The Italian c has 2 possible sounds. It can sound like the ch in chip, or like the k in kite. Unlike English, there are very strict rules about when the Italian c sounds like a ch or a k. If the c precedes (comes before) an e or an i, the c will have a ch sound. For example, undici. If the group ci precedes an a, o or u, it is also pronounced as ch AND the i is mute : ciao sounds as English chao. If the c precedes any other letter (a, o, u, or a consonant, although the latter is very rare), then it will have a k sound, as in comodo. If the group ch precedes an i, or an e, it is pronounced as k : chi sounds as English kee. The word cucina has both types of c in it - the first c makes the k sound, and the second c makes the ch sound.

　　g, gi, gh

　　The Italian g has 2 possible sounds. It can sound like the g in got, or like the j or dg in judge. The rules are similar to the ones described above for c. Thus getto is pronounced as English jet-toh, and gioia as English joy-ah. While gotto and ghetto are pronounced as English got-toh and get-toh.

　　j y

　　In Italian j and y are not used, and when they occur (in foreign or arcaic words), they are pronounced as an Italian i.

　　w

　　In Italian w is not used, and when it occurs (in foreign words), a native Italian would pronounce it as a v.

　　rr and all other double consonants.

　　All times a double consonant is written, it is actually pronounced twice. It takes practice to do it well.

　　v

　　Sounds exactly like in English.

　　s

　　The Italian s may have two pronounciations. One of them is like English z or s : rosa is pronounced similarly to English rose with a terminal ah. The other one is like English s e.g. in set : sette is pronounced like set-teh. There are no definite rules on two pronounciations (although some dictionaries report the correct one), and there are regional variations in the pronounciation of the same word. In general you will be understood, even if your pronounciation may sound strange. As a rule of thumb, s followed by vowel in the second or further syllable of a word, has the z sound (e.g. rosa, casa), while s followed by vowel or consonant (usually t or p) at the beginning of a word is an s sound : sette, stare.

　　z

　　The Italian z is pronounced much harder than an English, like sound ts, or tz, like in word tzar. There are actually two variant of the z sound in Italian, which are marked in dictionaries, but are subject to regional variations and make little difference for the everyday speaker.

　　Two (not so) confusing verbs - essere and stare

　　If you have already read the New Words section, you probably noticed that the two verbs introduced this week sometimes may mean both to be. In fact however essere is the proper verb corresponding to to be. Stare means to stay, and is used where an English speaker would expect to use to be only in two cases. Confusing the two verbs is proper of popular speech in Southern Italy but feels somewhat uncouth.

　　Verb Conjugation

　　As in English, verbs are conjugated, or take various forms, in Italian. In the present tense, there are 6 verb forms (persons), depending on who the subject of the verb is. Here are the conjugations for essere and stare:

　　essere - to be

　　io sono (I am)

　　tu sei (you are)

　　Lei /egli (lui) /ella (lei) /esso(-a) è (you (formal)/he/she/it is)

　　noi siamo (we are)

　　voi siete (you (plural) are)

　　Loro/essi(-e)/loro sono (you (old formal plural)/they (things and persons)/they (persons) are)

　　stare - to stay

　　io sto (I stay)

　　tu stai (you stay)

　　Lei /egli (lui) /ella (lei) /esso(-a) sta (you (formal)/he/she/it stays)

　　noi stiamo (we stay)

　　voi state (you (plural) stay)

　　Loro/essi(-e)/loro stanno (you (old formal plural)/they (things and persons)/they (persons) stay)

　　Note that the conjugations for Lei (you), egli (he), ella/lei (she) and esso(-a) (it) use the same form of the verb. The same goes for their plurals (though the singular and the plural use different forms).