How to Pronounce 'L'isola (f.)': Italian Pronunciation Guide

Q: How do you pronounce l'isola (f.) in Italian?

l'isola (f.) is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈli.zo.la/. It means “island.” LEE-zoh-lah , stressed on the very first syllable. In IPA: /ˈli.zo.la/ . Every letter here is pronounced — including the s, which comes out as a clear, voiced "z."

How do you pronounce "l'isola (f.)" in Italian?

LEE-zoh-lah, stressed on the very first syllable. In IPA: /ˈli.zo.la/. Every letter here is pronounced — including the s, which comes out as a clear, voiced "z."

l'isola (f.) /ˈli.zo.la/

"Isola" is written and pronounced as three syllables, i-so-la, with the article "l'" folding directly onto that first stressed "i" — the whole thing reads as one word, LEE-zoh-la.

Listen: l'isola (f.)

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Sound it out

English "island" has a famously silent s, a historical quirk of the spelling — Italian "isola" has no such trick: every letter earns its sound, and the s in particular comes out as a clear, buzzing "z," not a silent letter or a hissing English s.

l'i The stressed syllable right at the start: a clear "ee," with the article's l tucked directly onto the front of it.

s A clear, voiced "z" sound, as in English "zoo" — not silent the way the s is in the English cognate "island," and not a hissing English s either.

o Closed and short, a plain "oh."

-la A light, unstressed close to the word.

Hear it in a sentence

Quest'isola è piccola ma bellissima.

This island is small but beautiful.

Listen: Quest'isola è piccola ma bellissima.

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"Quest'isola è piccola ma bellissima" shows the demonstrative "questa" eliding to "quest'" before the vowel-initial "isola," the same pattern that shrinks "lo" to "l'" elsewhere in this list. "Bellissima" is the absolute superlative of "bella" (beautiful), built with the "-issimo/a" suffix to mean "extremely beautiful" or "gorgeous" — a single-word intensifier that does the work English needs a separate adverb for ("very," "extremely").

The sentence's structure, "piccola ma bellissima" (small but gorgeous), is a common Italian pattern for contrasting a modest or plain quality with a striking one, using "ma" (but) to set up the pivot exactly as English would.

Where English speakers slip

The English cognate "island" carries a famously silent s, a spelling holdover from Latin that never affected pronunciation. That silent-s instinct sometimes bleeds into Italian, leading learners to drop or soften the s in "isola" — but Italian pronounces every letter here, and the s specifically comes out as a clear, voiced "z" sound, not silence.

The second trap is stress: with three syllables and no accent mark, some learners guess at a middle or final stress. "Isola" is stressed on the very first syllable, LEE-zo-la, and that stress needs to land immediately, right at the start of the word.