General Rules

Pronunciation

Here are some general rules on the pronunciation of letters in Italian.

Letter	Pronunciation
o	o
i	e
e	ae (eh)

Letter	Pronounciation
ge ghe	jeh geh
gi ghi	G (hard G) ghee1

Letter	Pronounciation
ce che	cheh keh
ci chi	che key

Plurals (Plurali)

Singular ending letter	Plural ending letter
o (male)	i
e (ambiguous)	i
a (female)	e

NB: An ending letter of e is ambiguous.  It can either be feminine plural (e.g. gambe (legs) comes from gamba (leg)), or it can be a singular irregular of either gender.

Articles ('The') Singular	Articles ('The') Plural
il (male)	i
lo (male before word beginning with 'impure s'2, 'gn', 'pn', 'ps', 'x', 'z') l' (male before word beginning with a vowel)	gli
la (female) l' (female before word beginning with a vowel)	le