O

Italian Vowel

The Italian letter O has two pronunciations. The explanation and equivalents provided here are based on the closest sounds that exist in American English, which are sometimes not very close at all. Phonetic symbols are provided in [brackets].

1. The closed o sound (la o chiusa) is similar to English’s long o sound as in "go," but without the diphthong to a "w" sound at the end. Phonetic symbol: [o].

Italian sound files Per esempio…
the letter o
ottobre   October
cioccolato   chocolate
voi   you
inverno   winter
ciao   hi, bye

2. The open o sound (la o aperta) is similar to the vowel sound in the English word "lost." Phonetic symbol: [ɔ].

Italian sound files Per esempio…
biscotti   cookie
tuoni   thunder
carota   carrot
no   no

Hard vs soft

O is a hard vowel.

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Italian pronunciation

Virtual Italian Teacher at Lawless Languages | Website | + posts

Ciao! I’m Laura K Lawless, creator, writer, editor, and CLO (Chief Lawless Officer) of this free online Italian learning site. Lawless Italian is an official Lawless Languages site.

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