Despite Italian’s reputation as a “phonetic language” — meaning there’s a direct relationship between spelling and pronunciation — there are some annoying letters that don’t always sound the same way.we have seen letter C A few weeks ago, today we will turn our attention to the letter G. let’s start!
The first important rule about the letter G in Italian is that, in general, it represents two different phonemes in Italian, or in other words, it can be pronounced as hard or soft sound.
Hard Grab
IPA symbol: /g/
In Italian, a hard G, sounds just like the G in the English word GAmi or go, can be represented by the letter G or GH, depending on the following vowel. G is used before the vowels A, O, and U, and GH is used before the vowels E and I.
- G+A: Gapull (Race), pullGazzo (young people)
- G+O: goNana (skirt), Onego (Needle)
- G+U: Gucci (Gucci), pullhunchback (pate)
- Growth Hormone + Electron: ferrytto (slums), ferryPardo (cheetah)
- HGH + I: write downRanda (wreath), Wellwrite down (wizard)
Race – Dress – Gucci – Ghetto – Garland
Note that if GH + I is followed by another vowel (such as O or A) and they are contained in the same syllable, the letter I becomes [j] sound, similar to the letter Y in “yes”. E.g:
- GHIO is in gluttonous (gluttonous) is pronounced GYO, not GEE-OH
- GHIA is in ice (ice) is pronounced GYA, not GEE-AH
Giotto – Ice
If the GHI and the following vowel are not contained in the same syllable (e.g. dialogue – DI-LO-GHI-A), which are pronounced separately.
When G is followed by another consonant, it is almost always hard. E.g:
thanks – glacier – Grande – globe
Thanks – Glacier – Big – Earth
Two big exceptions: GLI and GN
In Italian, there are two cases where G + consonant does not produce a hard G. The first is the combination GLI and the second is the GN.
How to pronounce gli in Italian
This particular combination sometimes produces the so-called voiced-palatal lateral approximation [ʎ] in linguistics.It is similar to but not identical to the double LL sound in English words Metertwoion.
The following are some [ʎ] sound:
- GL+I: This (This / give him / give them)
- GL + I + A: leaf (leaf), sweater (sweater)
- GL + I + E: give him (give him), wife (wife)
- GL+I+O: cut (cut), pride (pride)
notes: when [ʎ] Appears in the middle of words, such as cut and leafwhich is pronounced as if it were a double consonant.
The – Leaf – Wife – Cut
That is, some Italian words containing GL + I do not contain [ʎ] Sounds more like a hard G. The common feature of all these words is GL + I followed by a consonant instead of a vowel.
Wisteria – Glissare – Glyphs – Anglican
Wisteria – Slide Over – Glyphs – Anglican
Of course, even with exceptions, there are always weird exceptions, such as scientific terms like Glial cells (connective tissue of the nervous system) and gliadina (gliadin), pronounced with a hard G instead of [ʎ]Thankfully, these are isolated examples, so unless you’re a scientist or doctor, you probably don’t have to worry about them!
How to pronounce GN in Italian
The second exception is the G + N combination, which is always pronounced [ɲ]. It famously occurs in the word Gnocchi, a type of tortellini. Unfortunately, this sound doesn’t exist in English, so the only way to learn it is to practice saying a lot of “GN words” until you get it right. Here are some worth remembering:
Gneyes-jungnor – Prognand – spagnOne
Gnocchi – June – Prunes – Spain
soft gram
IPA symbol: /dʒ/
An Italian soft G is represented by a G followed by an E or I.It sounds exactly like the English J, as in the word jester or jpeas.
- G+E: gridStowe (gesture), greggrid (grazing)
- G + me: luckyrare (change), luckyRafa (giraffe)
Gestures – Herds – Turn Around – Giraffes
If G + I is followed by another vowel (such as O, A, or U) and they are contained in the same syllable, the letter I is not pronounced. E.g:
- GIO in Gioblade (young people/young people) is pronounced like “Joe” (not GEE-OH)
- GIA is in familycca (jacket) is pronounced like “andcket” (not GEE-AH)
- GIU in the followingpromise (June) is pronounced like the JU in “juice” (not GEE-OO)
young – jacket – June
If GI and the following vowel are not contained in the same syllable (ie energyfamily – EN-ER-GI-A), they are pronounced separately.
allergyIE – psychologistfamily – thislucky – Wellfamily
Allergies – Psychology – Lies – Magic
Double GG
Many words in Italian contain the double GG. To pronounce this double consonant, all you have to do is pause before releasing the G. All other rules discussed above remain the same. Listen to the example below:
Damn it! – Add to – Maggio – rain
damn it! – Added – May – Rain
loanwords with g
The pronunciation of a loanword or a word adopted from another foreign language may be different in Italian.Often, however, the original pronunciation of the letter G is preserved, such as the English gossip and rogue.
