Easy Learning Italian Grammar (2011)

SPELLING

1 How to spell words that have a hard k or g sound

In Italian the [k] sound you have in the English words kite and car is spelled in two different ways, depending on the following vowel:

c before a, o and u

ch before e and i

This means that the Italian word for singer is spelled cantante (pronounced [kan-tan-tay]; the word for necklace is spelled collana (pronounced [kol-la-na]), and the word for cure is spelled cura (pronounced [koo-ra]).

However, the Italian word for that is spelled che (pronounced [kay]) and the word for chemistry is spelled chimica (pronounced [kee-mee-ka].

Tip

Remember that the Italian words for kilo and kilometre are spelled with ch:

In the same way, the hard [g] sound that you have in the English word gas is also spelled two ways in Italian:

g before a, o and u

gh before e and i

This means that the Italian word for cat is spelled gatto (pronounced [ga-toe]; the word for elbow is spelled gomito (pronounced [go-mee-toe]), and the word for taste is spelled gusto (pronounced [goos-toe]).

However, the Italian word for leagues is spelled leghe (pronounced [lay-gay]) and the word for lakes is spelled laghi (pronounced [lah-ghee].

2 How to pronounce c + a vowel

As we have seen, the Italian letter c is pronounced like a [k] when it’s followed by a, o, or u.

When c is followed by e or i it is pronounced like the [ch] in children. This means that centro (meaning centre) is pronounced [chen-tro] and città (meaning city) is pronounced [chee-tah].

3 How to pronounce g + a vowel

The Italian letter g is pronounced like the [g] in gas when it’s followed by a, o, or u. When an Italian g is followed by e or i, however, it’s pronounced like the [j] in jet. This means that gente (meaning people) is pronounced [jen-tay] and giorno (meaning day) is pronounced [jor-no].

4 How to spell verb endings which have c or g + vowel

When an Italian verb has a hard [k] or [g] sound before the infinitive ending, for example cercare (meaning to look for) and pagare (meaning to pay), you have to change the spelling to ch and gh in forms of the verb that have endings starting with e or i.

Here are the present and future tenses of cercare and pagare, showing how the spelling changes.

When an Italian verb has a [sh] or [j] sound before the infinitive ending, for example lasciare (meaning to leave) and mangiare (meaning to eat), you drop the iof the stem before endings starting with e or i.

This means that you spell the tu form of the present tense of these verbs lasci and mangi.

The futures of the two verbs are spelled lascerò, lascerai, lascerà, lasceremo, lascerete, lasceranno and mangerò, mangerai, mangerà, mangeremo, mangerete, mangeranno.

Tip

Although the spelling of some verb endings changes, the pronunciation stays the same.

5 How to spell plurals of nouns and adjectives ending in –ca or –ga

When a feminine noun or adjective has a hard [k] or [g] sound before the singular ending –a, you add an h to the plural ending.

Tip

Feminine nouns and adjectives always keep their hard [k] and [g] sounds in the plural.

6 How to spell plurals of nouns and adjectives ending in –co or –go

There is not a fixed rule for the sound of the consonants c and g in the plural of masculine nouns and adjectives ending in –co and –go.

Some words keep the hard sound of their c or g in the plural, and add an h to the spelling.

The plurals of many other words, however, change from the hard [k] sound to the [ch] sound, or from the hard [g] to [j]. This means their plurals are not spelled with an added h.

7 How to spell plurals of nouns ending in –io

When the i of the –io ending is stressed, as it is in zio (meaning uncle) and invio (meaning dispatch), the plural is spelled with double i: zii, invii.

If the i of the –io ending is not stressed you spell the plural ending with only one i, for example figlio → figli; occhio → occhi.

8 How to spell plurals of nouns ending in –cia and –gia

The spelling of the plurals of these words also depends on whether the i of the ending is stressed.

In some words, such words as farmacia (meaning chemist’s) and bugia (meaning lie), the stress is on the i, and the plurals keep the i: farmacie; bugie.

In others, such as faccia (meaning face) and spiaggia (meaning beach) the i of the singular ending is not stressed, and the plural is not spelled with i: facce; spiagge.

9 How to use accents

Accents have two main uses: one is to show that a word is stressed on the last syllable, which is not normal in Italian, for example città (meaning city), università (meaning university), perché (meaning why/because), cercherò (meaning I will look for).

For more information on Stress, see page 196.

The second use of accents is to distinguish between words that have identical pronunciations and spellings.

Tip

The words può, già, ciò, più and giù are spelled with an accent.

Key points

Spelling changes are sometimes necessary to keep the consonants c and g hard.

Accents show that the last syllable of a word is stressed.