Where does the stress fall?
Every Italian word is stressed on exactly one syllable. Usually that is the second-to-last syllable. Less often the stress falls on the last or the third-to-last syllable.
Which syllable is stressed?
Parole piane — second-to-last syllable
The normal case. No accent is written.
casa
house
amico
friend
parlare
to speak
Parole tronche — last syllable
When a word ends in a stressed vowel, that vowel carries an accent. This is obligatory.
città
city
università
university
lunedì
Monday
Parole sdrucciole — third-to-last syllable
No accent is written. You learn the stress together with the word.
telefono
telephone
tavolo
table
simpatico
nice, likeable
Which accent goes at the end of a word?
On a, i, o and u the accent is always the grave (à, ì, ò, ù). Only e has two marks: è sounds open (like the e in “bed”), é sounds closed (like the e in “say”, without the glide at the end).
è or é?
è — open (grave)
caffè
coffee
cioè
that is
é — closed (acute)
perché
why / because
né
neither / nor
Common words with an accent
Sono già le tre.
It is already three o’clock.
Perché non vieni?
Why aren’t you coming?
Un caffè, per favore.
A coffee, please.
The accent separates short words
A few short words sound the same and are told apart only by the accent. With the accent it is one word, without it another.
| With accent | Meaning | Without accent | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| è | is | e | and |
| sì | yes | si | oneself (reflexive) |
| là | there | la | the |
| dà | gives | da | from / by |
| tè | tea | te | you (object) |
Heard in a sentence
Luca è italiano e Anna è tedesca.
Luca is Italian and Anna is German.
Sì, si chiama Marco.
Yes, he is called Marco.
Là c'è la stazione.
The station is over there.
Il tè è per te.
The tea is for you.
