Italian Accents and Apostrophes: È vs E, Dà vs Da, Sì vs Si

Italian accents are few but important. They show stress, and sometimes separate two words that would otherwise look identical.

The accents

Italian uses the grave accent on most vowels (à, è, ì, ò, ù) and the acute accent on é in certain words such as perché and né. In practice, what matters is knowing where an accent is required.

Stress on the last vowel

When a word is stressed on its final vowel, that vowel takes an accent:

• città — city
• università — university
• caffè — coffee
• perché — why, because
• lunedì — Monday
• però — but

Pairs where the accent changes the meaning

With accent	Meaning	Without	Meaning
è	is	e	and
dà	gives	da	from, by
sì	yes	si	oneself (reflexive)
là	there	la	the (f.)
né	nor	ne	of it, of them
tè	tea	te	you

Examples:

• Lui è alto e simpatico. — He is tall and nice.
• Mario dà un libro a Sara. — Mario gives a book to Sara.
• Vengo da Roma. — I come from Rome.
• Sì, mi piace. — Yes, I like it.

The apostrophe

An apostrophe marks the dropping of a vowel:

• l'amico (lo amico), the friend
• un'amica, a female friend
• c'è, there is
• dov'è, where is
• un po', a little (short for poco)

Note that un'amica takes the apostrophe because una loses its vowel, but the masculine un amico does not.

Capital letters

Accents stay on capitals: È vero, Città.

Typing accents

On most phone keyboards, long-press the vowel to see the accent options. On an Italian keyboard layout, they have their own keys. If you can't type them, try searching a word without the accent and compare the results.

Common mistakes

1. Writing "e" for "è" — a very common error in English speakers' Italian.
2. Writing "perche" without the accent.
3. Using an apostrophe for masculine "un".

Tips

1. Learn the six pairs in the table.
2. Read aloud to hear the stress.
3. Use the dictionary to check accents.

Look up any word with English Italian Dictionary →