The Seven Vowel Sounds

One of the most rewarding aspects of learning Italian pronunciation is the clarity of its vowel system. While the Italian alphabet has five vowel letters (a, e, i, o, u), the language actually produces seven distinct vowel sounds. This is because the letters e and o each have two pronunciations: an open version and a closed version.

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Overview

Unlike English, where a single vowel letter can produce many wildly different sounds, Italian vowels are consistent and predictable. The five vowel letters always produce sounds in the same family, and every vowel in a word is always pronounced — there are no silent vowels in Italian.

Vowel Letter	Number of Sounds	Sounds
a	1	Open "ah"
e	2	Open "eh" (è) and closed "ay" (é)
i	1	"ee"
o	2	Open "aw" (ò) and closed "oh" (ó)
u	1	"oo"