LingoDrop
Italian · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "lei" in Italian?
LAY, close to the English word for a Hawaiian flower necklace. In IPA: /ˈlɛi/. It's one syllable, not two — the e and i blend into a single quick glide.
Spelled with three letters but pronounced as a single syllable: the e and i form one diphthong, sliding from an open "eh" into a light "ee" without a break.
Listen: lei
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Sound it out
There's no tricky consonant here — the whole word rides on one vowel glide. English readers tend to either flatten "ei" into a single flat vowel or stretch it into two separate beats, when Italian wants something in between: one syllable that moves.
Hear it in a sentence
Lei è mia sorella.
She is my sister.
Listen: Lei è mia sorella.
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In "Lei è mia sorella," lei is the subject pronoun for "she." Italian verbs already show who's acting through their endings, so subject pronouns are often left out; including lei here adds emphasis, useful for pointing someone out or drawing a contrast.
Capitalized as "Lei," this exact word and this exact sound also serve as the formal word for "you," used with strangers, elders, or anyone addressed with respect. Nothing about the pronunciation changes between the two meanings — only the capital letter and the context tell a reader which one is meant.
Where English speakers slip
The most common slip is splitting "ei" into two clearly separate vowels, "LEH-ee," because English spelling trains readers to expect each vowel letter to carry its own beat. Italian compresses the two into a single glide, so the target sound is closer to the one-syllable English word "lay" than to a drawn-out two-syllable word.
The second slip is using an English-style dark "l," made further back in the mouth, the way English speakers pronounce the "l" in "feel" or "well." Italian "l" stays light and front no matter where it falls in the word, including here at the very start.