Pronunciation of "grazie"?

Question

When I was learning a bit of Italian before my first trip there, I learned that "grazie" was pronounced with three syllables, the final syllable like a quick long a sound (in English). However, when there, I never heard that, but heard "grazi" (two syllables) or some other word replacing "thank you". (In movies, I only hear "grazi" as well, e.g. beginning at 9:08 here.)

It made me feel self-conscious as an American that I wasn't even sure how to say "thank you" properly in Italian. I tried them both, but felt wrong either way.

I speak Spanish and French, and both studied and taught Latin, so am not a stranger to non-English sounds in Romance languages.

Can anyone enlighten me on why I didn't hear people using three syllables when saying thank you in Italian? (Grazie.)

Answer 1

The Italian word grazie has most definitely two syllables. The “i” letter denotes here the semivowel which in IPA is denoted by /j/, so “ie” is a diphthong, as in piede or vieni, not two separately emitted vowels.

You may double-check on the DOP, the historical “Dizionario italiano d’ortografia e di pronunzia” (here for “grazie”: https://www.dizionario.rai.it/p.aspx?nID=lemma&rID=844058&lID=1031577) or the dipi, “dizionario di pronuncia online” (https://www.dipionline.it/ ; apparently, you cannot link to a specific entry).

Answer 2

The reason you don't hear three syllables is simple: native speakers don't pronounce it like that. As DaG says, we say grazie with two syllables.

The suggestion to pronounce it as “GRAHT-see-yeh” is directed at foreigners who do not pronounce the final "e". Think of it as an intermediate step: it's better than "grazi", but still not quite correct. If you are a beginner you should probably go for it, but not if you are at a more advanced level.

And by the way, in my opinion the 3-syllable version shouldn't have a "y" in that third syllable: “GRAHT-see-eh” seems better to me.

Answer 3

A non-authoritative suggestion from a non-Italian.

The 'ie' part is a diphthong, one neither a Brit [me] nor an American would properly recognise from their own language.

Perhaps if you think of it, rather than a three syllable graht-see-ay instead try the two syllable graht-syeh [or syə to keep it really short]. That will force the diphthong, getting the 'sy' to roll together nicely without trying to force another vowel in between.

You can already say it, if you think carefully - "We saw carts yesterday." already contains it… or even invent the fictitious animal, the 'graht' - "We saw grahts yesterday."