Learn to read Italian
A short, active path into reading Italian: decode real words from a small sound guide, learn where the endings and the verb sit, meet the past that fables are printed in, and read a whole fable before opening your first book.
Word lookup: numbers, colours, people, animals, weather
- Open this when a word blocks you. The two readings ahead need none of it.
- Every noun is listed with its little word, because that is what tells you its family.
- One to ten, eight colours, ten people, twelve animals, and fourteen nouns for the world a fable happens in.
- With a single family member Italian drops the word for “the”: mia madre, not la mia madre.
- Weather is a doing word with nobody doing it: Piove is the whole sentence for “it is raining”.
You do not need this section to finish the lesson. Open it when a book puts a number, a colour, a family word or an animal in front of you and you want it named. None of these words appears in the two stories at the end, so nothing here is homework — and reading the lists straight through is the least useful thing you could do with them.
One to ten
| English | Italian | Sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| one | uno | OO-noh |
| two | due | DOO-eh |
| three | tre | treh |
| four | quattro | KWAHT-troh |
| five | cinque | CHEEN-kweh |
| six | sei | say |
| seven | sette | SEHT-teh |
| eight | otto | OHT-toh |
| nine | nove | NOH-veh |
| ten | dieci | DYEH-chee |
Three of them are doubled — quattro, sette, otto — so hold the middle. Uno is also the word for “a”, and sei is also “you are”. After a number the thing goes plural, and the little word in front of it follows: i tre cani, le due case.
Eight colours
| English | With a masculine thing | With a feminine thing |
|---|---|---|
| red | rossoROHS-soh | rossa |
| black | neroNEH-roh | nera |
| white | biancoBYAHN-koh | bianca |
| yellow | gialloJAHL-loh | gialla |
| grey | grigioGREE-joh | grigia |
| green | verdeVEHR-deh | verde |
| brown | marronemahr-ROH-neh | marrone |
| blue | blubloo | blu |
Colours sit after the thing, like any describing word: un gatto nero“a black cat”. The last three do not change for the two families: verde and marrone end in -e, and blu is a borrowed word that never changes at all. Several white things are bianchiBYAHN-kee — an h has appeared to keep the c hard, exactly as it did in amiche.
Ten people
| English | Italian | Sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| mother | la madre | lah MAH-dreh |
| father | il padre | eel PAH-dreh |
| brother | il fratello | eel frah-TEHL-loh |
| sister | la sorella | lah soh-REHL-lah |
| man | l'uomo | LWOH-moh |
| woman | la donna | lah DOHN-nah |
| boy | il ragazzo | eel rah-GAHT-tsoh |
| girl | la ragazza | lah rah-GAHT-tsah |
| child | il bambino | eel bahm-BEE-noh |
| friend | l'amico | lah-MEE-koh |
With a single family member, Italian drops the word for “the” in front of my, your and his: mia madre“my mother”, mio fratello“my brother”. Everything else keeps it: la mia casa, il mio amico. And madre ends in -e and is still feminine — the article told you, not the ending. At home nobody says madre and padre; they say mammaMAHM-mah and papàpah-PAH.
Twelve animals
| English | Italian | Sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| dog | il cane | eel KAH-neh |
| cat | il gatto | eel GAHT-toh |
| bird | l'uccello | loot-CHEHL-loh |
| fish | il pesce | eel PEH-sheh |
| horse | il cavallo | eel kah-VAHL-loh |
| mouse | il topo | eel TOH-poh |
| fox | la volpe | lah VOHL-peh |
| bear | l'orso | LOR-soh |
| rabbit | il coniglio | eel koh-NEE-lyoh |
| pig | il maiale | eel mah-YAH-leh |
| owl | il gufo | eel GOO-foh |
| wolf | il lupo | eel LOO-poh |
Three of them exercise the spelling rules: uccello has the soft ce, pesce the sh of sce, coniglio the gli of million. These twelve are the cast of nearly every fable you are about to read.
Sky, weather, ground and shelter
| English | Italian | Sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| sun | il sole | eel SOH-leh |
| moon | la luna | lah LOO-nah |
| day | il giorno | eel JOR-noh |
| night | la notte | lah NOHT-teh |
| sky | il cielo | eel CHEH-loh |
| rain | la pioggia | lah PYOHD-jah |
| wind | il vento | eel VEHN-toh |
| snow | la neve | lah NEH-veh |
| tree | l'albero | LAHL-beh-roh |
| wood | il bosco | eel BOH-skoh |
| house | la casa | lah KAH-zah |
| door | la porta | lah POR-tah |
| water | l'acqua | LAHK-kwah |
| road | la strada | lah STRAH-dah |
Bosco is the wood a fable happens in — walkable, with a path through it. Foresta is bigger and wilder, and is not the word you want.
When: the parts of a day, the week, the year
| English | Italian | Sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| morning | la mattina | lah maht-TEE-nah |
| afternoon | il pomeriggio | eel poh-meh-REED-joh |
| evening | la sera | lah SEH-rah |
| today · tomorrow · yesterday | oggi · domani · ieri | OHD-jee · doh-MAH-nee · YEH-ree |
| Monday to Sunday | lunedì, martedì, mercoledì, giovedì, venerdì · sabato · domenica | loo-neh-DEE … veh-nehr-DEE · SAH-bah-toh · doh-MEH-nee-kah |
| January to June | gennaio, febbraio, marzo, aprile, maggio, giugno | jehn-NAH-yoh, fehb-BRAH-yoh, MAR-tsoh, ah-PREE-leh, MAHD-joh, JOO-nyoh |
| July to December | luglio, agosto, settembre, ottobre, novembre, dicembre | LOO-lyoh, ah-GOH-stoh, seht-TEHM-breh, oht-TOH-breh, noh-VEHM-breh, dee-CHEHM-breh |
Days and months take no capital letter. Five weekdays end in stressed -dì, an old word for day; notte is in the table above. Di mattina“in the morning”, di sera“in the evening”.