How many letters are in the Italian alphabet?

The native Italian alphabet has 21 letters. Five more, j, k, w, x, and y, are considered foreign and appear only in loanwords and names, bringing the full Latin set used in print to 26 letters.

Which letters are foreign in Italian?

J (i lunga), K (cappa), W (vu doppia), X (ics), and Y (ipsilon or i greca) are foreign to Italian. They occur in borrowed words like jeans, kiwi, weekend, taxi, and yogurt rather than native vocabulary.

What is the difference between è and é?

Italian uses the grave accent è for open vowels and the acute accent é for closed vowels, mainly on e. So caffè takes a grave accent while perché takes an acute accent, reflecting the vowel quality.

Why do Italian words carry accents only on final vowels?

Written accents in Italian mark stress that falls on a final vowel, as in città and università, or distinguish homographs like e and è. Stress elsewhere is not normally marked, so accents appear mainly at word ends.

Italian Alphabet Reference

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The Italian alphabet is built from 21 native letters, with j, k, w, x, and y reserved for foreign loanwords. Italian also uses accented vowels to mark final stress and to distinguish certain words.

How it works

The native 21 letters are:

a b c d e f g h i l m n o p q r s t u v z

The five foreign letters j, k, w, x, y are added for loanwords. Accented vowels carry a grave accent (à, ì, ò, ù) or, on e, either grave (è) or acute (é):

grave – à è ì ò ù  (open / default final stress)
acute – é          (closed e, e.g. perché)

Example and notes

caffè uses a grave accent because the final e is open, while perché uses an acute accent because its e is closed. Foreign letters appear in words like kiwi, jeans, weekend, taxi, and yogurt. When alphabetising, accented vowels fold to their base letters, so città sorts as citta.