LingoDrop
Italian · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "primo" in Italian?
PREE-moh, stress on the first syllable, short and direct. In IPA: /ˈpri.mo/.
Two syllables, pri and mo, weight on the first. Like "pronto," the initial pr cluster needs to stay tight, with the r a light tap rather than a full English r.
Listen: primo
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Sound it out
This word is nearly transparent to sound out, so the real work is in the consonant cluster at the start and making sure the vowels stay pure rather than drifting toward their English look-alikes.
Hear it in a sentence
È il mio primo giorno.
It's my first day.
Listen: È il mio primo giorno.
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"Primo" here sits between the possessive "il mio" and the noun "giorno," in the standard Italian order of article-possessive-adjective-noun — notice that, unlike English, the article "il" still appears even with the possessive "mio" in front of it. As an ordinal number used adjectivally, "primo" agrees in gender and number with what it counts, becoming "prima" for a feminine noun like "la mia prima volta" (my first time).
"Primo" also has a specific culinary use worth knowing: on an Italian menu, "il primo" refers to the first course, typically pasta, rice, or soup, served before the meat or fish course ("il secondo").
Where English speakers slip
The most common mistake is the same one that shows up in "pronto": sliding an extra vowel between p and r, or over-aspirating the p, both habits carried over from how English handles word-initial p before a consonant.
The second is lengthening the i into the English "ee" of "free" or "bee," which glides slightly at the end. Italian i is a pure, short vowel with no glide — it starts and stops in the same place, giving "primo" a clipped, tight first syllable rather than a drawn-out one.