/ˈaɪ.pə/

Italian

Family: Indo-European · Eurasia · ISO ita · Glottolog · 63,000,000 speakers
39
Consonants
31
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in Italian — a Indo-European language spoken in Eurasia . With 70 phonemes, it has a relatively large inventory compared to the world's languages. Sounds marked with a dashed border (*) are marginal: they appear only in loanwords or highly specialized contexts and are not part of the core phonological system.

Consonants

affricate

d̪z̪ː ~ t̪s̪ː ~ d̠ʒ ~ d̠ʒː ~ t̠ʃ ~ t̠ʃː ~

approximant

w ~ j ~

fricative

f ~ v ~ fː ~ vː ~

lateral fricative

lː ~ l ~ ʎː ~

nasal

n ~ nː ~ mː ~ m ~ ɲː ~

sibilant fricative

s̪ ~ z̪ ~ s̪ː ~ ʒ * ʃː ~

stop

t̪ː ~ d̪ ~ d̪ː ~ t̪ ~ b ~ p ~ bː ~ pː ~ ɡ ~ k ~ kː ~ ɡː ~

trill

r ~ rː ~

Vowels

ɔ ~ u ~ uo ~ uɔ ~ o ~ i ~ ɛi̯ ~ ai̯ ~ au̯ ~ ei̯ ~ eu̯ ~ oi̯ ~ ui̯ ~ io ~ iɔ ~ ɛu̯ ~ uɛ ~ e ~ a ~ uie ~ uiɛ ~ yia ~ ɛ ~ ɔi̯ ~ ie ~ iɛ ~ ia ~ ui ~ ua ~ iu ~ ue ~

* Marginal phoneme — occurs only in loanwords or rare contexts.

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
70
phonemes

Italian has 70 phonemes, placing it in the 97th percentile of languages by inventory size — a notably large inventory.

Compared to English

For English speakers learning Italian, these are the sounds that will require the most focused practice.

In Italian, not in English (55)

These sounds don't exist in English — English speakers will need to learn them from scratch.

d̪z̪ː t̪s̪ː d̠ʒː t̠ʃː fː vː lː ʎː nː mː ɲː s̪ z̪ s̪ː ʃː t̪ː d̪ d̪ː t̪ p bː pː k kː ɡː r rː ɔ u uo uɔ o ɛi̯ ai̯ au̯ ei̯ eu̯ oi̯ ui̯ io iɔ ɛu̯ uɛ a uie uiɛ yia ɔi̯ ie iɛ ia ui ua iu ue

In English, not in Italian (30)

English speakers learning Italian won't use these sounds — they'll need to suppress them.

h pʰ s ŋ iː oː d ʊ z ʃ ts ɒ ɐ ð θ ɘ ɹ kx ɐː ʉː iə eə oe æe ɑe ɵː æo ɐʉ ɒɯ ʉə
Full phoneme comparison: English vs Italian →

Most phonologically similar languages

Ranked by Jaccard similarity — the proportion of phonemes shared relative to the combined inventory of both languages.

Catalan 31%
Compare →
Hungarian 31%
Compare →
Tigrinya 30%
Compare →
Amharic 28%
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Indonesian 28%
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Compare Italian with another language

See which sounds are shared and which are unique.

vs Hakka Chinese vs SEDANG vs Kharia vs Bhumij vs Kota vs Burushaski vs Kabardian vs Lak vs Ket vs Yao