Italian · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "venire" in Italian?

Q: How do you pronounce venire in Italian?

venire is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /veˈni.re/. It means “to come.” veh-NEE-reh , stress on the middle syllable. In IPA: /veˈni.re/ .

veh-NEE-reh, stress on the middle syllable. In IPA: /veˈni.re/.

venire /veˈni.re/

Three even syllables, ve-ni-re, each pronounced in full. The stress lands on the middle ni, not the front of the word the way related English words might suggest.

Listen: venire

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Sound it out

English words from the same root — "venue," "convene," "advent" — all put the stress up front, which makes the middle-syllable stress in Italian venire an easy one to get backwards.

ve A "v" plus a closed, tense "eh," kept pure with no glide.

ni The stressed syllable: a tight, forward "nee," as in "see" — fuller and tenser than the short, lax "ih" of English "pin."

re A tapped "r" plus a fully voiced closed "eh" to close the word.

Hear it in a sentence

Vieni con noi?

Are you coming with us?

Listen: Vieni con noi?

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"Vieni con noi?" uses vieni, the informal tu-form of venire, to invite someone along — a casual, friendly invitation rather than a formal one. Note the stem change from venire to vieni, typical of this irregular verb's present tense, where the middle vowel shifts under stress.

Con noi ("with us") closes the question the same way it would in English, making this exactly the kind of thing you'd text a friend before heading out.

Where English speakers slip

English cognates like "venue" and "convene" front-load their stress, which tempts learners into saying "VEH-nee-reh" instead of the correct ve-NI-re, stressed on the middle syllable.

The other slip is under-committing to the stressed i, saying a short, lax vowel like the "ih" in "pin" instead of a full, tense "ee." Italian stressed i is always long and clear, never clipped.