Italian Phrase Book and Dictionary Based on the
BBC Italian Phrase Book by Carol Stanley and Philippa Goodrich,
Carol Stanley and Philippa Goodrich 1990 Published by BBC Active, an imprint of Educational Publishers LLP, part of the Pearson Education Group. Edinburgh Gate, Harlow, Essex CM20 2JE Print version: Philippa Goodrich 2005 and BBC Worldwide Ltd 2005
ePub version: Philippa Goodrich and Educational Publishers LLP 2013
Illustrations copyright Joanna Kerr @ New Division 2005
BBC logo BBC 1996. BBC and BBC ACTIVE are trademarks of the British Broadcasting Corporation The right of Philippa Goodrich to be identified as author of this Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without either the prior written permission of the publishers and copyright owners or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd., Saffron House, 610 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Pearson accepts no responsibility for the content on any website for which a link is provided in this title, or for any use of personal data by the third party operating such a website.
The links are provided as is with no warranty, express or implied, for the information provided within them. ISBN: 978-1-4066-7618-1 Managing Editor: Joanna Kirby
Project Editor: Josie Frame
Index Editor: Paula Peebles
Designer: Elizabeth Burns
Concept design: Pentacor Book Design
Cover design: Two Associates
Cover photo copyright Nadia Mackenzie/GETTYIMAGES
ePub conversion: Reality Premedia www.bbcactivelanguages.com
how to use this book
This book is divided into colour-coded sections to help you find the language you need as quickly as possible. You can also refer to the . Along with travel and language tips, each section contains:
| YOU MAY WANT TO SAY language youll need for every situation |
| YOU MAY SEE words and phrases youll see on signs or in print |
| YOU MAY HEAR questions, instructions or information people may ask or give you |
Youll find , a list of basic, all-purpose phrases to help you start communicating straight away. Many of the phrases can be adapted by simply using another word from the dictionary. The . The .
We welcome any comments or suggestions about this book, but in the meantime, have a good trip buon viaggio!
It may be helpful to view tabular content in landscape mode and in some instances reduce the font size. |
contents
pronunciation guide
pronunciation
Italian pronunciation is very regular you can tell how a word is pronounced by the way it is written, once you know which sound each letter (or group of letters) represents. A pronunciation guide is given with the phrases in this book. The system is based on English sounds, as described below.
vowels
Italian vowels are pronounced the same wherever they occur, except for e and o , where there are two slightly different ways of pronouncing each letter. For simplicitys sake, only one sound is represented in these phrases.
ITALIAN VOWELS | APPROX ENGLISHEQUIVALENT | SHOWN INBOOK AS | EXAMPLE | |
---|
a | a in car | a | nave | nave |
ai | i in pile | iy | gennaio | jenniyo |
ao, au | ow in cow | ow | autobus | owtobus |
e | e in met | e | bello | bello |
ei | ay in lay | e-ee | lei | le-ee |
i (or sometimes) | ee in meet y in yet | ee y | amico possiamo | ameeko possyamo |
o | o in lot | o | notte | notte |
oi | oy in boy | oy | poi | poy |
u (or sometimes) | oo in moon w in wobble | oo w | una pu | oona pwo |
consonants
Many Italian consonants are pronounced in a similar way to English.
ITALIAN VOWELS | APPROX ENGLISHEQUIVALENT | SHOWN INBOOK AS | EXAMPLE | |
---|
a | a in car | a | nave | nave |
ai | i in pile | iy | gennaio | jenniyo |
ao, au | ow in cow | ow | autobus | owtobus |
e | e in met | e | bello | bello |
ei | ay in lay | e-ee | lei | le-ee |
i (or sometimes) | ee in meet y in yet | ee y | amico possiamo | ameeko possyamo |
o | o in lot | o | notte | notte |
oi | oy in boy | oy | poi | poy |
u (or sometimes) | oo in moon w in wobble | oo w | una pu | oona pwo |
consonants
Many Italian consonants are pronounced in a similar way to English.
All doubled consonants are pronounced with an extra long sound.
ITALIANCONSONANTS | APPROX ENGLISHEQUIVALENT | SHOWN INBOOK AS | EXAMPLE | |
---|
b | b in but | b | bagno | banyo |
c (followed by e or i ) | ch in church | ch | cena | chena |
c (otherwise) | c in can | k | camera | kamera |
ch | c in can | k | che | ke |
d | d in dog | d | dove | dove |
f | f in feet | f | famiglia | fameelya |
g (followed by e or i ) | j in jet | j | gettone | jettone |
g (otherwise) | g in got | g | gamba | gamba |
gh | g in got | g | ghiaccio | gyacho |
gl | lli in million | ly | moglie | molye |
gn | ni in onion | ny | gnocchi | nyokkee |
h | always silent | - |