Alphabet and sounds
Let's learn the Italian alphabet and how to read Italian!
How many letters?
The Italian alphabet has only 21 letters.
Five vowels: a, e, i, o, u
Sixteen consonants: b, c, d, f, g, h, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, z
The five missing consonants in the Italian alphabet are: j, k, w, x, and y.
Even though these letters are not part of the alphabet, all Italian speakers use them in loanwords and foreign and native names.
Below the Italian alphabet complete with foreign letters. The words you see under eaxch letter are the phonetic transcription, aka how you would pronounce the letters as an English speaker ;)
"C" and "G"!
Ca, co, cu: k sound, as in “koala”
Ga, go, gu: gh sound, as in “ghost”
Ce, ci: ch sound, as in “chair”
Ge, gi: j sound, as in “joker”
Che, chi: k sound, as in “koala”
Ghe, ghi: gh sound, as in “ghost”
