by a match between a strong vowel (a, e, o) and a weak vowel (i, u), with the syllable stress always falling on the strong one. When the strong vowel precedes the weak one, we talk about "falling (or descending) diphthongs", also known as "proper diphthongs": ÀI - ÈI - ÉI - ÒI - ÓI ÀU - ÈU - ÉU ("OU" is supposed to be a diphthong according to these criteria, but it doesn't actually seem to exist any Italian word containing it) "mài" - "potrèi" - "potéi" - "eròi" - "nói" "àuto" - "fèudo" - "néuróne" When the weak vowel precedes the strong one, we talk about "rising (or ascending) diphthongs", also known as "improper diphthongs": IÀ - IÈ - IÉ - IÒ - IÓ UÀ - UÈ - UÉ - UÒ - UÓ "piàno" - "ièri" - "ateniése" - "fiòcco" "ióne" - "quàndo" - "guèrcio" - "quéllo" "uòmo" - "sinuóso" An improper diphthong can also be given by the two weak vowels matching with each other, as long as the syllable stress falls on the latter: UÌ - IÙ "guìzzo" - "fiùto" When the syllable stress falls on the weak vowel instead of the strong one, we can't talk about a diphthong: in this case, we have a "hiatus" separating two syllables "fa-ìna" - "de-ìssi" - "ero-ìsmo" "pa-ùra" - "transe-ùnte" - "no-ùmeno" "grafì-a" - "Tri-èste" - "di-òssido" "tù-a" - "bù-e" - "sù-o" Same with a diphthong made of two weak vowels, if the syllable stress falls on the former: "cù-i" - "intù-ito" It's always a hiatus when two strong vowels match with each other, regardless of the stress: "re-àto" - "a-è-re-o" - "bò-a" - "bo-àto" "pa-ése" - "co-éso" - "po-èta" - "be-òta" Every time we have a weak vowel (it is acually always an "i") between two strong vowels, it is to be considered a "vowel + rising diphthong" sequence (rather than a falling diphthong followed by a vowel): "nò-ia" (NOT "noi-a") "ma-iòlica" (NOT "mai-olica") In turn, if we have a strong vowel between two weak vowels, the whole sequence constitutes a "triphthong" entirely belonging to the same syllable: "guài" - "quéi" - "buòi" The "I + U + Ò" sequence is referred to as a triphthong as well: "a-iuòla" - "figliuòlo"

[@maheshdubey2316]

Woah that's a long comment

[@Phoenix-zy1cx]

Thank you for explaining all of this! I wish I could copy paste this comment so I have it to easily study it again later.

[@elementofepic1338]

@@Phoenix-zy1cx if you're on PC you can highlight the text and copy-paste it into wherever you're taking notes. If it's on a mobile app there should be a way to copy the comment directly as well, but idk for sure

[@jordanj7590]

Procrastinating on the organic chem because these were suggested While watching his science videos 😂🙃

[@joshbray5036]

Ditch the organic chemistry and go to Italy! No, though Italian is a beautiful language. Probably will go during college myself to Italy.

[@asma-uu5yk]

same here 😭

[@RF_N]

@@joshbray5036 Learn italy as a stepping stone to Latin, then restore the roman empire

[@jordylewiston]

Yes and we have slave slavery again

[@thehealthnutgame.2734]

Professor Dave, these are the best Italian tutorial videos - clear, concise and interesting. Please keep making your content, you are helping so many people! Thank you.

[@ramsharma6011]

I found your channel while preparing for biology exam, now found you teach Italian, chemistry etc., good at games, amazing pianist. Just one question - ARE YOU EVEN HUMAN ???

[@zulfasyafiya501]

Wow, my native language is Indonesian. I think I only need to learn new words because Italian has very similar pronunciation. Subbed!

[@haithamelatrache1231]

Hi Dave, I've been subscribed to your channel for several years now and I just realized that I've never really explored your channel. Actually I was mainly focused on debunking flat earth videos which I really enjoyed. My Native language is Arabic and I'm fluent in both French and English, I think I'm gonna give it a try to learn Italian, it seems to me closer to French than Spanish is.

[@MrHitchfan]

Hi Dave, I am from India and the content is very well organised to grasp easily. Please continue the good work you're doing.

[@nipunkhare]

Great work! THANKS!!!

[@simonodonnell4747]

Diphthongs in Italian is

[@habiebaeladdad6623]

The tutorials are really helpful ! Really really thank you so much

[@sheogorath1491]

I never knew that Italian is a very beautiful language. Gracias professor Dave.

[@grumpino8246]

grazie

[@diegone080]

Gracias is spanish

[@veerhiranandani8898]

Thank you!! Ur making it so easy to learn!

[@rcmerlino]

Just discovered you via a recommendation from someone in Expats in Italy. Fantastic! Thank you! The English subtitles often cover the words in the lesson. Are the subtitles necessary? Can they be turned off?

[@adilmujahid4066]

Your tutorials are great You are the best 😌😌😌😌😌😌😌

[@AngieDeAguirre]

Me, a native spanish speaker that already knows how to pronounce those vowels, but I want to learn italian and I love Professor's Dave voice in Italian n.n

[@haru_ne_]

Why am I watching this, I AM ITALIAN

[@tillie3545]

Native spanish speaker here, trying to learn Italian for a class with English instructions. I love this 😂 Thank you!

[@gregre99]

Wow Dave this is incredible! I’m Italian your pronunciation is nearly perfect! Complimenti!

[@emmajohnston5027]

Thank you - very well explained.

[@originalhazelgreene]

Wow, I never knew there were two kinds of O and E in Italian. I can't hear the difference yet but I'll keep working at it. I've been casually learning Italian (among others) for years, but he explains things so effectively, this playlist from prof Dave is going to be really helpful 👍

[@spyphyfarnsworth6050]

I'm completely agree that Italian phonetics much easier that English one.

[@itstocaanna1991]

Now I want to learn Italian.

[@ProfessorDaveExplains]

well stay tuned for about 150 more tutorials in the coming year!

[@anjanikumar6411]

Professor dave ,Hi A viewer and subscriber from india . Your teach is superb!!

[@HaruTheGyaru]

Love it thanks

[@kikitoamadeus]

This is awesome!!!!!

[@SuperAlexGaga]

Thank you!

[@giuliacowieacting]

I think you should explain that the U in school becomes a diphthong otherwise, it might get confusing for English speakers. They could start using that "uo" sound when they should only use U.

[@thetteacher]

Grazie

[@viviandelossantos6085]

Thank you✌️✌️💖

[@stevenwilson6060]

Thanks!

[@upsydaysy3042]

This guy is either an Italian native speaker who's spent an eternity abroad or he is so good at it that I can't understand if he is Italian or not. Either way, I AM IMPRESSED

[@bacicinvatteneaca]

No. He says pat'hata instead of patata. He adds aspiration to voiceless stops when they're in the stressed syllable, typically Germanic (in this case, English)

[@HaruTheGyaru]

grazie!

[@rock801]

Hi Dave, I had four years of French in German school plus one year of repeat in the US. Along with three years of Latin. When I went to Italy I had the feeling to understand it, though I never formally learned it, Italian word are present in everyday Polish. example pomidor, kolacja (colazione though in Polish it is a supper or evening meal while in Italy it is breakt-fast??)

[@ErVeroJammed]

A classic example of the difference between the open e and the closed e is the word "pesca", with an open e means peach, with a closed e means fishing.

[@diaverna]

Pleaseeee make videos on Fluid Mechanics ;((

[@tanishadaharwal9386]

These vowel sounds are just the same as hindi that is my mother tongue 😍😍

[@b4ttlemast0r]

aeiou is one if the most common vowel systems

[@bacicinvatteneaca]

The quality of the A is fairly different, and standard Italian uses seven vowels rather than five as was said in the video. Open vs closed e/o isn't predictable via some rule, so it's a phonemic distinction nearly as important as the difference between closed e and i or open e and a.

[@MrNoob-li5zr]

My dream teacher of everything. (Hyped to learn Italian because I want a work in Lamborghini) :) Keep up with the good work!

[@daintydollyx]

how are you so knowledgeable omg

[@Copyright_Infringement]

Quick correction: I and U are always closed, not open. The linguïstic description of open vs. closed is correct, but I and U are physically impossible to pronounce as open vowels

[@jangamecuber]

They are 2 of the six farthest closed vowels (ipa chart has all of the sounds)

[@Takayama-sama]

The vowel sounds in Italian sound very similar to the vowel sounds in Japanese. That explains why my Favourite Japanese word "Ookini", which means thank you in the Kansai dialect, sounded Italian to me the first time I head it.

[@anjalijoshi2010]

Thank you so very much

[@hinaarshad5296]

Keep uploading more informative videos... Thanks

[@Paulo37580]

Awesome. Grazie mille. Brasil.

[@giuliacowieacting]

Also, "europeo" is with a closed E not an open one like € eu-ro-pè-o the open stress is only on the second E

[@bhumikasoni3641]

hello professor dave ! i am from INDIA and i really love your content . actually i have a que. for you please tell me how to identify the vowels are open or closed ? because in words it is almost impossible to identify that , actually i am beginner and excited to learn italian .

[@SpringLakeNJ]

Thank you!!

[@mhdez3730]

Thanks for the video, Professor Dave. I just wanted to bring to your attention that at 5:16 you translated "Fuime" as "River" when it actually means "Smoke".

[@ProfessorDaveExplains]

It does not, it means river.

[@mhdez3730]

​@@ProfessorDaveExplains It was actually my mistake, I misspelled it.

[@cristianamora6794]

You are doing a very good job with your videos, but you need to specify that while the Italian and American vowel symbols are five in both languages (a, e, i, o, u), the Italian vowel sounds are only 7 in Italian (ɑ i u e, ɛ, o, ɔ) and 13 in English according to Wells). (If you pronounce "pesca" with the close and the open "e" or "botte" with the close and open "o" you have two different meaning). Furthermore, the American vowel sounds and the Italian vowel sounds NEVER match exactly.

[@sardinhunt]

Even though there are 5 vowels, there are actually 7 vowel sounds in standard Italian. closed a i u e o, open è, open ò. I am a real Italian who has lived in Italy all his life, but you can also check wikipedia under 'italian phonology'. There are other blunders but this is the major one.

[@trainwreck8219]

It's shocking how Spanish and Italian are so similar (well, they are both of Latin origin but whatever). Gives me hope when I'm done with Russian, French and Arabic. Finger's crossed!

[@mohansai4581]

Hello, can I ask you a question about some science stuff......

[@ProfessorDaveExplains]

yep! preferably by email.

[@purple17moonlight]

Is there any reason behind not using capital alphabets anywhere ....not even at the beginning? 🤔

[@ProfessorDaveExplains]

like capital letters you mean? no, not really, just most letters are not capitalized statistically so it's easier!

[@purple17moonlight]

Professor Dave Explains That's great😊

[@inreallife530]

Damn Italien gonna be so easy I already know French

[@asitmore7914]

We want halogen derivatives of alkanes and arenes

[@ProfessorDaveExplains]

well you won't find any of that in this italian series! you'd better go to my organic chemistry series. much more suitable place.

[@rzenty]

Epic!

[@bacicinvatteneaca]

Why did you describe Latin instead of Italian? You said there's five vowels. Italian has 7, unlike Latin and Spanish, because while it merged long and short a, i and u like Spanish, it did NOT merge long and short e and o, resulting in the length difference being turned into a quality difference. You also said there's long and short vowels. That's technically true as in most languages, but false in any useful sense. Italian doesn't distinguish between long and short variants of each vowel, unlike Latin. It just makes the vowel of the stressed syllable longer, like English, it makes the vowels of syllables that have a coda shorter than those that don't, like English, and that effect also is triggered by following geminated consonants (like in English, where vowel shortening and preglottalisation, or more marked preglottalisation compared to other contexts in dialects that use widespread preglottalisation, are the only remaining spoken traces of the old geminates). That has nothing to do with either the "nearly pure" phonemic vowel length of Latin, nor the tense-lax system of Germanic languages where length is still very much audible, nor the long vowels that have been generated in specific contexts by some Romance languages after the loss of Latin vowel length (old and middle French, Galloromance languages of France and northern Italy, Portuguese). The purely practical microvariations in length of the vowels of Italian are NOT affecting intelligibility at any level apart from the one associated to stress, and even then very minorly, because if a foreign speaker were to use exclusively emphasis and pitch to mark the stress syllables of Italian, most Italians would just perceive it as "this guy speaks too fast, it's stressful" and would otherwise understand everything. Also, saying that i and i are "always open" is extremely misleading.

[@advilzz]

This is very off topic but what is your favorite color?????

[@aliasaleh4550]

Buono

[@savourduffus]

go

[@davidtice4972]

Spanish has the exact same vowel sounds. ah eh ee oh oo

[@bacicinvatteneaca]

Not quite. Spanish has the five sounds of Latin, which is why the Latin alphabet has five vowels. Italian has seven sounds because it has split the e and o of Latin into two (probably, originally, along the line of the length distinction that Latin had like most Indo-European languages of the time). As a consequence, neither version of e and o completely matches Spanish because Spanish single e/o falls somewhere in between Italian open and closed e/o. That is because vowels (and in general places of articulation of sounds) tend to distance themselves as much as possible for clarity. As an example, Italian, English and French all haslve a sh sound, whereas Latin, Spanish and Greek do not. As a result, the s from the former three is further ahead on the mouth than the s from the latter three, because in the former three it has to be far enough from sh to be easily distinguishable, whereas in the latter three there is no such need.

[@davidtice4972]

@@bacicinvatteneaca Sei un uomo divertente. Parlo per esperienza reale di vivere in Italia e frequentare la scuola in Italia. Ho visto molte volte che i parlanti inglesi rinunciavano a cercare di imparare a parlare italiano mentre i parlanti spagnoli e portoghesi imparavano a parlare correntemente l'italiano. Ho vissuto con uno spagnolo messicano in Italia e ha comunicato con gli italiani sin dal primo giorno in cui è arrivato in Italia usando lo spagnolo. In poco tempo imparò a parlare italiano senza studiare. Ero un madrelingua inglese monolingue e anche io ho imparato a parlare italiano in circa sei mesi ma ho studiato tutti i giorni e sono andato in italiano in totale immersione. Ho guardato solo la televisione italiana, la radio in italiano, la mia ragazza italiana e gli amici italiani mi hanno parlato solo in italiano. Adesso parlo lo spagnolo naturalmente perche parlovo l'italiano.

[@davidtice4972]

@@bacicinvatteneaca Sei un uomo divertente. Parlo per esperienza reale di vivere in Italia e frequentare la scuola in Italia. Ho visto molte volte che i parlanti inglesi rinunciavano a cercare di imparare a parlare italiano mentre i parlanti spagnoli e portoghesi imparavano a parlare correntemente l'italiano. Ho vissuto con uno spagnolo messicano in Italia e ha comunicato con gli italiani sin dal primo giorno in cui è arrivato in Italia usando lo spagnolo. In poco tempo imparò a parlare italiano senza studiare. Ero un madrelingua inglese monolingue e anche io ho imparato a parlare italiano in circa sei mesi ma ho studiato tutti i giorni e sono andato in italiano in totale immersione. Ho guardato solo la televisione italiana, la radio in italiano, la mia ragazza italiana e gli amici italiani mi hanno parlato solo in italiano. Dopo ho imparato a palare lo spagnolo perche parlavo l'italiano.

[@ربيعالقلوب-ص2د]

الحمد لله

[@Prostopyotr]

Je suis un étudiant du Franćais, mais j’aime l’Italien aussi. Lol

[@Jose-tx1yx]

E and O sounds the same whether open or closed. I can't spot the difference :/

[@bacicinvatteneaca]

They don't. You have that difference in English, it's just mixed up with several other things at the same time such as length, diphthongisation and preglottalisation. Bet [bɛˀt] open e (in linguistics, mid-open unrounded front vowel) Bait [beːɪt] closed e (in linguistics, mid-closed unrounded front vowel) In Italian Perde [pɛrde] first open e then closed e

[@borhanuddinrubel1662]

U dun need to learn Italian vowel pronounciation.Just go and tell an Italian that someone made pizza with pineapple topings.This is it.The cussing and muttering would be more than enough to pick up the Italian vowel pronounciation :)

[@b4ttlemast0r]

Actually, a is always open while i and u are always closed.

[@jogarani224]

।ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ ਜੀ

[@goudaheldesoukyelsalamony4763]

thank's

[@inspirationeveryday775]

🥰

[@MiltosPol-qn3zh]

How many tutorials are you going to make at mathematics?????

[@ProfessorDaveExplains]

around 150 or so.

[@manny_1056]

Definitely feel like I’m cheating since I am fluent in Spanish

[@jannysingh5623]

You're not Instagram channel

[@ProfessorDaveExplains]

Um, yes, this is KZbin.

[@JJPMaster]

i’m getting ads telling me that i shouldn’t watch youtube videos to speak italian. that won’t stop me.

[@ProfessorDaveExplains]

Yeah screw that, watch my videos!

[@jackalano4100]

Here from Prof. Dave's mom

[@giuliacowieacting]

I'm a little disappointed, I also find I and U to be closed vowels not open.

[@deltaboy767]

Professore. Dovreste saperlo meglio di me che in italiano i vocali non sono tutti pronunciati tutti con gli accenti.

[@janeyre82]

When did he say otherwise?

[@bacicinvatteneaca]

*le vocali. I vocali sono i messaggi vocali. Of all the blunders in this video, that isn't one. Aren't you, by chance, reducing vowels to schwahs like you would in English, and getting surprised the he doesn't?

[@shantonudutta9726]

Just realised how inconsistent English is!

[@matthewpollock9685]

Check out Kevin Stroud's History of English podcast. There's a reason that English is such a muddled mess. It's amazing the language exists at all. Basically, it started as a Germanic language, spoken by the Angles who brought the language to Britain when they migrated from mainland Europe. They kinda took the place over and, under new management, renamed the place Angle Land, or England for short. The original Britains... you know what, this will be longer than the bible if I keep writing. Check out the podcast if you're curious.

[@aps8643]

Can we go with french instead of italian

[@ProfessorDaveExplains]

nope, i don't know french! maybe one day.

[@HaruTheGyaru]

Aps No.

[@bacicinvatteneaca]

Easy. French has the seven vowels of Italian (this video is incorrect in the number of vowels). [i] [u] [e] [o] [ɛ] [ɔ] [a] Plus three fronted copies of the three back vowels (bring your tongue to the front of the mouth while keeping the height like one of the Italian back vowels, and keeping your lips rounded). [u] [y] [o] [ø] [ɔ] [œ] Plus officially three, generally merged into two, nasal vowels [ɑ̃] [ɛ̃] ( [œ̃] ) Plus, officially, but merged back to [a] in most accents, a remainder of when French had developed a new set of long vowels independent from the short ones, centuries after losing those of Latin which were completely superimposable to the short ones: one single long, back, open, unrounded vowel. [ɑː] For a total of 12 or 14 vowels depending on dialect/sociolect

[@filippozeme4086]

Are you italian? You sound very convincing

[@bacicinvatteneaca]

@RedRidingHood no he isn't. He sounds distinctly Germanic, with fortis/lenis voiceless stops. By this I mean that, when the stressed syllable of a word begins with a p t or k sound, he adds a puff of air. That doesn't happen in Italian, Italian never uses air like that

[@anarolon1027]

so basically spanish

[@Nivola1953]

Ana Rolon maybe to you, but to us owners of the latin language it’s Spanish and French and Portuguese and Romanian that are basically distorted Italian

[@bacicinvatteneaca]

@@Nivola1953 Spanish has the five vowels and the retracted s of Latin, Italian has lost those. We advanced s to make room for sci-/sce-, we started voicing it in intervocalic position whereas they do not, and we split the Latin e and o into two.

[@avakinlifeuser6888]

Why are children called bambini’s

[@ProfessorDaveExplains]

Bambini means children

[@jogarani224]

❤🍟🍫🍕🥤🎂🍩🍔🥓🍭🥪🌭🌯🌮

[@thedude9014]

sei un grande :)

[@joeybones2323]

Thanks!