ITALIANO HELP: pronunciation problem READ DETAILS?

Question

ok, french is easy because the pronunciation is straight foward, w/ italian it is too, except i find myself having more problems trying to pronounce something in italian the first time w/o hearing it. like in "macchina" how would u know w/o hearing it that the stress goes on the first syllable "MAAH-key-na" is there like a trick or advice on how to find out where the stress goes if it doesnt normally go on the second to last syllable??? IN "HO CAPITO" WHERE DO YOU PUT THE STRESS so is it "ho KA-pee-toe" or is it "ho ka-PEE-toe" please help thx

Answer 1

There's unfortunately no rule for this. In the case you ask about, it's "o ka-PEE-toh". (BTW, don't pronounce the H in "ho").

Answer 2

hehe. well there is a rule somewhere...a native speaker never learn it, so I had to dig it out in google.
No good news though.. In the majority of cases, accent is determined not by the structure of the word, but rather from the latin accent that is inherited.

Ex: In "àugurano" and "desìderano" you find echos of the latin verb forms augŭrant and desidĕrant; in "augùrio" and "desidèrio", the latin nouns augŭrĭum and desidĕrĭum.
Just to make it more user-friendly... we also added exceptions...

So, least you also want to learn latin, just try to hear the word... sorry it isn't constructive, but it is true.