20
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Why is perché sometimes written perchè instead of perché?
There's more than one reason for that.
The structure of the Italian keyboard
I believe that the major reason has to be researched in the Italian keyboard: indeed, the key for è and é is the same. If ...
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12
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In spoken Italian, is there a standard way to encode the letters of words when there is too much noise and the words cannot be heard?
Your assignation is not standard (even if there is not an official standard): for instance, for M most people would pick Milano, and to connect a letter and a city name one often uses come (“D come ...
- 35.7k
8
votes
The use of the spellings -zz- vs. -z-
This isn't a complete answer, but while Googling to try to find out more, I came across the following explanation for why some speakers might think there is a difference in pronunciation:
The ...
- 408
8
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Does this text have non-standard Italian?
It is standard Italian, although some passage are in a "poetic" language (uncommon word order, some truncations or archaisms).
The only word that's leaving me a little bit puzzled is ar, which could ...
- 11.6k
8
votes
Complete list of nonforeign spelling exceptions involving the use of the letter "h" in Italian?
The list is wrong about pronunciation. The rule is much simpler: you never pronounce the H, it's only used to tell a hard C/G (call, gall) from a soft C/G (choke, joke).
The graphic usage of H in ...
- 2,673
8
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Why is perché sometimes written perchè instead of perché?
Historical note. Until about the '50s (I do not have a precise date) in Italian books some accents were written "the other way around", i.e. using the grave accents where one would use the acute one ...
- 452
8
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Why is gemination so common in Italian?
It is not a matter of syllabification, rather the doubling of the consonant indicates a different pronunciation.
It is perhaps hard at first for non native speakers to hear the difference, but ...
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7
votes
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Difference between ò and ó?
The phonetic system of standard Italian has seven vowels: a (in IPA, /a/), closed e (/e/), open e (/ɛ/), i (/i/), closed o (/o/), open o (/ɔ/), u (/u/).
The accent is usually only written to denote ...
- 35.7k
6
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Difference between ò and ó?
Everything has been said already, however you ask when you should use ò vs. ó vs o (and, I guess, similarly for è vs. é etc.).
In the case of "o" it's relatively easy: the only case where an ...
- 4,259
6
votes
Esiste un modo per sapere quando usare le doppie?
Non ci può essere una regola. Gli esempi di coppie minime sono tanti:
casa/cassa
fata/fatta
copia/coppia
cola/colla
sera/serra
e così via. Nessun correttore automatico che non ...
- 17.6k
5
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List of uses of the apostrophe as opposed to the grave accent on an "a" with separate meanings (as in Da versus Dà versus Da')?
Off the top of my head, hoping in further contributions:
e meaning “and”;
è meaning “(he/she/it) is”;
e' ancient (also used in modern Tuscan), truncated form for ei, that is, egli (“he”) or essi ("...
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5
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List of pairs of words (having different meaning) differing only in a stressed final e vowel (which must be either è or é)?
I don't know of any pair where the final acute or grave accent distinguishes the words and would bet there aren't any. There are only minimal pairs of words where the accent is not marked: pésca (...
- 17.6k
5
votes
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How to spell crac ( = predestinato a grandi cose)?
At Grande dizionario della lingua italiana you can find the voice "crack" with this meaning:
Nel poker, nel bridge, ecc., giocatore molto abile, ritenuto imbattibile.
...
- 38.3k
5
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Why is gemination so common in Italian?
You have to distinguish between gemination in spelling and pronunciation.
French has a lot of geminated consonants in spelling, but none in pronunciation (except maybe at word boundaries, when a word ...
- 17.6k
4
votes
How did "chiave" get a masculine ending?
-e is not a typically masculine ending at all. Just think of ape, arte, automobile, base, botte, capitale, carne, cassaforte, cenere, classe, comune, croce, estate, falce, fame, fede, filiale, fine, ...
- 270
4
votes
Is "Cafeé und Thée Logia" partly Italian?
The only occurrence I could find of a spelling similar to cafeé in an Italian text is caveè, in a report by 16th-century cardinal and ambassador Gianfrancesco Morosini, as quoted in Le relazioni degli ...
- 35.7k
4
votes
Accepted
Native Italian words still spelled with a 'j'?
Apart from the vague suggestions I gave in the comments, perhaps the nearest to an actual answer is here. The digital version of Zingarelli dictionary allows some quite refined searches. It is mostly ...
- 35.7k
4
votes
The use of the spellings -zz- vs. -z-
According to the Enciclopedia Treccani the first instance of this decision was made by Salviati, in his Avvertimenti sopra la lingua del Decamerone
A fine Cinquecento, è fondamentale la figura di ...
- 11.6k
4
votes
List of uses of the apostrophe as opposed to the grave accent on an "a" with separate meanings (as in Da versus Dà versus Da')?
Di: preposition, "of", "from" and others. Il libro di Marco.
Dì: substantive, a bit antiquated/literary but still used here and there, "day". La sera del dì di festa.
Di': imperative of "dire". Di' la ...
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4
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List of uses of the apostrophe as opposed to the grave accent on an "a" with separate meanings (as in Da versus Dà versus Da')?
I don't know "trichotomous" or "quadrichotomous" words other than the ones mentioned in the question and by @DaG, but there are plenty "dicotomous" words, whose third form represents a common error:
...
- 1,865
4
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How to spell crac ( = predestinato a grandi cose)?
As @Charo mentioned, the word crack does come from English. This question on another SE website explores the question a little further. The origin of the word can be traced back to 1793 apparently.
...
- 1,555
3
votes
Why is perché sometimes written perchè instead of perché?
IMO it's because 99% (my estimate) of Italians with an education level below university - and at least 50% of Italians with a non-language-related university education - have never, ever heard of this ...
- 230
3
votes
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When do verbs end in ar/er/ir instead of are/ere/ire?
It's called "troncamento" in Italian (and it's not limited to verbs, compare "dottor Rossi").
This may provide some guidance: http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/troncamento_%28Enciclopedia_dell%...
- 522
3
votes
Complete list of nonforeign spelling exceptions involving the use of the letter "h" in Italian?
From the Italian Orthography Wikipedia page (translated):
Grapheme 〈h〉
In Italian 〈h〉 is a so-called "silent" letter, i.e. without a phonological value (although in some cases it may indicate ...
- 856
3
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List of pairs of words (having different meaning) differing only in a stressed final e vowel (which must be either è or é)?
As far as I'm aware, the only pair of words spelled as such in Italian are:
bè1 vs Bé3
The list increases somewhat if you expand your criteria from words ending ...è vs ...é to words with terminal ...
- 856
3
votes
Where does one find pronunciation, spelling, and phonetic rules in English for Italian?
I am hoping that as I learn to read Italian, that my spelling will necessarily improve as well, since I will understand the phonetics better, and when to use all the accent marks, etc. that we do not ...
- 597
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