You see so many Italian words with the letters “GU” and maybe you’re wondering how to say this sound.
In this lesson you’ll find it out.
You’ll see that the Italian pronunciation of “GU” is different from the English one.
Keep on reading to learn how to say these 20+ Italian words as a native speaker!
HOW TO SAY THE SOUND “GU” IN ITALIAN
The way you pronounce the letter G in Italian is very similar to the letter C.
Basically the sound will depend on the letters that follow.
Previously I focused on the sounds GLI and GN but today I want to show you the sound GU and how to say it the right way.
It’s very simple and the same rule will always apply.
Here you go:
In Italian, G always gets a hard sound when followed by U. However, don’t forget to say the “U” as well!
In other words, “G” and “U” are pronounced as separate letters.
Listen to the audio below and you’ll get what I mean by that.
- GU
EXAMPLES OF WORDS WITH THE SOUND “GU” IN ITALIAN
You can find Italian words where the sound “GU” is followed by a consonant, but in most cases there will be a vowel afterwards.
Let’s have a look at some examples.
5 WORDS WITH “GUA“
- GUANTI (gloves)
- GUARDARE (to watch)
- SGUARDO (gaze, look)
- GUARDIA (guard)
- LINGUA (tongue or language)
GUANTO / GUARDARE / SGUARDO / GUARDIA / LINGUA
ITALIAN WORDS WITH “GUE“
- GUERRA (war)
- SANGUE (blood)
- LINGUE (tongues or languages)
- CONSEGUENZA (consequence)
- DISTINGUERE (to distinguish)
GUERRA / SANGUE / LINGUE / CONSEGUENZA / DISTINGUERE
NAMES IN ITALIAN WITH “GUI“
- GUIDA (guide)
- SEGUIRE (to follow)
- PINGUINO (penguin)
- INSEGUIRE (to chase)
- LINGUINE (type of pasta)
GUIDA / SEGUIRE / PINGUINO / INSEGUIRE / LINGUINE
SOME EXAMPLES WITH “GUO“
- ESIGUO (scarce)
- AMBIGUO (ambigous)
- CONTIGUO (contigous, consecutive)
- LANGUORE (yearning)
- PROSEGUO (I continue)
**Note that words with the sound “GUO” are less common than the ones with “GUA”, “GUE” and “GUI”.
ESIGUO / AMBIGUO / CONTIGUO / LANGUORE / PROSEGUO
POPULAR WORDS WITH “GU“ + CONSONANT
You can also find the letters “GU” followed by a consonant, like in the examples below:
- GUFO (owl)
- LEGUME (bean)
- GUSTO (taste)
- FIGURA (illustration)
- LIGURIA (Italian region)
GUFO / LEGUME / GUSTO / FIGURA / LIGURIA
CONCLUSION
We are at the end of this lesson, it wasn’t very long or complicated, right?
This is what we’ve covered:
- The letters GU always have a hard sound when combined together
- Generally, GU is followed by a vowel, such as A, E, I, O
- Words with GUA, GUE and GUI are more common than the ones with GUO
- You can also find terms that have a consonant after “GU”, for example gufo or figura.
That was all for today’s lesson, but you can also read:
HOW TO PRONOUNCE THE SOUND “GLI” IN ITALIAN