At a glance
What will be easy
Learn a dozen patterns such as ci, che, gli and gn, and you can read any word aloud. Written accents mark a stressed final vowel: città, perché.
Cognates follow regular patterns: -tion becomes -zione (nazione, informazione) and -ty becomes -tà (città, università).
Sentences run subject, verb, object, as in English: Marco legge un libro. A question simply rises in tone: Parli italiano?
What will be hard
Every noun is masculine or feminine, and articles and adjectives agree: il libro rosso, la casa rossa, le case rosse. Learn each noun with its article.
Every tense has six endings, from parlo to parlano. In the past, ho mangiato is a finished action and mangiavo a background or habit, while English “I ate” covers both.
Double letters are held longer and change the meaning: nono (ninth) and nonno (grandfather), pala (shovel) and palla (ball).
Your first 10 phrases
| Phrase | How to say it | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Ciao! | chow | Hi / Bye |
| Buongiorno | bwon-JOR-noh | Good morning / Good day |
| Grazie mille | GRAHT-tsee-eh MEEL-leh | Thanks a lot |
| Per favore | pehr fah-VOH-reh | Please |
| Mi scusi | mee SKOO-zee | Excuse me (polite) |
| Quanto costa? | KWAHN-toh KOH-stah | How much is it? |
| Dov’è il bagno? | doh-VEH eel BAHN-yoh | Where is the toilet? |
| Non capisco | nohn kah-PEE-skoh | I don’t understand |
| Può parlare più piano? | pwoh par-LAH-reh pyoo PYAH-noh | Could you speak more slowly? |
| Un caffè, per favore | oon kahf-FEH, pehr fah-VOH-reh | An espresso, please |
From A1 to B2: what to learn at each level
- A1
Gender and articles, essere and avere, the present tense, numbers, around 1,000 of the most common words.
- A2
Passato prossimo, reflexive verbs, prepositions merged with articles (del, nel, sul), the future tense.
- B1
Imperfetto versus passato prossimo, the conditional, the pronouns ne and ci, around 3,000 words.
- B2
The congiuntivo in all tenses, sequence of tenses, everyday idioms, 3,500 words and more.
How long it takes to learn Italian
According to the US Foreign Service Institute (FSI), a native English speaker needs about 24 weeks of intensive study to reach professional working proficiency in Italian. The closer a language is to your own, the faster the road.
More on timing: How long does it take to learn a language to B1 and B2?.
Your first month, 15–20 minutes a day
Pronunciation rules, double consonants included, and the 100 most common words. Every day: 10 minutes of flashcards and 5 of reading aloud.
Essere and avere, articles, simple sentences about yourself. Start listening to short dialogues.
The present tense of -are, -ere and -ire verbs. Write three sentences a day about your day.
Your first A1 stories and 300 words in review. Try a five-minute conversation with a native speaker or in a chat.
Typical mistakes and how to avoid them
Physical states and age take avere: ho freddo (I’m cold), ho fame, ho 30 anni. Sono freddo describes a cold person.
Verbs of movement take essere, and the participle agrees: sono andato for a man, sono andata for a woman.
Things in general take the article: amo la pizza, il caffè mi piace.
It often sounds sexual: say sono emozionato or non vedo l’ora. Also, libreria is a bookshop and parenti are relatives.
Did you know?
- Standard Italian grew out of the Florentine dialect of Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio in the 14th century.
- When Italy was unified in 1861, only a small minority spoke standard Italian; most people used local dialects.
- Quarantine comes from quaranta giorni, the 40 days ships had to wait off Venice during plague epidemics.
Italian exams
The main international certificates: CILS, CELI, PLIDA. Many of them map their levels to the CEFR scale from A1 to C2.
→ Italian language test for citizenship: B1 certificates and how to pass
How NewLexi helps you learn Italian
- Words on your topics. Italian cards are generated on request or added from the translator, text, a photo or a file.
- Spaced repetition for every word and four mastery levels.
- Stories and dialogues in Italian at your level, written with your words; tap any word for a translation.
- Italian grammar from A1 to C2, a writing trainer with AI correction and a chat.
- Lock Screen cards and iPhone widgets to review words on the go.
FAQ
Is Italian hard for English speakers?
It is one of the most accessible languages for you: reading comes quickly and much of the vocabulary looks familiar. Most of the work goes into gender, verb endings, the past tenses and the subjunctive.
How long does it take to reach B1?
Plan on roughly 350–400 hours of study, about a year at an hour a day. Spanish or French will speed you up.
Which Italian certificate should I take?
CILS, CELI or PLIDA: all three are recognised in Italy. Citizenship by marriage or residence requires B1.
Do I need to learn a dialect?
No. Standard Italian is used and understood all over Italy. Dialects are a bonus once you are comfortable with it.
