Letter Sounds A To Z App

The alphabet forms the basic framework of a language and the letters are its building blocks. Perhaps that’s why wooden building blocks for children are so often painted with letters. When learning a new language that uses the Latin alphabet – like Italian – many people think they can skip the first lessons and go straight to more complex content. But if you take a step back and learn the alphabet first, it will pay off in the long run. So: Italian alphabet, here we go! The Italian alphabet, as mentioned earlier, is pretty similar to the German alphabet, but it still has a few basic differences. Here we will guide you through the alphabet and give you important pronunciation rules that will help you speak Italian very quickly.

Italian Alphabet

Start right from the beginning, here comes the Italian alphabet: A B C D E F G H I L M N O P Q R S T U V Z Unlike English, there are no particularly well-known rhymes or songs that Italian children use to learn the alphabet. There are some songs on YouTube if it helps you, but most Italians simply learn the alphabet by heart.

The missing letters

There are five letters in the German alphabet that are not in the Italian alphabet: J, K, W, X and Y. However, these letters can appear in some Italian words. These are loan words (mainly from English) and a few proper names. However, they are relatively rare.

Italian Alphabet: How to pronounce the letters

The Italian alphabet is easy to learn because each letter is always pronounced the same. It is not like, for example, in English, where tough, though, through and ugh are pronounced completely differently. Of course, there are exceptions, but you’ll get the hang of them quickly.

The Vowels

In the Italian alphabet, vowels are probably one of the letters that can most often be pronounced differently. The vowels can be pronounced both short and long, but there is one rule to follow. When a vowel precedes a single consonant, it is long. When a vowel comes before a double consonant, it is short. At first it may be a challenge for German speakers to pick out this subtle difference, but with practice it works out.

Long A: la pala (“the shovel”)
Short A: la palla (“the ball”)
Long E: la sete (“the thirst”)
Short E: sette (“seven”)
Long I: vile (“coward”)
Short I: le ville (“the villas”)
Long O: le note (“the notes”)
Short O: la notte (“the night”)
Long U: bruto (“brutal”)
Short U: brutto (“ugly”)

Another difference between Italian and German vowels is that in German new sounds are created from vowel combinations (“eu”, for example, is not pronounced like “e” or “u”, but like “oi”). Italian vowels, on the other hand, do not blend together to form a new sound. When two vowels are adjacent, they are pronounced separately. There is one important exception to this, which we will discuss in more detail in the section on the letters C and G.

poi (“then”)
due (“two”)
mio (“my”)
lei (“she”)

The letter H

The letter H is always pronounced the same way. That is, it is not pronounced at all. The H is completely silent, but it is used to pronounce words like hanno (“they have”) and anno (“year”) from each other. There are only two types of words that begin with the letter H: the conjugated verb forms of avere (“to have”) and loan words.

ho (“I have”)
l’hotel (“the hotel”)
hanno (“they have”)
l’hobby (“the hobby”)

The letter R

The Italian R, unlike the German R, is rolled. Rolling the R is not easy for every person. But you can sometimes imitate the sound a little by pronouncing it like a soft “D”. The R occurs in different Italian place names and can be heard in different places in a word.

After the T: Trieste, Tropea, Trapani
Between two vowels: Firenze, Perugia, Siracusa
At the beginning of a word: Roma, Rovigo
Before the M: Palermo, Parma

Italian alphabet: C and G

The letters C and G can be pronounced differently, but it is easy to remember the correct pronunciation: it always depends on the vowel that follows. Before the vowels A, O and U, the C is pronounced like “k” in “art” and the G like “g” in “garden”. Before vowels E and I, the C is pronounced like the sound “ch” in “Czech Republic” and the G is pronounced like “ch” in “jungle”.

C like “K”: cane, ancora, alcuni (“dog, still, some”)
C like “ch”: cento, cibo (“hundred, food”)
C like “g”: la gara, la gonna, l’anguria (“the competition, the skirt, the watermelon”)
G for “ch”: la gente, la giungla (“the people, the jungle”)

You may have noticed that in la giungla the “i” is not pronounced at all. This is because in most words where “ci” or “gi” is followed by another vowel, the “i” disappears completely from the pronunciation. And finally, when the C or G is followed by an H, they sound like the German K (as in “Kind”) or G (as in “Gitarre”), respectively.

chiesa (“church”)
anche (“also”)
ghiaccio (“ice”)
mughetto (“lily of the valley”)

S and Z

In linguistics, there is an important distinction between “voiced” and “voiceless”. “Voiced” means that the vocal cords vibrate when you pronounce a letter, and “voiceless” means that they do not vibrate. In German, the Z is voiceless and consists of the two sounds “ts” as in “zebra”. The S, on the other hand, can be voiceless (as in “house”) or voiced (as in “summer”). This is also the case in the Italian alphabet. For here, too, the S is either voiced or unvoiced. It is voiceless when it comes either before a vowel, at the beginning of a word, or before a voiceless consonant (C, F, P, Q, or T). A double S is also voiceless. The S is voiced if it comes between two vowels or is followed by a voiced consonant (B, D, G, L, M, N, R, V). The unvoiced S

il sole (“the sun”)
lo sport (“the sport”)
il posto (“the place”)
la sfilata (“the fashion show”)
la classe (“the class”)

The voiced S

la casa (“the house”)
la musica (“the music”)
smettere (“to stop”)
Lisbona (“Lisbon”)
lo sbaglio (“the mistake”)

The Italian Z is slightly different from the German and can be voiceless or voiced. The voiceless Z sounds like the “ts” in “circus.” It is voiceless when it comes before two consecutive vowels, after an L or N, or when it occurs in the endings -anza, -enza, or -ezza. The voiced Z sounds something like the “ds” in the word “evening.” It is usually voiced when it occurs at the beginning of a word or between two vowels. The unvoiced Z

la agenzia (“the agency”)
grazie (“thank you”)
la pazienza (“the patience”)
la calza (“the sock”)

The voiced Z

l’ozono (“the ozone”)
azzuro (“sky blue”)
lo zoo (“the zoo”)

There are many exceptions to both the S and the Z, unfortunately, but you will learn this over time. A double Z, for example, can be either voiced or unvoiced, and there is no real explanation for when it is pronounced and how.

Gli

The letter sequence “gli” makes a sound that does not exist in German. It sounds something like the “lli” in “million” or the “li” in the English word friendlier. If you hear the “gli-sound” is really difficult for you, here are some tips on how to improve the pronunciation.

la figlia (“the daughter”)
l’aglio (“the garlic”)

Sc

As with C and G, the pronunciation of the letter sequence “Sc” changes depending on which vowel or consonant follows it. When followed by an E or I, it sounds like “sh” in “shoe.” When followed by an A, O, U, or a consonant, it is pronounced like “sk” in “scurrilous.”

Sc like “sh”: il prosciutto, non capisce (“the ham, she does not understand”)
Sc like “sk”: gli scacchi, il tedesco, la scrivania (“the chess, the German, the desk”)

And you’ve already mastered the Italian alphabet!

1. letters spelling in german according to DIN 5009

1. letters spelling in german

There are many German letters that sound almost the same when pronounced. As examples, d or t, b or p and also g or k can be listed here. In practice, many people therefore associate the respective letter with an invented name such as “L for Leopold”. However, one does not always have a suitable name directly at hand during the telephone conversation. Here it can be helpful to memorize the German spelling table once or simply print out the table and put it next to the phone. Spelling names according to the German spelling table (DIN 5009)

A like Anton
B like Berta
C like Caesar
D like Dora
E like Emil
F like Friedrich
G as in Gustav
H as in Heinrich
I as in Ida
J as in Julius
K like Kaufmann
L like Ludwig
M like Martha
N like North Pole
O like Otto
P as in Paula
Q as in Quelle
R as in Richard
S as in Samuel
T as in Theodor
U as in Ulrich
V as in Viktor
W as in Wilhelm
X as in Xanthippe
Y as in Ypsilon
Z like Zacharias
Ä as in anger
Ö as in economist
Ü like exuberance

To have the telephone alphabet at your fingertips at all times, we have created a printable template for you:

2. spell international letters (ITU/ICAO/NATO)

2. spell international letters

There is also a telephone alphabet for international calls (ITU/ICAO/NATO):

A: Alfa
B: Bravo
C: Charlie
D: Delta
E: Echo
F: Foxtrot
G: Golf
H: Hotel
I: India
J: Juliet
K: Kilo
L: Lima
M: Mike
N: November
O: Oscar
P: Papa
Q: Quebec
R: Romeo
S: Sierra
T: Tango
U: Uniform
V: Victor
W: Whiskey
X: X-Ray
Y: Yankee
Z: Zulu

3. spell numbers and characters

3. spelling numbers and characters

According to DIN 5009, numbers are pronounced in German in the way that each of us is familiar with (0=zero, 1=one, etc.), which is why we will not go into more detail below. Characters, on the other hand, are much more complex, which is due to the fact that we use many of them very rarely. Of course, we all know dot, comma or question mark by heart. For this reason, we will only introduce characters that most of us do not use on a daily basis:

Characters	Designation
;	Semicolon
@	At sign / bracket monkey
„	Quotation mark
‘	Apostrophe
/	Slash
\	Backslash
(	Round bracket left
)	Round bracket right
[	Square bracket left
]	Square bracket right
{	Curly bracket left
}	Curved bracket right
°	Degree sign
*	Asterisk / Asterisk
#	Hash sign
§	Paragraph sign
~	Tilde
^	Circumflex

4 An outlook: The spelling board of the future

4. an outlook: The spelling panel of the future

The current spelling panel is considered to be the original spelling panel for the telephone. But Anton, Berta and Caesar could be a thing of the past before the end of the year. Experts are currently working on a new version. In future, city names will be used for individual letters instead of first names.

We are on schedule with the revision of DIN 5009 and expect the draft to be published in the third quarter of the year Source: Julian Pinning at StN.de

The current table of letters would not sufficiently reflect the cultural diversity of the German population. Concrete city names for the individual letters are not yet known. However, it is important to use city names that reflect the diversity of the country.

5 Placetel: The telephone system for companies of all sizes

5. the cloud telephone system from Placetel

Placetel’s cloud phone system is aimed at businesses of all sizes, offering them over 150 professional telephony features. Whether in the office, home office or on the road – with Placetel, you decide for yourself when, where and how you want to be reached. You can make all the settings yourself online at any time via the intuitive web portal with just a few clicks. With our new call recording function, you can start a recording directly on the phone at any time and easily listen to spelled names or other words again later. After finishing the recording, you will find the recording in your event list in the web portal.

C=You Z=You (but sounds mostly like you to me)

5 answers

Community expert English, language Hello, in the American English rhymes z = [zee] rhymes with the German word ‘you’. – spelled with a soft S. The English C is spelled with a sharp S spelled with a sharp S. AstridDerPu Community Expert English, Language

Think at the “sharp” c to sea.
Think at the “soft” z to you.

And that’s it. The little problem only appears when spelling anyway. Greetings, earnest Pronounce the S sound in C sharply, the one in Z softly. (Try to understand the phonetic spelling.) That’s how it’s done, and that’s how the difference becomes clear. C is sharper, Z is softer.

What do you want to know?

French pronunciation is notoriously difficult for German speakers to learn. It’s almost as difficult as, well, the German language itself. If you’re having trouble with the vowels, silent syllables, and accents, it makes sense to take a step back and look at the individual parts that make up the language. In other words, French alphabet, let’s go! The French alphabet is somewhat misleading to learners because it looks very similar to the German alphabet. This may lead you to believe that you don’t really need to learn it. However, taking a minute to learn the alphabet will give you a real advantage. Here’s a quick overview of the letters and some basics of pronunciation. While this doesn’t cover all possible pronunciation problems, it’s a good start.

French Alphabet

Looking only at the letters, the French alphabet is identical to the German alphabet.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

If you like learning with the help of music, you can listen to this ABC song. Although technically not really part of the alphabet, the biggest difference you’ll notice from the German script is the use of diacritics, or accents. There are also ligatures, which are single letters that look like a conjunction of two letters. This gives the French alphabet a few extra letters.

À Â Æ Ç È É Ê Ë Î Ï Ô Œ Ù Û Ü

These accents are used to distinguish between words and sounds. In the following sections we will explain them in more detail.

The vowels

There are fewer vowels than consonants, but they are more likely to give you trouble. Here we explain the most common pronunciation of each vowel.

French alphabet: A and Æ

In most cases, the A sounds like the “a” in “father.” The À with accent is pronounced the same way and is most often used to distinguish between French words like la (“the”) and là (“there”) or a (third person singular of avoir) and à (preposition) are used.

Ça va ? – How are you?
quatre – four
Voilà ! Et avec ça ? – Here you go ! Anything else?

The Â, on the other hand, tends to be pronounced further back in the mouth. The letter often appears in the ending -âtre which is often used for colors (bleuâtre means “bluish”).

le château – the castle

When followed by a U, the A sounds like the “o” in “big”.

aussi – so

When followed by an I or a Y, it is pronounced like the “ä” in “hands”. Some verbs end in -aîtrewhere the I preceding the T has a circumflex accent, but is pronounced the same as if the accent were not present.

anglais – English
payhe – pay

When followed by a single M or N (and that M or N is not followed by another vowel), the A is pronounced nasally.

la danse – the dance

“Ain” sounds like a nasal I.

le train – the train

In a few words – mostly loan words from Latin like ex-æquo – the ligature Æ is found. In these cases, the letter sounds like a short “ä”.

E

The letter E is probably the most complicated vowel in the French alphabet, and its pronunciation changes depending on where it is placed in a word, what follows it, and its accent. If there is “er”, “ed” or “ez” at the end of the word, it sounds like the “e” in “lake”.

chanter – sing
un pied – a foot
un nez – a nose

When the “e” is in the middle or at the beginning of a word before a consonant or before “lle”, “tte”, “nne”, “sse” or “t”, it sounds more like a short “ä”.

une adresse – an address
C’est complet ! – It is full!
sec – dry
un examen – a test

In monosyllabic words ending in “e,” it sounds like the “e” in “tub.”

Je ne te le donne pas ! – I don’t give it to you !

If it is at the end of a word or between two consonants (and not more than two consonants), the E is silent.

le rhume – the sniffles
rapidement – quickly

An É with a rising accent sounds like the “é” in “café”.

la télévision – the television
enchanté – Nice to meet you

An È with a falling accent sounds like an “ä”.

Genève – Geneva
la cuisinière – the cook

A Ê with a circumflex accent also sounds like a short “ä”.

être – his
la fête – the party

An Ë with two dots above it indicates that it is a regular E pronounced separately from the vowel that precedes it.

Joyeux Noël ! – Merry Christmas!

When an E precedes a U, it sounds like the German “ö”, as in “furniture”, for example.

euro – euro
deux – two

When the E is followed by an I, the result is an “eh” sound.

seize – sixteen
la bouteille – the bottle

When E is followed by M or N, it is pronounced like the nasal A described above.

vendredi – Friday
ensemble – together

French alphabet: I

In most cases, the I is pronounced like the two “i “s in “graffiti”. An Î with a circumflex accent sounds the same.

la ville – the city
le sortie – the exit

When the letter I follows another vowel, it often changes the sound of that vowel (see the sections on the other vowels). However, when the Ï has two dots, it means that it is pronounced separately from the preceding vowel.

haïr – hate
naïf – naive

The letter combinations IE and IO usually follow the pronunciation rules for the two separated vowels. However, if they occur at the end of a word before an N, they are pronounced nasally.

un musicien – a musician
une excursion – an excursion

O and Œ

If the O precedes a Z sound or is the last sound in a syllable, the letter forms the sound “oa”, as in the English word goat (“goat”). This is also true if it is an Ô with a circumflex accent.

une chose – one thing
euro – euro

In most other places, the O sounds like the “o” in “post”.

la pomme – the apple
la carotte – the carrot

When followed by a single M or N (and this M or N is not followed by another vowel), the O is pronounced nasally.

le citron – the lemon
un compromis – a compromise (the second “o” is not nasal, because the M is followed by a vowel)

When followed by a U, it sounds like the “u” in “seek”.

Toulouse – Toulouse (city in France)

When followed by an I, it sounds like the “wo” in “wow”. Some verbs end in -oîtrewhere the I preceding the T has a circumflex accent, but is pronounced as if the accent were not present.

soixante – sixty
Au revoir ! – Goodbye!

The ligature Œ sounds different from a single O and E. It sounds like a short “ö”.

Mon œil ! – My eye!

Even if Œ is followed by a U, it is pronounced like a short “ö””.

un vœu – a wish
of the œufs – the eggs

French alphabet: U

The letter U sounds similar to the German “ü”. This is also true for the Û with a circumflex accent.

Salut, bienvenue à Paris ! – Hello, welcome to France!

When U precedes a single M or N (which is not followed by a vowel), it is pronounced nasally.

lundi – Monday

When Ù has the falling accent mark, the pronunciation does not change. It is commonly used to distinguish between similar words, such as ou (“or”) and où (“where”). When the U appears after other vowels, it often changes the pronunciation of those vowels. You can find out more by looking at the individual vowels. When the U has two dots, it means that it is pronounced separately from the vowel before it.

Sometimes Y

At the beginning of a word before a vowel and between two or more vowels, the Y is pronounced like the “j” in “yes”.

le yaourt – the yogurt
le voyage – the journey

When Y comes before or after one or more consonants, it sounds like the “ie” in “much”.

le rythme – the rhythm
le style – the style

French alphabet: the consonants

After the difficulties that the French vowels may give you, the rest of the French alphabet is a piece of cake. And yet, there are rules you can learn. Here we present some of the most problematic consonants and consonant groups. So you’ll master the French alphabet in no time!

C, Ch and Ç

When the letter C comes before the vowels E, I, or Y, it’s pronounced like the German letter S. If it also has an accent, called a cédille, under it (Ç), it is pronounced like an S, no matter what follows it.

une annonce – an announcement
cinq français – five French

When the letter C is followed by something else or when it comes at the end of a word, it is pronounced like the German letter K.

le canapé – the sofa
avec Claire – with Claire

The only exception is the letter combination CH, which has its own rules. When it comes before a vowel, it sounds like the “sh” in “shoe”. If it stands before a consonant, it is pronounced like a K.

cherche – search
la technique – the technology

French alphabet: G

If the letter G stands before the vowels E, I or Y, it sounds like the “G” in “genius”. This sound is much more common in French than in German.

la gymnastique – gymnastics
rouge – red

When the letter G comes before an N, it makes the sound “ny” in “canyon”.

espagnol – spanish

When the letter G comes before another letter, it sounds like the German G, as in “gehen” or “gönnen”.

la guitare – the guitar
toglais – english

H

In the French alphabet, there are two types of H. The first is the silent H, or H muet. When the H muet is followed by a definite article or a je precedes it, it is abbreviated (la heure becomes l’heure). If the word preceding the H ends in a consonant that is not normally pronounced, that consonant is pronounced in this case.

J’habite ici. – I live here. (the je is abbreviated)
Les hommes sont heureux. – The men are happy. (Both the S in hommes as well as the T in heureux are pronounced.)

The other H is the aspiré H, or H aspiré. This H is still silent, but certain articles and je are not shortened before it, and preceding consonants that are not normally pronounced remain silent.

Je hais le hasard. – I hate the coincidence.
Ces enfants ont huit ans. – The children are eight years old.

L and LL

The single letter L is simple: it is always pronounced the same as the German L.

l‘eau minérale – mineral water

The double LL can be pronounced in two different ways. Most of the time, it sounds like the German L. However, when it follows an I, the LL usually sounds like the “j” in “ja”.

aller – go
Camille – Camille
la gentillesse – the politeness

P

In most cases, the P in French is pronounced the same as the P in German.

proposer – suggest

If the P comes before an S or a T, or if it comes at the end of a word, it is silent.

un compte – one account
beaucoup – much

S and Z

When a single S is between two audible vowels, it is usually voiced, meaning that it sounds like the “s” in “giant”.

la maison – the house
La chaise est dans la cuisine. – The chair is in the kitchen.

When the S comes at the beginning of a word, after a consonant, or as a double S, it is usually voiceless, like the “s” in “cash register.”

la danse – the dance
une adresse – an address
sympa – sympathetic

The letter Z is almost always voiced, like the “z” in “Zen”.

le zoo – the zoo
le Vénézuela – Venezuela

At the end of words, S and Z are usually silent.

X

When the letter X appears in a word or before a consonant, it is pronounced like the “x” in “cab”.

un texte – a text
un exemple – an example

At the end of a word, the X is usually silent.

je veux – I want
amoureux – in love

In rare cases, X can also sound like an S or a voiced S.

le dixieme – the tenth
dix – ten

Final note

To repeat: French pronunciation is not easy. We haven’t even mentioned that most letters at the end of words are silent, or the fact that every rule has an exception.

Pronunciation, accent, numbers: 5 beginner mistakes you can avoid in French!

The French alphabet can seem a little intimidating, but once you master it, the rest is a breeze. And don’t forget – French is also considered one of the easiest languages for German speakers to learn. Our best tip for you is to listen to as much French as possible in the future, whether it’s in face-to-face conversations, podcasts, movies or series. You’ll pick up the pronunciation in no time! Letter Sounds A To Z App.