Stress / Accento Tonico
Usually, Italian words are stressed on the next–to–the–last syllable.
| amico |
friend |
| foglia |
leaf |
| Milano |
Milan |
| nipote |
nephew |
| padre |
father |
| parlare |
to speak |
| signorina |
Miss |
| studiare |
to study |
| telefonare |
to telephone |
| uomo |
man |
When the final –e is dropped from a word, as happens with some masculine titles when they are directly followed by a proper name, the position of the stress remains unchanged.
| dottore |
doctor |
| dottor Nardi |
Doctor Nardi |
| professore |
professor |
| professor Pace |
professor Pace |
When words are stressed on the last vowel, they always have a written accent over that vowel.
| cioè |
namely |
| città |
city |
| perchè |
because |
| però |
however |
| tassì |
taxi |
| università |
university |
| venerdì |
Friday |
| virtù |
virtue |
It is useful to remember that open e and o occur only in stressed syllables.
| automobile |
automobile |
| medico |
physician |
| nobile |
noble |
| telefono |
telephone |
Note: The written accent is used with a few monosyllables in order to distinguish them from others that have the same spelling but a different meaning.
| dà |
gives |
| da |
from |
| è |
is |
| e |
and |
| là |
there |
| la |
the; it; her |
| né |
nor |
| ne |
some |
| sé |
himself, herself |
| se |
if |
| sì |
yes |
| si |
oneself |
