Learn to Speak Italian

Italian (italiano , or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people, primarily in Italy and Switzerland. In both of those places, Italian is an official language (along with German, French and Romansh in Switzerland). Standard Italian officially adopted by the state after the unification of Italy is based on Tuscan dialect and is somewhat intermediate between Italo-Dalmatian languages of the South and Northern Italian dialects of the North.

Like many languages written using the Latin alphabet, Italian has double consonants. However, contrary to, for example, French, double consonants are pronounced as long (geminated) in Italian. As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive. Of the Romance languages, Italian is considered to be one of the closest resembling Latin in terms of vocabulary, though Romanian most closely preserves the noun declension system of Classical Latin, and Spanish the verb declension system (see Old Latin), while Sardinian is the most conservative in terms of phonology.

The history of the Italian language is long, but the modern standard of the language was largely shaped by relatively recent events. The earliest surviving texts which can definitely be called Italian (as opposed to its predecessor Vulgar Latin) are legal formulae from the region of Benevento dating from 960-963. Italian was first formalized in the first years of the 14th century through the works of Dante Alighieri, who mixed southern Italian languages, especially Sicilian, with his native Tuscan in his epic poems known collectively as the Commedia, to which Giovanni Boccaccio later affixed the title Divina. Dante's much-loved works were read throughout Italy and his written dialect became the "canonical standard" that others could all understand. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language.

Italian has always had a distinctive dialect for each city, since the cities were until recently thought of as city-states. The most characteristic differences, for instance, between Roman Italian and Milanese Italian are the gemination of inital consonants and the pronunciation of some stressed "e" and some "s" (e.g. va bene ("all right"): a Roman pronounces /va 'bb%u025Bne/, a Milanese /va 'bene/; a casa ("at home"): Roman /a 'kkasa/, Milanese /a 'kaza/).

English --- Italian
Italian --- italiano
English --- inglese
Yes --- Sì
No --- No
Hello! --- Ciao (informal) / Salve
How are you? --- Come stai? (informal) / Come sta? (formal)
Good evening! --- Buona sera!
Welcome! --- Prego! (as in "You're Welcome") / Benvenuto! (as in "Welcome to my Home")
Good night! --- Buona notte!
Goodbye! --- Arrivederci! (informal) / Arrivederla (formal)
Have a nice day! --- Buona giornata!
Please --- Per piacere / Per favore
Thank you --- Grazie
You're welcome --- Prego
I'm sorry --- Mi dispiace/Mi scusi (formal)/Scusa (informal)/ desolato (if male) / desolata (if female)
Who? --- Chi?
What? --- Che Cosa? / Cosa? / Che?
When? --- Quando?
Where? --- Dove?
Why? --- Perché?
What's your name? --- Come ti chiami? (informal), Come si chiama? (formal)
Because --- Perché
How? --- Come?
How much? --- Quanto?
I do not understand. --- Non capisco. / Non ho capito.
Yes, I understand. --- Sì, capisco. / Ho capito.
Help! --- Aiuto!
Where are the bathrooms? --- Dove sono i bagni?
Do you speak English? --- Parla inglese? (formal)/Parli inglese? (informal)/Parlate inglese? (plural)
I don't speak Italian. --- Non parlo l'italiano.