How to pronunce the letter S in Italian
You’ve probably noticed that the letter S in Italian can have two different sounds:
1. Sometimes it sounds like the Z in the English word “prize” (also in English: zebra, zone, crazy, etc.)
2. Sometimes it sounds like the S in the English word “stop” (also in English: sun, snake, sit, etc.)
How can you tell which pronunciation to use? There’s a very simple rule:
👉 We use pronunciation 1 (the same as in “prize”):
- When S is between two vowels (for example: esame, rosa, chiesa, mese, musica, isola, etc.)
- When S is followed by the consonants b, d, g, l, m, n, r, v (for example: sbadiglio, sdegno, sghembo, slalom, smettere, snervante, srotolare, sveglia)
👉 We use pronunciation 2 (the same as in “stop”):
- In all other cases (for example: scarpa, sfera, stirare, rosso, etc.)
That's it, è tutto :)!
