Sounds and spelling: c, g, gn, gli

C and g: hard or soft

C and g each have two sounds, and the vowel that follows decides which one you get. Before a, o or u they are hard: c as in cat, g as in go. Before e or i they are soft: c like the ch in church, g like the j in jet.

So the same letter can change sound inside one word family. Amico (friend) has a hard k, but its plural amici has the soft ch sound.

Always read one letter ahead before you say a c or g.

Ch and gh: the h that keeps it hard

What if you need a hard sound before e or i? Italian adds an h. Ch and gh are always hard: chi sounds like key, and the ghe in spaghetti has the g of get.

This is the opposite of English, where ch is usually soft. In Italian, ch is always the k sound: Chiara is KYAH-ra, and perché is per-KAY. The h is never pronounced; it’s just a signal.

Italian ch = k. When you see ch, think key, never cheese.

Ci and gi before a, o, u: the silent i

To keep c or g soft before a, o or u, Italian slips in an i that you don’t pronounce. It’s only there to soften the letter before it. Ciao is one syllable, like chow, not chee-ow.

You’ll see this silent i everywhere: cioccolata, buongiorno, Giulia. Leave it out in writing and the sound turns hard: cao would be KAH-o, and Gulia would start like goo. In a few words the i is stressed, so you do hear it: farmacia is far-ma-CHEE-a.

Here is the whole c and g system in four lines:

Gn and gli: two sounds English spells differently

Gn is a single sound, like the ny in canyon or the ñ in Spanish señor: gnocchi, cognome (surname), bagno (bathroom). Gn already has the y sound in it, so don’t add an i: cognome, not cogniome.

Gli sounds like the lli in million. Press the middle of your tongue flat against the roof of your mouth. Plain li keeps an ordinary l, and a double ll is just a long l, so neither can replace it: figlio, famiglia, biglietto.

Before another vowel, the i in gli is silent, just like in ciao: figlio sounds like FEEL-yo.

Sc and sch: sh or sk?

Sc follows the same pattern as c. Before e or i, it’s soft and sounds like sh: pesce (fish), uscita (exit). Before a, o or u, it’s hard, like sk: scuola (school), tasca (pocket).

The usual helpers work here too. An h keeps it hard before e or i: pesche (peaches) is PES-keh. A silent i keeps it soft before a, o or u: prosciutto is pro-SHOOT-to.

Double consonants: hold the sound

Italian often doubles a consonant: nonno, pizza, cappuccino. You don’t say it twice; you hold it a little longer, the way English runs the two t’s together in hot tea.

It matters, because the length can change the word. Nonno is grandfather, but nono is ninth; sette is seven, but sete is thirst. When you write, listen for that held sound and double the letter.

Practise slowly with a little break, non-no, set-te, piz-za, then speed up and keep the hold.

Stress and the written accent

Most Italian words are stressed on the second-to-last syllable: ra-GAZ-zo, ge-LA-to, PIZ-za. Some are stressed earlier, like TA-vo-lo (table), and the spelling doesn’t show it, so listen and copy.

When a word of two or more syllables is stressed on the last vowel, Italian always writes an accent: città, caffè, università, perché. A few one-syllable words take one too, like più (more). The accent is part of the spelling, so citta without it is a mistake.

In a few short words the accent tells two words apart: e means and, but è means is. Most words use the grave accent (à, è, ì, ò, ù); a few, like perché, use the acute é.

On a phone, press and hold a vowel to find à, è, é, ì, ò and ù.

Common mistakes

• chaociaoIn Italian ch is always hard, like k, so the soft sound before a is written ci.
• spagettispaghettiGe sounds like the j in jet, so add an h to keep the g hard.
• mi ciamomi chiamoChiamo starts with a hard k, so it needs ch.
• filiofiglioThe lli sound in million is always written gli.
• ushitauscitaItalian writes the sh sound as sc before e or i.
• capuccinocappuccinoBoth the p and the c are held, so both are doubled: cappuccino.
• cittacittàIn a word of two or more syllables, a stressed last vowel always carries a written accent.

The sound table

Look at the letter after c, g or sc to know the sound.

H is always silent: ho, hotel.

K, j, w, x and y mostly turn up in foreign words like kiwi and weekend.

An accent on the last vowel marks the stress: città, perché, caffè.