Italian pronunciation practice: real sentences, sound by sound

Try it now: one double consonant

Say this line after the speaker

1:59–2:01 · After the speaker · Italiano Automatico, human-written captions

Italian pronunciation rules English speakers need

• Double consonants: hold them longer, as in the k of “bookcase”. penna (pen) is not pena (pain), cassa (till) is not casa (house).
• Pure vowels, all of them said: a, e, i, o, u never glide or fade to “uh”. The last vowel is as clear as the first: bene, figlia.
• p, t and c without a puff of air: English adds one at the start of a word (“pen”); Italian does not. Hold your hand in front of your mouth: però, passiamo.
• c and g before e and i: c is “ch” as in “church” (ciao, felice), g is “j” as in “jam” (già, oggi). Before a, o and u they are hard: casa, lingua.
• ch and gh: the h keeps the sound hard before e and i: che is “keh”, spaghetti has the g of “go”.
• gli and gn: gli is close to the “lli” in “million” (famiglia, figlia); gn to the “ny” in “canyon” (significa, insegnare).
• sc: before e and i it is “sh” (conoscenza); otherwise “sk” (rischio, iscrizioni).
• z: “ts” or “dz”, never the z of “zoo”: grazie, interiorizzare.
• r and h: r is a tap or a short roll of the tongue tip; h is never said: ho sounds like “o”.

Italian double consonants: five sentences

The bold letters are what to listen for. Each line opens in Sada at its own range, After the speaker: listen, record, then open Compare and play your take against the original.

1. Pena e penna. “Pain” and “pen”: one letter changes the word. A1 · Italiano Automatico, 1:59–2:01
2. Casa e cassa. “House” and “till” (a cash box). A1 · Italiano Automatico, 2:43–2:45
3. E niente, buon anno! Well, that’s all: happy new year! A1 · Italiano Automatico, 20:10–20:12
4. Infatti le iscrizioni chiuderanno domani. In fact, registration closes tomorrow. A2 · Italiano Automatico, 2:51–2:54
5. Insomma, quindi non l'avevamo fatto prima. So, in short, we hadn’t done it before. B1 · Italiano Automatico, 5:08–5:11

c, g and ch: four sentences

1. Ciao. Buon riposo! Bye. Rest well! A1 · Italiano Automatico, 0:35–0:37
2. Ciao, come stai oggi? Bene, un po’ stanco. Hi, how are you today? Fine, a bit tired. A1 · Podcast Italiano, 14:08–14:11
3. È già un po' vecchia. It is already a bit old. A2 · Italiano Automatico, 4:57–4:59
4. Altrimenti il rischio è che non funzionerà mai. Otherwise the risk is that it will never work. B1 · Italiano Automatico, 5:43–5:47

gli, gn and sc: two sentences

1. Imparare significa ricevere conoscenza. To learn means to receive knowledge. A2 · Italiano Automatico, 5:18–5:22
2. Sono molto felice per aver vicino la mia famiglia. I am very happy to have my family close by. B1 · Italiano Automatico, 9:09–9:13

p without a puff of air: two sentences

1. Passiamo ora ad imparare e insegnare. Now let’s move on to “to learn” and “to teach”. A2 · Italiano Automatico, 5:10–5:13
2. Però, per fortuna, adesso in generale sta bene. But luckily, things are fine now on the whole. B1 · Italiano Automatico, 6:31–6:35

v and full final vowels: two sentences

Say every last vowel: vado, figlia, discorso.

1. Io vado. C'è lì mia figlia. I’m going. My daughter is there. A1 · Italiano Automatico, 3:45–3:47
2. Vai avanti e resta nel flusso del discorso. Keep going and stay in the flow of the speech. B1 · Italiano Automatico, 6:36–6:39

z: one sentence

1. È importante, quindi, interiorizzare la lingua. So it is important to internalise the language. B1 · Italiano Automatico, 5:03–5:06

How to practise Italian pronunciation

1. One line at a time. Start with the A1 lines, at 0.75× under “More options” if you need it.
2. Listen for the bold letters before you record, then say the line after the speaker three times.
3. Compare by ear. Open Compare and play your take beside the original: did you hold the double consonant? Did you say every final vowel?
4. Then say it along. Once a line feels easy, choose “With the speaker” and say it at the same time, to take its melody and pace.

What Sada can and cannot tell you

Sada compares your take with the captions: which words its speech recognition heard, which it missed, and your timing against the speaker. It does not grade single sounds, so it cannot judge the length of a double consonant: it may write penna even if you said pena, because it reads the word from context. Your ears are the judge: play your take beside the original. Recordings stay on your device.

For more Italian lines by level and a ten-minute routine, see the Italian shadowing guide.

Every line was checked on 2026-10-25 against the human-written Italian captions Sada uses, with the range the app opens. Captions can change.