LingoDrop
Italian · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "quando" in Italian?
KWAHN-doh, with the qu pronounced exactly like English "qu" in "quick," and a fully sounded final o. In IPA: /ˈkwan.do/. Stress stays on the first syllable throughout.
Two syllables, quan and do, stressed on the first. The qu is a single consonant-plus-glide unit, never split across a syllable break.
Listen: quando
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Sound it out
The qu here transfers easily from English, since Italian "qu" is reliably the same /kw/ sound as in "quick" or "quiz." The part that trips people up is the ending, where English habits push the final o toward a mumbled, reduced vowel instead of a full, clear one.
Hear it in a sentence
Quando torni?
When are you coming back?
Listen: Quando torni?
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"Quando torni?" uses the present tense of tornare (to return) to ask about a near-future event, exactly the way casual Italian often lets the present indicative stand in for "will." Literally "When do you return?," it functions naturally as "When will you be back?" without needing a separate future-tense form.
"Torni" is the informal tu conjugation, so this question fits a casual context, checking in with someone you know rather than a formal inquiry.
Where English speakers slip
The most common mistake is letting the final o collapse into a schwa, saying "KWAHN-duh" instead of a clear, closed "doh." Italian vowels keep their full quality whether stressed or not, unlike English, which routinely flattens unstressed vowels.
Some learners also try to insert an extra syllable into the qu, pronouncing something like "koo-WAHN-doh" instead of blending it into one onset. The qu should land as a single smooth /kw/, exactly as it does at the start of "quick."