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Italian · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "bravo" in Italian?
BRAH-voh, stress on the first syllable, essentially the same word English borrowed for shouting after a performance, but every vowel pulled fully open. In IPA: /ˈbra.vo/.
Two syllables, bra and vo, weight on the first. English already has this word as a loan (shouted "bravo!" at a concert), which makes the pronunciation almost intuitive, though English tends to shorten the final o.
Listen: bravo
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Sound it out
This is a rare case where the English loanword pronunciation is already close to correct — the main fix is keeping both vowels full-length and not swallowing the ending the way English interjections often do.
Hear it in a sentence
Sei molto bravo a cucinare.
You're very good at cooking.
Listen: Sei molto bravo a cucinare.
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"Bravo" here means "good at" a skill, paired with "a" plus an infinitive ("bravo a cucinare," good at cooking) — worth noting, since English uses "at" plus a gerund ("good at cooking") while Italian uses "a" plus the infinitive. This is different from "buono," which describes something as good in a general quality sense rather than describing a person's skill or talent.
As a regular four-form adjective, "bravo" agrees with the person being described: "brava" for a woman, "bravi/brave" for plural, and "molto" here intensifies it to "very good," sitting before the adjective the way most Italian intensifiers do.
Where English speakers slip
Because English already uses "bravo" as an interjection shouted after a performance, English speakers often clip the final o short and stress it almost like an exclamation point rather than a normal adjective — "BRAH-vo!" with a falling, abrupt ending. In Italian, "bravo" is pronounced with a full, unclipped final vowel just like any other word ending in -o.
The other slip is not fully opening the a, letting it drift toward the shorter vowel of English "bra" said quickly in casual speech, rather than the fully open "ah" of "father" that Italian a always uses.