Apostrophe, Elision, and Truncation in Italian
Italian is celebrated for its smooth and flowing sound. On the one hand, this is due do the fact that most Italian words end with a vowel.
On the other hand, it is thanks to some essential linguistic tools, like apostrofo (apostrophe), elisione (elision), and troncamento (truncation).
In Italian, the apostrophe is a graphic symbol used to indicate both elision and truncation, two mechanisms that streamline sentences, making them easier to pronounce and helping maintain the natural rhythm of the language.
Basically, the apostrophe marks where parts of words have been omitted for smoother pronunciation, due to either elision or truncation.
Although apostrofo, elisione, and troncamento follow different rules, they work together to ensure that Italian remains as fluid and melodic as possible.
Here, I will show you how the apostrophe is used in Italian when truncation and elision are needed.
Apostrophe in Italian
Elision
Elision occurs when two words are placed next to each other and the first word ends with a vowel while the next one begins with a vowel or a mute “h”. Its use makes sure that awkward pauses are avoided when speaking.
The apostrophe is inserted in place of the missing vowel to show that the two words have been merged. This process is most commonly seen with definite articles and indefinite articles, prepositions, and pronouns, for example:
- la amica becomes l’amica (the friend, female)
- lo uomo becomes l’uomo (the man)
- di estate becomes d’estate (in the summer)
There are some cases where elision is not possible: with plural articles, and with the masculine singular indefinite article un. Let me show you some examples:
- le amiche (the female friends)
- gli alberi (the trees)
- un uomo (a man)
- un albero (a tree)
Truncation
Truncation involves the permanent shortening of a word, usually by dropping the final vowel or syllable. Unlike elision, most of the truncated forms are fixed. When this is the case, no apostrophe is needed.
Truncation is commonly used with adjectives that precede masculine nouns and, depending on whether or not the next word starts with a vowel, it can makes use of the apostrophe to mark this change, as you can see from the examples below:
- Grande → Gran
Grande (big/great) is truncated to gran before singular nouns, whether the noun starts with a vowel or a consonant. No apostrophe is needed because the truncation is fixed.
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- Un gran giorno (a great day)
- Una gran occasione (a great opportunity)
- Santo → San / Sant’
The word santo (saint) is truncated in two ways: it becomes san before a name that starts with a consonant, and it becomes sant’ before a name that begins with a vowel, with an apostrophe marking the omitted “o”.
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- San Marco (Saint Mark)
- Sant’Antonio (Saint Anthony)
- Buono → Buon
Buono (good) is truncated to buon before all masculine nouns, whether they start with a consonant or a vowel. No apostrophe is needed.
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- Un buon amico (a good friend)
- Un buon uomo (a good man)
When the noun is feminine, neither truncation nor elision are necessary:
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- Una buona amica (a good friend)
- Bello → Bel / Bell’
The adjective bello (beautiful/handsome) is truncated as bel before singular masculine nouns that take the article il, without an apostrophe, and as bell’ before masculine or feminine nouns that begin with a vowel, with an apostrophe:
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- Un bel libro (a beautiful book)
- Un bell’amico (a handsome friend, male)
- Una bell’amica (a beautiful friend, female)
- Uno → Un
The indefinite article uno is truncated to un before masculine nouns, whether the noun starts with a vowel or consonant. No apostrophe is used.
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- Un albero (a tree)
- Un uomo (a man)
The adverb poco (a little) is truncated to po’, with an apostrophe indicating the omission of the final letters “co”.
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- Un po’ di tempo (a little time)
- Aspetta un po’ (wait a little)
