How to Pronounce 'Per favore': Italian Pronunciation Guide

Q: How do you pronounce per favore in Italian?

per favore is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /per fa.ˈvo.re/. It means “please.” pehr fah-VOH-reh , stress landing hard on the third syllable of "favore." In IPA: /per fa.ˈvo.re/ .

How do you pronounce "per favore" in Italian?

pehr fah-VOH-reh, stress landing hard on the third syllable of "favore." In IPA: /per fa.ˈvo.re/.

per favore /per fa.ˈvo.re/

Two words that together make four syllables: per, then fa-vo-re. "Per" carries its own light stress, but the main emphasis of the phrase lands on "vo," the third syllable overall.

Listen: per favore

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Sound it out

Nothing hidden in the spelling here, every letter is pronounced roughly where you'd expect. The main job is locating the stress correctly, since English "favor" stresses the first syllable while Italian "favore" stresses the third.

per A short, closed "pehr," with a tapped r and a vowel that doesn't drift toward the American "er" sound in "per" or "purr."

fa A plain, open "fah," identical to the a in "father," and unstressed here.

vo The stressed syllable, a rounded, closed "voh," said with real emphasis compared to the syllables around it.

re A light, closed "reh" that trails off quickly, with a tapped r, not the vowel-colored r of English "ray."

Hear it in a sentence

Un caffè, per favore.

A coffee, please.

Listen: Un caffè, per favore.

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"Per favore" literally means "for a favor," but functions exactly like English "please." As the example shows, it doesn't require a full sentence: "Un caffè, per favore" simply names what's wanted and tacks the polite phrase onto the end, the same elliptical pattern used constantly at counters, bars, and shops across Italy.

It's neutral enough to use with strangers, waitstaff, or friends alike, unlike some Italian politeness markers that shift sharply between formal and informal registers — "per favore" works in both.

Where English speakers slip

The most common mistake is stressing "favore" on the first syllable, "FAH-vo-re," carried over directly from English "favor." Italian "favore" keeps the stress on the third syllable, "fa-VO-re," and moving it back makes the word noticeably harder for a native speaker to parse quickly.

The other slip is turning "per" into the American English "per" heard in phrases like "per hour," which uses a schwa-colored vowel close to "purr." Italian "per" keeps a clean, undiluted "eh" vowel with no r-coloring, closer to the "e" in "bed" than to any English vowel-plus-r combination.