Summary of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

Consonants

Symbol	Examples
b	bira [ˈbiːra]
tʃ	ancioa [aŋˈtʃuːa]
k	cösa [ˈkɔːsa]
d	donde [ˈduŋde]
f	forçiña [furˈsiŋˑa]
ɡ	gambao [ˈɡaŋbɔw]
dʒ	giano [ˈdʒaːnu]
ɲ	ògni [ˈɔɲˑi]
l	leugo [ˈløːɡu]
m	mego [ˈmeːɡu]
n	neutte [ˈnøtˑe]
ŋ	settemaña [seteˈmaŋˑa] banco [ˈbaŋku] campo [ˈkaŋpu]
p	primmo [ˈprimˑu]
r	crava [ˈkraːva]
s	seia [ˈsejˑa] çexe [ˈseːʒe]
ʃ	scemmo [ˈʃemˑu]
t	artâ [arˈtaː]
v	pöveo [ˈpɔːvɔw]
ʒ	caxo [ˈkaːʒu]
z	reusa [ˈrøːza]

Vowels

Symbol	Examples
a	gianco [ˈdʒaŋku] cà [ˈka]
aː	giano [ˈdʒaːnu] guägno [ˈɡwaːɲu] sätâ [saːˈtaː]
e	sei [ˈsej] perché [pɛrˈke]
eː	poela [ˈpweːla] sëi [ˈseːi] giardinê [dʒardiˈneː]
ɛ	æña [ˈɛŋˑa] taggiæn [taˈdʒɛŋ] orchesta [ɔrˈkɛsta]
ɛː	ægua [ˈɛːɡwa] moæ [ˈmwɛː] persa [ˈpɛːrsa]
i	avanti [aˈvaŋti] idea [iˈdeːa]
iː	dio [ˈdiːu] poïscio [ˈpwiːʃu] vegnî [veˈɲiː]
ø	neutte [ˈnøtˑe]
øː	meu [ˈmøː]
ɔ	dònna [ˈdɔnˑa] ascidiou [aʃiˈdjɔw] succao [ˈsykˑɔw]
ɔː	öxello [ɔːˈʒelˑu] pòrto [ˈpɔːrtu]
u	òmmo [ˈɔmˑu]
uː	cô [ˈkuː] coa [ˈkuːa]
y	tutti [ˈtytˑi]
yː	cû [ˈkyː] curto [ˈkyːrtu]

Semivowels

Symbol	Examples
j	avei [aˈvej] äia [ˈaːja]
w	coæ [ˈkwɛː] voentæ [vweŋˈtɛː]
ɥ	arsuou [arˈsɥɔw]

Suprasegmental symbols

Symbol	Function	Examples
ˈ◌	primary stress	segretto [seˈɡretˑu]
ˌ◌	secondary stress	Portofin [ˌpɔrtuˈfiŋ]
◌ː	long (vowels)	Dënâ [deːˈnaː]
◌ˑ	half-long (consonants)	aggio [ˈadʒˑu]

Frequenty asked questions

How is [ʃtʃ] pronounced?

The sound [ʃtʃ], which can be found in Genoese words containing the sequence ⟨scc⟩, is pronounced like ⟨sh⟩ in the English word ‘she’ followed by ⟨ch⟩ of the English word ‘chat’. Two examples of words with this sequence are scceuppo [ˈʃtʃøpˑu] and mescciua [meʃˈtʃyːa].

What’s the difference between [i] and [j]?

What’s the difference between [u] and [w]?

What’s the difference between [y] and [ɥ]?

The sounds [i], [u] e [y] are vowels, while the sounds [j], [w] e [ɥ] are semivowels, with sounds halfway between a vowel and a consonant. You can hear the difference between hiatus (long vowel + short vowel) and diphthongs (semivowel + long vowel) in the following words:

• gia [ˈdʒiːa] ‘turns’ (indicative present, third person singular) and giâ [ˈdʒjaː] ‘to turn’;
• coa [ˈkuːa] ‘queue’ and coâ [ˈkwaː] ‘to drip’;
• nua [ˈnyːa] ‘naked’ (feminine singular) and nuâ [ˈnɥaː] ‘to swim’.