Italian Blog

In Italian, we have fixed rules for the pronunciation of letters which, once learnt, make it much easier to understand the relationship between written and spoken language. Unfortunately, the same is not true for accents. Although there are rules for where accents fall in verbs there are also lots of exceptions. As for nouns, adjectives, and so on there are no rules, and these have to be learnt by heart.  Let’s have a look at the rules and exceptions for verbs (N.B. I have highlighted accents in red):

The accent falls on the penultimate syllable in:

1. all infinitives ending in –are (e.g. mangiare = to eat, andare = to go), all infinitives ending  in –ire (e.g. sentire = to hear, finire = to finish), and most infinitives ending in –ere (e.g. cadere = to fall, vedere = to see). However, there are numerous verbs in –ere which have the accent on the third syllable counting from the end (e.g. cedere = to give up, chiedere = to ask). This is due to the fact that in Latin there were originally two distinctive groups of verbs in –ere.

2. all the gerundives (e.g. vedendo = seeing, mangiando = eating), and all the present and past participles (e.g. cadente = falling, caduto = fallen, precedente = preceding, preceduto = preceded)

3. the future tense, with the exception of the first and third persons singular where the accent falls on the last syllable and is always marked (e.g. sentirò = I’ll hear, sentirai = you’ll hear, sentirà = he/she’ll hear, sentiremo = we’ll hear, sentirete = you’ll hear, sentiranno = they’ll hear)

4. the imperfect tense, with the exception of the third person plural (e.g. cadevo = I fell, cadevi = you fell, cadeva = he/she fell, cadevamo = we fell, cadevate = you fell, cadevano = they fell)

5. the conditional, with the exception of the third person plural (e.g. finirei = I would finish, finiresti = you would finish, finirebbe = he/she would finish, finiremmo = we would finish, finireste = you would finish, finirebbero = they would finish)

6. in the imperfect subjunctive, with the exception of the first and third persons plural where the accent falls on the third syllable from the end (e.g. chiedessi = I may have asked, chiedessi = you may have asked, chiedesse = he/she may have asked, chiedessimo = we may have asked, chiedeste = you may have asked, chiedessero = they may have asked)

I haven’t mentioned the most common tenses, the present, the imperative, and the present subjunctive, for a reason: there are more exceptions. Let’s see:

in the present, imperative, present subjunctive tense the accent generally falls on the penultimate syllable, with the exception of third person plural where the accent falls on the third syllable from the end (e.g. ascolto = I listen, ascolti = you listen, ascolta = he/she listens, ascoltiamo = we listen, ascoltate = you listen ascoltano = they listen). However, there are a few verbs, the most common being ordinare (to order), capitare (to happen), telefonare (to phone), in which the accents falls one syllable further back in the first, second, and third persons singular, and the third person plural (e.g. ordino = I order, ordini = you order, ordina = he/she orders, ordiniamo = we order, ordinate = you order, ordinano = they order).

Finally, when reflexive pronouns, or direct and indirect object pronouns are added to a verb at the end (this is possible only with gerundives, infinitives and imperatives), the accent remains on the original syllable, e.g.: passa il sale a me (pass the salt to me) becomes passami il sale (pass me the salt), and passamelo (lit: pass me it). So you can even find the accent falling on the fifth syllable from the end in verbs such as telefonare or ordinare, e.g.: Ti va un cappuccino? Sì, grazie. Ordinamelo, se non ti dispiace (Do you fancy a cappuccino? Yes, please. Order it for me, if you don’t mind)

Well, I’ve tried to give you all the rules and their exceptions, but I’m sure that there are some more hiding somewhere in the dark. If you come across any discrepancies, please let me know!