Stress / Accento Tonico
Usually, Italian words are stressed on the next–to–the–last syllable.
amico friend
foglia leaf
Milano Milan
nipote nephew
padre father
parlare to speak
signorina Miss
studiare to study
telefonare to telephone
uomo man
When the final –e is dropped from a word, as happens with some masculine titles when they are directly followed by a proper name, the position of the stress remains unchanged.
dottore doctor
dottor Nardi Doctor Nardi
professore professor
professor Pace professor Pace
When words are stressed on the last vowel, they always have a written accent over that vowel.
cioè namely
città city
perchè because
però however
tassì taxi
università university
venerdì Friday
virtù virtue
It is useful to remember that open e and o occur only in stressed syllables.
automobile automobile
medico physician
nobile noble
telefono telephone
Note: The written accent is used with a few monosyllables in order to distinguish them from others that have the same spelling but a different meaning.
dà gives
da from
è is
e and
là there
la the; it; her
né nor
ne some
sé himself, herself
se if
sì yes
si oneself