How to pronounce combination of vowels (dipthongs) in Italian
To pronounce combinations of vowels (dipthongs) in Italian, just add together the two distinct individual sounds.
The sounds don’t vary like they do in English.
Let’s try some common examples:
ai is pronounced like the english word eye (e.g. mai - never)
au is pronounced like the long sound ow in cow (e.g. autobus - bus)
ea is pronounced like the sound ayer of player (e.g. teatro - theatre)
ei is pronounced like the word way (e.g. sei- six)
eo is pronounced like the vowel sounds of the words day off (e.g geografia - geography)
ia sounds like the sound ya in yap (eg italia)
ie is pronounced yeh as the city Triest
oi is pronounced like toilet (e.g. voi - you plural)
uo is pronounced like the wha in what (e.g. buono)
