Which one should you use?
To refer to the language itself, always use the masculine singular form italiano. When describing people, the form changes based on gender and number.
Related words
How does it change in a sentence?
The name of the language is always used in the masculine singular form italiano. For people, use italiano for a male person and italiana for a female person. For plural groups, use italiani to refer to a group of Italian people or a mixed-gender group and italiane to refer to a group of only female Italian people. To refer to Italians collectively, you can use gli italiani. The term for Standard Italian is italiano standard.
How do you pronounce it?
The pronunciation of italiano is /i.taˈlja.no/. It has 4 syllables, with the stress on the 3rd syllable.
What mistakes should you avoid?
Do not capitalize italiano in the middle of a sentence. While English speakers often capitalize nationalities, in Italian, adjectives of nationality are not capitalized unless they start a sentence.
Did you know?
- Standard italiano was not the spoken language of most people until after World War II, as many Italians grew up speaking only their local regional tongue.
- The early form of italiano used in literature was based on the 14th-century Florentine dialect, meaning the 'standard' language is essentially a prestige version of a city's speech.
- While italiano is the national language, Italy has dozens of recognized regional languages, such as veneto and napoletano, which are distinct languages rather than just dialects.
Examples in context
- Lui non è italiano?Isn't he Italian?This example is useful for asking about someone's nationality using italiano.Tatoeba #2341818 by Guybrush88, translation #715734 by CN
- È un nome italiano.It's an Italian name.This example shows how to use italiano as an adjective to describe a name.Tatoeba #5971380 by dnnywld, translation #5927089 by mailohilohi
- Amo il cibo italiano.I love Italian food.This example demonstrates the use of italiano as an adjective to describe food.Tatoeba #1261712 by Guybrush88, translation #953525 by CK
- Ho appena iniziato a studiare la lingua italiana.I have just started studying the Italian language.
- Marco è un italiano molto gentile.Marco is a very kind Italian man.
- Gli italiani sono famosi per la loro passione e calore.Italians are famous for their passion and warmth.
- Sto studiando italiano per il mio viaggio in Italia.I'm studying Italian for my trip to Italy.
- Mario è un ragazzo italiano molto simpatico.Mario is a very friendly Italian guy.
- Gli italiani sono famosi per la loro cucina deliziosa!Italians are famous for their delicious cuisine!
- 275 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Martina and Alessandro are discussing their language studies.
- MartinaStai studiando l'italiano?Are you studying Italian?
- AlessandroSì, mi piace molto l'italiano.Yes, I like Italian very much.
- MartinaÈ una lingua difficile?Is it a difficult language?
- AlessandroUn po', ma l'italiano è bellissimo.A bit, but Italian is beautiful.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “italian” translations and entries italiano, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
