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Italian · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "fuori" in Italian?
FWAW-ree, the first syllable rhyming with "raw," the second like "free" without the f. In IPA: /ˈfwɔ.ri/. The "u" and "o" fuse into one quick glide, not two separate vowels.
Two syllables, fuo and ri, but the "u" inside the first is a fast glide, not a full vowel — the whole first syllable snaps out in one motion, closer to English "fwaw" than to "foo-oh."
Listen: fuori
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Sound it out
The three vowels in a row (u-o-i) look intimidating, but only two of them are pronounced as separate sounds. "Uo" fuses into a single diphthong, a quick glide from "w" into an open "o," so the word really only has two syllables, not three.
Hear it in a sentence
Ti aspetto fuori.
I'll wait for you outside.
Listen: Ti aspetto fuori.
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In "Ti aspetto fuori," "fuori" stands alone as an adverb meaning simply "outside," with no location specified — it works because context (a building, a shop, a party) makes clear which "outside" is meant. The moment a specific place needs naming, Italian typically adds "di" or "da" ("fuori dalla porta," "outside the door"), so a bare "fuori" like this one signals a shared, understood location rather than a new one being introduced.
"Ti aspetto" uses the direct object pronoun "ti" ("you") before the verb, the normal position for unstressed pronouns in Italian. The simple present "aspetto" also does the job English gives to a future tense, "I'll wait" — Italian regularly uses the present for near-future intentions like this one.
Where English speakers slip
The most common mistake is over-pronouncing all three vowel letters, turning the word into three syllables, "foo-OH-ree," instead of two. In Italian, "uo" is a single glide-plus-vowel diphthong in words like this, so the "u" needs to collapse into the "w" sound rather than standing on its own.
English speakers also tend to round the stressed vowel into the closed "oh" of "phone" rather than the open "aw" of "raw." Italian keeps these two o-sounds distinct, and "fuori" specifically calls for the open one — using the closed vowel here doesn't create confusion with another word, but it does mark the pronunciation as noticeably foreign.