Everyday Italian
Like Duolingo, but for Everyday Italian. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
For the part of you with thirty open tabs that never became anything.
A short one: 12 levels across 2 sections, about 24 minutes end to end, roughly 5 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Finding Your Voice and Navigating the Street and Table. It starts from scratch.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in Everyday Italian
- Italian vowels stay crisp, steady, and pure from start to finish
- English vowels typically glide into an 'oo' or 'ee' offglide (diphthongize), which sounds unnatural in Italian
- Italian 'c' and 'g' are soft ('ch' / 'j') before 'e' and 'i'
- Italian 'c' and 'g' are hard ('k' / hard 'g') before 'a', 'o', and 'u'
- Inserting an 'h' keeps 'c' and 'g' hard before 'e' and 'i' (like 'bruschetta' or 'spaghetti')
- Italian double consonants require pausing or lingering on the sound before releasing it
- Shortening a double consonant turns 'sette' (seven) into 'sete' (thirst), changing the meaning entirely
- 'Ciao' is informal and reserved for friends, family, and peers
- 'Buongiorno' is the proper, polite daytime greeting for strangers, store owners, and service staff
- 'Buonasera' takes over in the late afternoon and evening
- 'Per favore' frames requests and orders respectfully
- 'Grazie' expresses thanks
- 'Prego' is the standard polite reply to 'grazie'
- 'Un caffè' in Italy means an espresso by default
- 'Latte' literally means milk, so ordering 'un latte' gets warm milk without coffee
- Ordering an espresso with steamed milk foam requires asking for 'un cappuccino'
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives Everyday Italian the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
What habit from English makes Italian vowels sound unnatural?
Get it right to open this lesson and 11 more in the app.
Where Everyday Italian takes you
Step into daily Italian life with the confidence to order coffee, decode trattoria menus, and speak clearly. Learn the essential vowel sounds, natural conversation patterns, and cultural rules locals use every day.
- 1
Finding Your Voice
- Sounding Italian and First Words
- Ordering at the Italian Bar
- 2
Navigating the Street and Table
- Cracking the Trattoria Menu
- Asking Directions and Getting Help
2 sections · 4 units · 12 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
You pick the voice
Everyday Italian is taught in the The Professor style: clear, structured, thorough. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
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Start Everyday Italian today.
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