How to Say “And” in Italian – E

Today we’re going to be talking about a very short yet extremely important word in Italian: e which means and.

/e/
italian word for and

Just as in English, e can join two nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs or sentences.

Ho guardato un film e poi sono andato a letto.

I watched a film and then I went to bed.


A cat and a dog on pink background
Il gatto e il cane. = The cat and the dog.

Similarly to how a almost always changes to an in English in front of a vowel (for example: an apple), e changes to ed in certain situations. This d is called a ‘euphonic d‘, generally occurring when the initial vowel of the following word is also e as in the examples below.

Mario ha chiuso la porta ed è uscito di casa.

Mario closed the door and left the house.


Lucia è colta ed elegante.

Lucia is educated and elegant.


In front of the vowels a / i / o / u, the euphonic d is normally omitted, though this ultimately comes down to the style and choice of the speaker. For example, either of the following sentences would be considered acceptable:

  • Io e il mio amico = Correct
  • Io ed il mio amico = Not incorrect but less common

According to Treccani, a specific situation where it is preferable to avoid using ed is when the following word also starts with the sound ed, such as for example, cortile ed edificio (courtyard and building). (But this doesn’t mean you won’t hear people using it!)

And if that wasn’t confusing enough, some speakers tend to drop the euphonic d even if the following word starts with an e. We can put this down to contemporary spoken Italian being far less strict than Florentine-based literary Italian.

Io e Enrico siamo amici da sempre.

Enrico and I have always been friends.


Tourist with dog in forest. Man and his labrador retriever resting on fallen tree.
Io e te = You and me

The moral of the story is that the more you speak and hear Italian, the more attuned your ear will become to when e sounds better than ed and vice versa.

Finally, as in English, you can start a phrase with e for emphasis. For example:

Paolo mi ha deluso. E io che pensavo fosse una persona affidabile!

Paolo disappointed me. And I thought he was a reliable person.



Ethics statement: Below you will find affiliate links. If you buy something after clicking the link, we will receive a small commission. To know more about our ethics, you can visit our full disclosure page. Thank you!

Lingopie (affiliate link) is the Netflix of language learning application that uses real TV shows and movies to help you learn a new language. You can choose a show to watch based on your fluency level, and use the interactive subtitles to get instant translations to help you learn quickly.

Are you interested in improving your Italian in a fun and stress-free manner? Then we highly recommend Serena Capilli's short stories in Italian (affiliate link), designed for beginners, advanced beginners, and lower intermediate learners (A1-B1 CEFR). These stories have been optimised for English speakers in search of a fun, laid-back learning experience! Read our full review here.