Learn Italian

Start at the alphabet

The Italian on-ramp is written by hand, not generated, and it is 482 cards long. Every card is spoken in a recorded Italian voice, and what you get right is scheduled for review rather than shown again at random.

• 26letters
• 10digits
• 26pronunciation rules
• 300core words
• 60everyday phrases
• 60sentences

Three of the pronunciation cards, exactly as the on-ramp teaches them:

• a e i o u — five written vowels, and each keeps its full value in every syllable — Italian has no “uh”. An unstressed a is still a clear “ah”, which is why banana has three identical vowelsbanana — a long yellow fruit you peel
• e — the letter e covers two sounds: an OPEN “eh” as in bello and sette, and a CLOSED “ay” as in sera and verde. Dictionaries mark them, speakers just know them, and no one will misunderstand you either waybello — good-looking
• o — the same split for o: an OPEN “aw” as in nove and cosa, a CLOSED “oh” as in sole and dove. Again the spelling never shows whichnove — nine

Your first Italian phrases

The first phrase and sentence cards of the on-ramp, each spoken in a recorded voice:

• Come stai? KO-me STAI — how are you? (informal)
• Come sta? KO-me STA — how are you? (polite)
• Sto bene, grazie. sto BE-ne, GRA-tsye — I’m fine, thank you
• Io sono Marco. EE-o SO-no MAR-co — I am Marco.
• Sono italiano. SO-no i-ta-LYA-no — I am Italian.

What Italian actually costs a beginner

The fine print is length. A double consonant is HELD, and the holding alone changes the word: nonno is a grandfather, nono is ninth; sono is "I am", sonno is sleep. English does not use consonant length to tell words apart, so it has to be practiced on purpose rather than noticed. The single r is one tap and the double r is a roll, and that is a real distinction too. Everything else — the open and closed e and o that dictionaries mark and speakers simply know — will not stop anyone understanding you, and the on-ramp says so rather than drilling it.