Italian Language Beginners Guide

Why Learn Italian?

Italian is a Romance language spoken by over 80 million people in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, the Vatican City, Malta and Eritrea. There are also many Italian speakers in Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Australia, Canada, the USA and the UK.

Like many languages in Europe, Italian is a romance language that has the most characteristics in common with Latin. Most native speakers of Italian are bilingual of both standardized Italian and their regional dialect.

Reasons to learn Italian include visiting an Italian country, your significant other speaks Italian, to increase job viability or one of the others listed below.

Italian Food, art, and Fashion: Many people around the world say Italian food is one of the most attractive and tasteful cooking in the world. Milan is the fashion capital of the world so if you like the fashion, supermodels, and world-class designers. If you are a fan of the opera and want to understand your favourite opera singers when they belt out those really high notes.

Understand the Cultural Importance of Italian: Maybe you fell in love with the rolling hills of Tuscany on your first visit to il bel paese—or maybe you fell in love with an Italian! Maybe your grandparents emigrated from Italy, so you want to investigate your family history. Perhaps you’re an aspiring musician who wants to learn what adagio, allegro, and andante mean or an opera singer who wants to improve her pronunciation.

Italian is truly an amazing language to learn. I hope you find this article helpful in narrowing and strengthening your reasons to learn Italian

This guide was written for Italian Beginners that don’t know where to start learning the Italian language.

Italian is spoken by Eighty Million people over in Italy and other countries in Europe.

Learn Italian

Learning Italian Menu

Countries where Italian is spoken:

• Italy
• Malta
• San Marino
• Parts of Switzerland
• Croatia
• Slovenia
• France.
• Vatican City

Italian Interesting Facts

The longest word contains 29 letters.

The longest word in Italian is the 29-letter esofagodermatodigiunoplastica. Refers to a reconstructive surgery related to the removal of the stomach.

The official language of classical music is Italian

Classical invented in Italy during the Renaissance, and thus became the standard language used in classical music.

Italian didn’t become a single, official language until 1861.

Basics of Italian

Knowing the basics of the Italian language when considering to learn Italian is a good place to start. Knowing what you’re getting into before deciding to take up this amazing and beautiful language.

Italian Alphabet

To understand the very basics of Italian. Learning to read the Italian Alphabet should be the first stop for Italian beginners.

Learn Italian Alphabet Letters

The Italian alphabet contains 21 letters of the English Alphabet. The letters j, k, w, x, and y are missing from the Italian alphabet but they do however appear in words burrowed from other languages. Italian Numbers are like English but with a different pronunciation.

The following letters do appear in Italian. They are used mainly in foreign words borrowed from other languages and their pronunciation is based on the word they appear in.

The Italian alphabet uses two diacritical accent marks primarily used on vowels. An incorrect or missing accent mark is a spelling mistake just as an incorrect or missing letter would be.

The Acute Accent can only be included on the vowels e, or o when they end words.

The Grave Accent can be included on all vowels that end words.

To do the Italian accents marks on the non-Italian keyboard. Alt code can be used. Alt code is when you press then hold down the Alt key on your keyboard then type in numbers on your num pad then release the alt key.

Italian Alphabet is very important when it comes to learning to write and read the Italian Language. So make sure to practice pronouncing and writing the Italian Alphabet whenever you can. As many times as you can.

Italian alphabet

The Italian varies quite a bit from the English Alphabet. Because Italian only has 21 letters. The letters j, k, w, x, and y are missing from the Italian alphabet but they do however appear in words borrowed from other languages.

Italian Numbers

Italian Numbers are like English but with the different pronunciation.

how to speak Italian numbers?

Italian vocabulary numbers 1-10

Italian vocabulary numbers 1-10

Italian Numbers 1-100

Italian Numbers 1- 100

Map of the key Italian Language Dialects

Within any language or language group, there may be significant changes in speech, vocabulary, and pronunciation. The term used to describe these changes is called a dialect. Some words or phrases that exist in one dialect may exist or be absent from a different dialect.

Map of the key Italian Language Dialects

Most native speakers of Italian are bilingual of both standardized Italian and their regional dialect. Italian is also the primary language of Vatican City.

The following are most commonly used dialects in the Italian language.

Siciliano Italian –
Calabrese Italian –
Lucano Italian –
Salentino Italian –
Pugliese Italian –
Campano Italian –
Molisano Italian –
Ciociaresco Italian –
Laziale Italian –
Abruzzese Italian –
Umbro Italian –
Marchegiano Italian –
Toscano Italian –
Emilano-Romagnolo Italian –
Lombardo Milarnes Italian –
Piemontese Italian –
Ligure Italian –
Trentinese Italian –
Ladino Italian –
Corse Italian –
Veneto Italian –

Different variants of the Italian language are spoken in many different nations and regions around the world, most commonly throughout Europe and Italy. However, the differences in regional dialects may not make one Italian speaker nearly incomprehensible to another. In most cases, the different dialects don’t have a specific written form of the language, but there’s usually a certain amount of literature that accompanies each dialect.

Italian Vocabulary

Logical next step for Italian Beginners after learning the Italian Alphabet would be to start developing your Italian vocabulary with Italian words and phrases.

Italian Grammar

The Italian grammar rules you must follow and understand to properly speak the Italian language.

Italian Grammar Rules

The fun part of learning any language. Grammar!

The “rules” you must follow to properly speak a language. But don’t worry about how hard learning Italian Grammar might feel at first. Learning Italian grammar rules is one of the most effective ways to speed up your ability to speak the Italian language.

Italian Grammar Rules: Sentence Structure

• The basic sentence structure of Italian is subject-verb-object. Just like English.

Italian Sentence Structure

Italian Grammar Rules: Nouns and Pronouns

• Italian Nouns can be either Masculine or Feminine
• Most Italian end in a vowel sound, those that don’t are usually of foreign origins.
• Nouns that end in “-ore” are usually Masculine while nouns that end in “-ione” are Feminine.

Italian Masculine Feminine Examples

Italian Grammar Rules: Verbs

• Italian Verbs usually have a “Mood” attached to them to indicate the speaker or writers feeling to the action being described.
• There are 4 moods in Italian: Indicative, Subjunctive, Conditional, and Imperative. Three more moods exist in Italian that doesn’t indicate the speaker. Theses are Infinitive, Participle, and Gerund.
• Each mood can be divided into one or more tenses.(Past, Present, Future)

Italian Grammar Rules: Adjectives

• Most Italian Adjectives are either plural or singular depending on the ending
• Singular Adjectives can be either Masculine or Feminine and usually end in “-e”
• Plural Adjectives usually end in “-i”. In the case of a word ends in “-io” the “o” is dropped from the word to form the plural.

Most Italian end in a vowel sound, those that don’t are usually of foreign origins. Italian has several “moods” for its verbs that indicate the speaker’s feelings towards the action being done as well as what “tense” or time it’s being done. Italian Adjectives can have a gender as well depending if they are singular or plural.

Italian Adjective Examples

Learning Italian grammar rules can be considered the cornerstone of the language and will take some time to learn but creates a sturdy foundation to help you completely learn Italian in no time. Take the time to let these points soak in, then build on them as you continue your Italian studies. Good luck, and have fun learning Italian

Common Italian Phases

Common Italian Phases

Italian romantic phrases

Italian affection examples

Italian compliments

Italian Swear Words

Common Italian Words

Italian Words for Family

Italian Words for Professions

Italian Words for Months Years

Italian Words for Emotions

Italian Words for Days / Week

Italian Words for Colors

Italian Words for Animals

Italian Words for Seasons Year

Italian Words for Anatomy

Italian Words for Times Days

Italian Words for Countries

Italian Words for Homes & Rooms

Italian Words for Vehicles

Consider Using a Language Learning Program

Try Language Software

If you are really serious about learning Italian and want to maximize your time then you should consider using an Italian language course to further aid you in your quest to learn Italian. There are several great programs out there that deliver a great language learning experience. The advantages of a language learning program are the organization and having a next step already lined up. Most break down the lessons into 30-minute intervals that can fit into any type of schedule.

Flexible to retry a lesson to make sure you understand what you are learning and give you confidence in succeeding.

Examples of great Italian language programs can be found below.

• www.rosettastone.com
• www.duolingo.com
• www.busuu.com