In addition to being used to indicate a hard or before front vowels, is also used to distinguish , , , (present indicative of , 'to have') from ('or'), ('to the', m. pl.), ('to'), ('year'); since is always silent, there is no difference in the pronunciation of such words.
The letters J (I lunga 'long I'), K (cappa), W (V doppia or doppia V 'double V'), X (ics) and Y (ipsilon or I greca 'Greek I') are used for loanwords only, with few exceptions.