{"id":15336,"date":"2017-12-18T16:31:04","date_gmt":"2017-12-18T15:31:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=15336"},"modified":"2017-12-18T16:31:04","modified_gmt":"2017-12-18T15:31:04","slug":"how-to-use-accents-in-italian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/how-to-use-accents-in-italian\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Use Accents In Italian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spelling in Italian is simple: once you know the basic rules you’ll be able to read a word and pronounce it with a fair amount of accuracy. Knowing where to put the accent, however, is not always so straightforward. Let’s have a look at the rules for using accents in Italian.<\/span><\/p>\n

All words have accents, or use the accent of a neighbouring word. Some monosyllabic words, such as articles, use the accent of the word that follows:
\nil<\/span> cane<\/strong> = the dog
\nla<\/span> macchina<\/strong> = the car
\n… or the preceding word
\nlava<\/strong>ti<\/strong> <\/span>= wash yourself
\n<\/span>ascolta<\/strong>mi<\/strong> <\/span>= listen to me
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Lavati!<\/strong> Image <\/span><\/em>CC0 Public Domain<\/span><\/em><\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

When we pronounce words with accents our voice puts more emphasis on the accented syllable. This is known as a tonal syllable (from the Greek t\u00f2nos = force<\/em>). Syllables without accents are known as atonal.<\/p>\n

Words are divided into the following categories according to the position of the syllable:<\/p>\n

1. tronche<\/strong> (truncated) = with the accent on the final syllable<\/span>:
\nvirt\u00f9<\/span><\/strong> = virtue
\nrealt\u00e0<\/span><\/strong> = reality
\nThese are words that have been truncated, deriving from words that have had the final syllable chopped off, e.g. virt\u00f9<\/strong> comes from virtude<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

2. piane<\/strong> (plain) = with the accent on the penultimate syllable:
\ngio<\/span>rno<\/strong> = day
\nfru<\/span>tta<\/strong> = fruit
\namo<\/span>re<\/strong> = love
\nThese words are called plain or smooth (liscia<\/strong>) because they are easy to pronounce, and they constitute the largest group of Italian words.<\/p>\n

3. sdrucciole<\/strong> (slippery) = with the accent on the third syllable from the end:
\npo<\/span>polo<\/strong> = the people
\nfo<\/span>rbici<\/strong> =scissors
\na<\/span>lbero<\/strong> = tree
\nThese are called ‘slippery’ because your tongue slides over the two syllables following the tonal or accent.<\/p>\n

4. bisdrucciole<\/strong> = (lit. twice slippery) with the accent on the forth syllable from the end:
\nca<\/span>pitano<\/strong> = they happen, e.g. queste cose capitano<\/strong> (these things happen)
\nconsi<\/span>derano<\/strong> = they consider
\nThese are all verbal forms in the third person plural.<\/p>\n

5. trisdrucciole<\/strong> = (lit. thrice slippery) with the accent on the fifth syllable from the end:
\nre<\/span>citamelo<\/strong> = recite it to me
\nThese are verbal forms followed by atonal monosyllables, in the above case me<\/strong> (me) and lo<\/strong> (it)<\/p>\n

In written Italian, you must write the accent on parole tronche<\/strong> (truncated words), e.g. far\u00e0<\/strong> (he will do), sar\u00f2<\/strong> (I will be), and on monosyllabic words that need to be distinguished from their homophone. Here are the main ones:
\n\u00e8<\/strong> (is) as opposed to e<\/strong> (and)
\ns\u00e9<\/strong> (oneself) as opposed to se<\/strong> (if), although if s\u00e9<\/strong> is reinforced with stesso<\/strong> the accent can be omitted, e.g. l’ha fatto per s\u00e9<\/strong> (he did it for himself) or l’ha fatto per se stesso<\/strong> (he did it for himself)
\nn\u00e9<\/strong> (neither\/nor) as opposed to ne<\/strong> (of it\/them)
\ns\u00ec<\/strong> (yes) as opposed to si<\/strong> (the impersonal or reflexive pronoun)
\nd\u00ec<\/strong> (day) as opposed to di<\/strong> (of\/by etc.)
\nl\u00ec<\/strong> (there) as opposed to li<\/strong> (them)
\nl\u00e0<\/strong> (there) as opposed to la<\/strong> (the, or her)
\nd\u00e0<\/strong> (give imperative<\/em>) as opposed to da<\/strong> (from, by, to, etc.)
\nch\u00e9<\/strong> (abbreviation of perch\u00e9<\/strong>) as opposed to che<\/strong> (that, which, whom, etc.)<\/p>\n

Some words change meaning depending on the placement of the accent:
\ncapita<\/span>no<\/strong> (captain) vs ca<\/span>pitano<\/strong> (they happen)
\na<\/span>ncora<\/strong> (anchor) anco<\/span>ra<\/strong> (again)
\nIn these cases we only write the accent if the meaning of the word isn’t clear from the context.<\/p>\n

Here are some more articles about accents that you may like:
\nParole e Accenti
\n<\/a>It\u2019s All In The Accent<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/span>
\nIt\u2019s All In The Accent \u2013 Part 2.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Spelling in Italian is simple: once you know the basic rules you’ll be able to read a word and pronounce it with a fair amount of accuracy. Knowing where to put the accent, however, is not always so straightforward. Let’s have a look at the rules for using accents in Italian. All words have accents…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":15344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[386084,744],"class_list":["post-15336","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-grammar","tag-italian-accents","tag-italian-pronunciation"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t