This post guides you through the most important information about the three Italian accent marks.<\/p>\n
[fluentu-toc]<\/p>\n
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When Are Italian Accent Marks Used?<\/h2>\n
An accent mark is used in the following cases:<\/p>\n
- \n
- When a word has two or more syllables and ends in a stressed vowel, like\u00a0caff\u00e8<\/em> (coffee).\n
Perch\u00e9 non bevi il caff\u00e8<\/strong>?
\n<\/em>Why don’t you drink coffee?<\/li>\n- To show the correct pronunciation of a vowel (long or short).\n
Perch\u00e9<\/strong> non bevi il t\u00e8?
\n<\/em>Why don’t you drink tea?<\/li>\n- To differentiate two words that look the same.\n
\u00e0ncora<\/strong> <\/em>(anchor)
\n<\/em>ancora<\/strong> <\/em>(again, still, yet)<\/li>\n- To show where to place the stress in a word.\n
Venezia \u00e8 una citt\u00e0<\/strong> straordinaria. <\/em>
\nVenice is a remarkable city.<\/li>\n- To signify the correct reading in a single-syllable word that ends in two vowels.\n
Vorrei di pi\u00f9<\/strong> per favore.
\n<\/em>I would like more, please.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nAccent marks can occasionally be optional\u2014mostly in cases where there’s no potential confusion between similar words\u2014but the proper accenting should be learned anyway.<\/p>\n
Pronunciation Differences Between Italian Accents<\/h3>\n
The two most common types of Italian accents are known as grave (`) and acute (\u00b4), and only appear above vowels. They indicate how the vowel should be pronounced and\/or show which syllable to stress when pronouncing the word. They can also sometimes change the meaning of a word.<\/p>\n
The main thing to know about the accents is that they change the vowel sound: The grave accent indicates a closed sound, and the acute accent indicates an open sound.<\/p>\n
Notice is difference between “e<\/em>” (and) and “\u00c8<\/em>” (it is):<\/p>\n
Closed E:<\/strong> Ci sono cos\u00ec tanti turisti e<\/strong> persone a Roma oggi.
\n<\/em>There are so many tourists and people in Rome today.<\/p>\nOpen E:<\/strong> \u00c8<\/strong> molto buono.
\n<\/em>It is very good.<\/p>\nAlso, notice the difference in sound between:<\/p>\n
Grave accent:<\/strong> Voglio una p\u00e8sca.<\/strong>\u00a0
\n<\/em>I want a peach.<\/p>\nAcute accent: <\/strong>P\u00e9sca<\/strong> tutti i giorni.
\n<\/em>He fishes every day.<\/p>\nLet’s look at these accent marks in more detail.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Grave Accent (\u00a0` )<\/h2>\n
This mark is known as the grave accent, which is called accento grave <\/em>\u00a0<\/em>in Italian.<\/p>\n
Because of how common it is, it’s easy to run into this little mark many times, even in your earliest Italian studies.<\/p>\n
This mark can appear attached to any Italian vowel at the end of a word,<\/strong> and it indicates a short sound<\/a>, like “eh” for\u00a0e<\/em> and “ah” for\u00a0a.<\/em><\/p>\n
You might recognize this accent mark in particular from one of the most common words in Italian, the simple \u00e8<\/strong> <\/em>. <\/em>This word is the conjugation of the verb essere\u00a0 <\/em>(to be) and means “is” in the third person conjugation.<\/p>\n
The grave accent is very important,<\/strong> as it makes \u00e8<\/em> distinct from a very similar word: e <\/strong><\/em>, which means “and.”<\/p>\n
Other examples of this accent mark in action include pi\u00f9<\/strong> <\/em>\u00a0(more), luned\u00ec<\/strong> <\/em>\u00a0(Monday) and per\u00f2<\/strong> <\/em>\u00a0(however).<\/p>\n
Acute Accent (\u00a0\u00b4 )<\/h2>\n
The acute accent mark is less common than the grave accent and there’s a specific reason for that: It’s only used with the letter\u00a0e.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
They look pretty similar to grave accents but try not to confuse them: While the grave slants down from left to right, the acute mark slants down from the right.<\/p>\n
The acute accent indicates a long vowel sound<\/strong> such as in the word perch\u00e9<\/strong> <\/em>\u00a0(why, because).<\/p>\n
The accent can often be found on the\u00a0che<\/em> endings of several compound words of a similar vein, like giacch\u00e9<\/strong> <\/em>(since) and bench\u00e9<\/strong> <\/em>\u00a0(despite).<\/p>\n
Some other words where you’ll encounter the acute accent include ventitr\u00e9<\/strong> <\/em> \u00a0(twenty-three) and pot\u00e9<\/strong> <\/em>\u00a0<\/em>(conjugated form of\u00a0potere<\/em>, meaning “to be able to”).<\/p>\n
You might notice that, as the last example suggests, you can sometimes find this accent mark in certain conjugations of the passato remoto <\/em><\/strong>(remote past tense), like cred\u00e9<\/strong> <\/em>\u00a0<\/em>(conjugated form of\u00a0credere<\/em>, meaning “to believe”).<\/p>\n
Circumflex Accent (\u00a0\u02c6 )<\/h2>\n
The circumflex accent mark is even rarer than the acute, especially in modern Italian.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In case you do come across it in older texts, know that its main purposes were to contract the ending -ii<\/em>\u00a0and to pluralize words ending in -io.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
A common word that you may still see with this accent mark is diar\u00ee<\/strong> <\/em> (the plural of diario,<\/em> meaning “journal”).<\/p>\n
Using Accent Marks Correctly<\/h2>\n
It might be a little difficult to figure out just how accent marks function in Italian at first. The best way to get a solid grip on them is to study vocabulary and spelling carefully.<\/p>\n
Remember that accented letters can function almost like their own unique piece of the alphabet, so it’s important to know how to use them properly.<\/p>\n
It can be helpful to watch Italian videos with subtitles so you can see Italian accent marks in use and hear native speakers pronounce the words that contain them. One resource that you could try using is FluentU<\/a>, which offers an array of engaging Italian videos with interactive subtitles.
FluentU<\/strong> takes authentic videos\u2014like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks\u2014and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.<\/p>\r\n
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You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app<\/a> or Android app.<\/a><\/p>\r\n
- To show the correct pronunciation of a vowel (long or short).\n
![\"FluentU](\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/try-fluentu-for-free.jpg\")
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