la pronuncia dei numeri

Italian numbers pronunciation

Italian is spelled close to how it sounds, so a number’s pronunciation comes down to three things the spelling does not show: which syllable is stressed, whether an e or o is open or closed, and how long a double consonant lasts.

Updated 8 October 2026

1. The stressed syllable

Most Italian numbers are stressed on the second-last syllable. The exceptions to twenty are undici to sedici, stressed one syllable earlier, and the one-syllable tre and sei. The table gives the stressed syllable in capitals and, where Treccani’s Vocabolario prints an accent on the headword, that form.

Figure	Italian	Stress	Treccani headword
11	undici	UN-di-ci	ùndici
12	dodici	DO-di-ci	dódici
13	tredici	TRE-di-ci	trédici
14	quattordici	quat-TOR-di-ci	quattórdici
15	quindici	QUIN-di-ci	quìndici
16	sedici	SE-di-ci	sédici
17	diciassette	di-cias-SET-te	diciassètte
18	diciotto	di-CIOT-to	diciòtto
19	diciannove	di-cian-NO-ve	diciannòve
20	venti	VEN-ti	vénti
30	trenta	TREN-ta	trénta
40	quaranta	qua-RAN-ta
100	cento	CEN-to	cènto
1,000	mille	MIL-le
1,000,000	un milione	un mi-LIO-ne	milióne

In a compound the stress falls where it falls in the last part: trentasei on sei, ventidue on the u of due, ventitré on tré, which is why that one is written with an accent. The 1 to 10 are on the 1 to 10 page with a rough English guide to each.

2. Open and closed vowels

Treccani marks an open e or o with a grave accent and a closed one with an acute. Among the numbers: open in sèi, sètte, òtto, nòve, dièci, cènto and żèro; closed in tré, vénti, trénta, dódici, trédici and milióne. Only tré shows its accent in normal spelling, and only in compounds.

3. Double consonants

Hold themquattro, sette, otto, mille, sessanta, settanta, ottanta, diciassette, diciotto, diciannove: the double consonant is held noticeably longer than a single one. sessanta (60) and settanta (70) differ by a single consonant, both doubled, and are easy to confuse when listening.

The doubling after treTreccani labels tre “radd. sint.”, raddoppiamento sintattico: the next word’s first consonant is lengthened, so tre volte sounds like “tre vvolte”. It belongs to standard and central-southern speech and is much weaker in the north.

Elision in speech and writing

Before a word beginning with a vowel, a number ending in a vowel often drops it, with an apostrophe in writing. Treccani’s own examples: vent’anni, trent’anni (in la guerra dei trent’anni) and avere diciott’anni. The age page has more.

Listening practice

The Dictation exercise on the worksheet generator gives pupils answer lines and gives you a separate read-aloud list in the order to read. Read the list at normal speed, with the double consonants held; sessanta against settanta and sedici against diciassette show quickly who is listening.

Questions teachers ask

Where is the stress in undici, dodici and sedici?

On the first syllable: ÙN-di-ci, DÓ-di-ci, TRÉ-di-ci, QUÌN-di-ci, SÉ-di-ci, and quat-TÓR-di-ci on its second. These are the only numbers to twenty stressed on the third syllable from the end, which Treccani shows by marking the accent in each headword. English speakers tend to stress them in the middle, un-DI-ci, which sounds wrong to an Italian ear.

Why do Italians double the consonant after tre?

tre is one of the words that trigger raddoppiamento sintattico, the lengthening of the first consonant of the next word: tre case is said as if written tre ccase. Treccani’s entry for tre carries the label "radd. sint." for this. It is a feature of standard and central and southern pronunciation and is much weaker or absent in much of the north, so learners hear both.

Is the e in sette open or closed?

Open, as Treccani marks it: sètte, like the e in English "set". sèi, dièci and the -sètte of diciassètte are open too, while tré, vénti, trénta and the é of trédici and sédici are closed. Northern and southern speakers distribute open and closed vowels differently, and Italians understand each other either way, so a learner who gets the stress and the double consonants right is understood everywhere.