In this text you can find more detailed information about the Italian sounds.
Click on the Audio button to listen to them. At the end, try to read aloud the sounds and the words.

Please note that the letter q is only found in combination with the vowel u; qu sounds like cu, and in word-internal position it is normally doubled like this: cqu.

The letter h is never pronounced, but it is used to distinguish similar words (e.g. a ‘to’ vs. ha ‘he/she has’; anno ‘year’ vs. hanno ‘they have’), and to represent different sounds for the letters c and g.

C and g always sound ‘hard’ before back and central vowels (co, go; cu, gu; ca, ga), and ‘soft’ before front vowels (ce, ci and ge, gi), unless they are followed by the letter h (che, ghe and chi, ghi): in this case they are pronounced ‘hard’.

c1 c2>
SOUNDS soft soft hard hard
Front Vowels ce, ge ci, gi che, ghe chi, ghi
Back Vowels cio, gio ciu, giu co, go cu, gu
Central Vowel cia, gia   ca, ga  
c1 c2>
Word Audio
cera, amici, amiche, fichi
gelato, giro, streghe, maghi
ciò, ciurma, cosa, curiosità
giostra, giù, gola, gufo
ciabatta, casa
giallo, gallo

The letters s and z may correspond to either voiced or voiceless sounds, often according to the context.
Followed by voiced consonants (i.e. b, d, g, m, n, v, l, r), or between vowels, the letter s represents a voiced sound:
sbaglio, rosa

whereas at the beginning/end of words, or followed by voiceless consonants (i.e. p, t, c/q, f) it is voiceless:
sera, lapis, scuola

The letter z tends to be voiced when beginning words and voiceless in internal position, but it may sound either way (no rules!) when long:

c1 c2>
Word Audio
zero, zucca, zucchero
stazione, calze
pazzo, pizza, pezzo (voiceless) but azzurro, mezzo (voiced)

Special attention must be paid to the following combinations:

sci/sce pronounced soft like in
scienza, pesce

(contrary to pronounced hard sc in all the other combinations:
scatola, sconto, scuro, schiena)

gli mostly pronounced soft like in:
gli, gigli, figlio

gn always pronounced soft:
cagna, cagne, ragni, ragno, gnu