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Italian · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "il cane (m.)" in Italian?
KAH-neh, stress on the first syllable. In IPA: /ˈkane/. Both vowels stay short and open, and that final e is real, not silent.
Two syllables, ca and ne, with the first drawn out slightly since it carries the stress, then a short, clipped "neh" to close it.
Listen: il cane (m.)
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Sound it out
The spelling is a trap for English eyes: "cane" is also an English word, the walking stick, pronounced "kayn" with a silent e. None of that applies here. Italian pronounces every letter, the a stays a flat, open "ah," and the e at the end gets its own short, clear sound.
Hear it in a sentence
Il cane abbaia forte.
The dog barks loudly.
Listen: Il cane abbaia forte.
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"Il cane abbaia forte" uses the definite article the way Italian generally does for a specific, known dog, much like English "the dog barks loudly." Notice "forte" tacked on after the verb to mean "loudly": it's the plain adjective "strong/loud" doing adverbial work, with no need for an -mente ending, a shortcut Italian takes often with common adjectives like this one.
"Abbaia" is the third-person singular of "abbaiare," a regular -are verb, so the ending pattern here will show up again and again across everyday Italian verbs.
Where English speakers slip
Because "cane" is spelled exactly like the English word for a walking stick, it's easy to default to that English pronunciation, "kayn," with a diphthong and a silent e. Italian "cane" has neither: the a is a flat, open "ah" and the e at the end is fully voiced.
The second slip is clipping that final e altogether, a habit carried over from English words that trail off into nothing. In Italian the word needs that last short "eh" to sound complete, dropping it makes the word sound cut off mid-syllable.