EfKey tests
Hey! I’ve finished testing the Italian autocorrect after your latest fix. Since you’re not Italian, I’ve also explained the grammar behind the issues so you can understand why certain words need correcting and why others must stay unchanged.
I ran 100 test attempts across several sessions, covering accents, apostrophes, contextual corrections, typos and false positives.
Results:
    • Before the fix: 9/25 passed
    • After the fix: 52/75 passed
These were different sets of tests, so the percentages aren’t directly comparable. However, several sentences that failed before the update now work correctly.
1. E / È — Still the biggest issue
This is probably the most important distinction for Italian autocorrect.
Both e and è are valid Italian words, but they have completely different grammatical functions:
    • e = and (conjunction, connects words or clauses)
    • è = is (third-person singular of the verb essere, meaning “to be”)
Unlike English, where “and” and “is” are completely different words, in Italian they’re distinguished by just one accent.
This means EFKey can’t simply replace every e with è. It needs to understand what the word is doing in the sentence.
Corrections that now work:
    • Lui e felice → Lui è felice
“He is happy.” Here è is the verb “is”.
    • Oggi e una bella giornata → Oggi è una bella giornata
“Today is a beautiful day.” Again, the sentence needs the verb è.
    • La macchina e rotta → La macchina è rotta
“The car is broken.” The adjective rotta describes the subject, so è is needed.
    • Luca e andato via → Luca è andato via
“Luca has left.” Italian uses essere as the auxiliary verb with andare in this construction.
    • Non e possibile → Non è possibile
“It’s not possible.”
    • Qual e il problema? → Qual è il problema?
“What’s the problem?”
These are now working correctly, which is a noticeable improvement.
Still failing — È at the beginning of sentences:
    • E una bella idea → È una bella idea
“It’s a good idea.”
    • E vero che funziona? → È vero che funziona?
“Is it true that it works?”
    • E tutto pronto → È tutto pronto
“Everything is ready.”
    • E davvero incredibile → È davvero incredibile
“It’s really incredible.”
All four require È because it’s the verb “to be”, not the conjunction “and”.
However, these were correctly left unchanged:
    • E poi siamo usciti = “And then we went out.”
    • E domani si parte = “And tomorrow we’re leaving.”
    • E tu cosa ne pensi? = “And what do you think?”
Here, E introduces or connects a thought, so it means “And” and must remain unaccented.
False positives — adding an accent where it doesn’t belong:
These are particularly annoying because autocorrect introduces an error into an already correct sentence.
    • Questa e quella sono uguali
“This one and that one are the same.”
EFKey incorrectly changes e to è.

    • Questa e quella sono diverse
“This one and that one are different.”
EFKey produces Questa è quella sono diverse, which is grammatically incorrect.

    • Questo e quello sono uguali
“This one and that one are the same.”
Again, EFKey incorrectly adds the accent.

Why these must stay unchanged:
Questa e quella and Questo e quello contain two subjects connected by e (“and”).
The plural verb sono (“are”) refers to both subjects.
For example:
    • Questa e quella sono uguali = “This one and that one are equal.” (correct)
    • Questa è quella giusta = “This is the right one.” (also correct)
In the second example, è is correct because it means “is”. There is only one subject.
This distinction is important because the engine seems to sometimes treat any e after a noun or pronoun as the verb è, even when it’s clearly connecting two subjects.
Multiple occurrences in the same sentence:
    • Marco e stanco e Anna e felice
    • Expected: Marco è stanco e Anna è felice
    • Actual: Marco è stanco e Anna e felice
The sentence means “Marco is tired and Anna is happy.”
The three occurrences have different functions:
    1. è = is
    2. e = and
    3. è = is
EFKey correctly handles the first two but misses the third.
Another example:
    • Anna e Luca sono qui e Mario e in ritardo
    • Expected: Anna e Luca sono qui e Mario è in ritardo
Translation: “Anna and Luca are here and Mario is late.”
The first two instances of e mean “and”, while the last one means “is”.
Interestingly, Non e vero e non e giusto is correctly changed to Non è vero e non è giusto.
So multiple occurrences aren’t always a problem, but the results aren’t consistent.
2. SI / SÌ
Another common Italian distinction.
    • si = a grammatical pronoun, used in reflexive, impersonal and passive constructions
    • sì = “yes”, used for affirmation
Working:
    • Si, ci sono → Sì, ci sono
“Yes, I’m here.” The word expresses agreement or confirmation, so it needs the accent.
    • Si vede bene → unchanged
“It can be seen clearly.” Here si forms an impersonal/passive construction, so there must be no accent.
Not working:
    • Penso di si → Penso di sì
“I think so.”
The sì here represents an affirmative answer, even though it isn’t at the beginning of the sentence.
This could explain why the keyboard handles Sì, correctly but misses di sì.
3. DA / DÀ
These are both valid words:
    • da = “from”, “by”, or other prepositional meanings
    • dà = “gives”, third-person singular of the verb dare
Not working:
    • Marta mi da una mano → Marta mi dà una mano
“Marta gives me a hand / helps me.”
    • Mi da fastidio → Mi dà fastidio
“It bothers me.”
Both require dà because it’s a conjugated verb.
Working:
    • Vengo da Milano → unchanged
“I come from Milan.”
Here da introduces the place of origin, so it must not have an accent.
Something interesting: Si, Marta mi da una mano was corrected perfectly to Sì, Marta mi dà una mano, while Marta mi da una mano alone wasn’t corrected.
The grammatical function of da is exactly the same in both sentences. The additional context appears to affect the result.
4. LA / LÀ and LI / LÌ
These are separate distinctions, but both involve words whose meanings change with an accent.
LA / LÀ
    • la = feminine singular definite article (“the”) or object pronoun (“her/it”)
    • là = location adverb (“there”, “over there”)
Not corrected:
    • Metti la borsa la vicino → Metti la borsa là vicino
“Put the bag over there nearby.”
The first la belongs to la borsa (“the bag”), so it’s an article and must remain unaccented.
The second indicates a location, so it needs an accent.

    • Aspettami la fuori → Aspettami là fuori
“Wait for me out there.”
Here the word indicates a place rather than referring to an object.

Both là and lì can sometimes express location depending on the sentence and context, but the unaccented la is not correct in these examples.
Correctly preserved:
    • La casa è grande
“The house is big.”
La is the feminine article “the”, so no accent.
LI / LÌ
    • li = masculine plural direct-object pronoun (“them”)
    • lì = location adverb (“there”)
Not corrected:
    • I documenti sono li → I documenti sono lì
“The documents are there.”
    • Resta li con noi → Resta lì con noi
“Stay there with us.”
Both sentences refer to a location, so they require lì.
Correctly preserved:
    • Li ho chiamati ieri
“I called them yesterday.”
Here li refers to people being called. It’s a direct-object pronoun, not a location, so adding an accent would be wrong.
5. NE / NÉ
This distinction is especially important because the words have very different grammatical roles.
    • ne = a pronoun or adverbial particle, often meaning “of it”, “of them”, “from there” or similar, depending on context
    • né = “neither/nor”, used to connect negative alternatives
Not working:
    • Non voglio ne tè ne caffè
    • Expected: Non voglio né tè né caffè
Translation: “I want neither tea nor coffee.”
Both instances need an accent because they connect two things being rejected.
Another example:
    • Non ho ne fame ne sete
    • Expected: Non ho né fame né sete
Translation: “I’m neither hungry nor thirsty.”
Again, both né words require an accent.
Working:
    • Ne ho comprati due → unchanged
Translation: “I bought two of them.”
Here ne is a partitive pronoun, referring to an unspecified quantity of something already mentioned.
The keyboard must distinguish the negative conjunction né from the pronoun ne.
6. SE / SÉ
    • se = “if”, used in conditional clauses
    • sé = stressed personal pronoun (“himself”, “herself”, “oneself”, depending on context)
Not working:
    • Pensa solo a se → Pensa solo a sé
“He/she only thinks about himself/herself.”
Here sé is a stressed pronoun referring back to the subject.
Working:
    • Lo tiene per se → Lo tiene per sé
“He/she keeps it for himself/herself.”
The grammatical rule is essentially the same as in the previous example, so the inconsistent result is worth investigating.
Correctly preserved:
    • Se piove resto a casa
“If it rains, I’ll stay home.”
Here se introduces a conditional clause, so it must remain unaccented.
7. Apostrophes and masculine/feminine articles
This category improved a lot after the fix: 13/14 tests passed.
One important thing about Italian is that indefinite articles behave differently depending on the grammatical gender of the noun.
Feminine nouns beginning with a vowel
The feminine singular indefinite article is normally una.
When it comes before a vowel, the final a is dropped and replaced with an apostrophe:
    • una amica → un'amica (“a female friend”)
    • una auto → un'auto (“a car”)
    • una idea → un'idea (“an idea”)
    • una ora → un'ora (“an hour”)
One detail worth knowing: auto is grammatically feminine in Italian, even though it ends in o. It’s a shortened form of automobile.
The apostrophe depends on the grammatical gender, not simply the last letter of the noun.
Masculine nouns beginning with a vowel
The masculine indefinite article is un, already written without the final vowel found in uno.
These are correct:
    • un amico (“a male friend”)
    • un uomo (“a man”)
    • un albero (“a tree”)
    • un orologio (“a watch”)
They must remain without an apostrophe.
So a rule that automatically changes un to un' whenever the next word starts with a vowel would introduce incorrect corrections.
EFKey now seems to handle this distinction correctly in the sentences I tested.
Other apostrophe rules
un po'
po' is an abbreviated form of poco (“a little”).
The omitted letters are indicated with an apostrophe.
Correct:
    • un po' di tempo
    • un po' di fame
    • Aspetta un po'
Incorrect:
    • un po
    • un pò
The apostrophe is part of the correct spelling. It isn’t an accented vowel.
These corrections now work in EFKey.
qual è
The correct spelling is qual è, without an apostrophe.
qual is the shortened form of quale through apocope, rather than an elision requiring an apostrophe.
So:
    • Qual'è il problema? → Qual è il problema?
The incorrect apostrophe must be removed, not added.
This now works.
d'accordo — Still not working
    • Typed: Sono d accordo
    • Expected: Sono d'accordo
Translation: “I agree.”
d'accordo comes from the preposition di followed by accordo, with the vowel i omitted through elision.
The apostrophe marks that omission.
EFKey now handles similar apostrophe constructions, but still doesn’t correct this one.
c'è vs ce
These should not be treated as interchangeable words.
c'è is a contracted form of ci è, used in the existential construction meaning “there is”.
    • Ce un problema → C'è un problema
“There’s a problem.”
    • Ce ancora tempo → C'è ancora tempo
“There’s still time.”
Both were corrected successfully.
However:
    • Ce ne sono tanti → unchanged
“There are many of them.”
    • Ce la possiamo fare → unchanged
“We can do it.”
In these sentences, ce is a grammatical particle. It isn’t the verb “is” and must not be turned into c'è.
EFKey correctly left both sentences unchanged.
l'acqua
    • L acqua è fredda → L'acqua è fredda
Translation: “The water is cold.”
The feminine article la is elided before the vowel at the beginning of acqua, producing l'acqua.
This correction also worked.
8. Normal typing mistakes
Basic autocorrection is actually working really well now.
These all passed:
    • Qaundo → Quando (“when”)
    • Graize → Grazie (“thanks”)
    • motroe → motore (“engine”)
    • Acnhe → Anche (“also”)
    • prblema → problema (“problem”)
    • domanu → domani (“tomorrow”)
    • Spno → Sono (“I am / they are”)
    • Buogiorno → Buongiorno (“good morning”)
    • machina → macchina (“car/machine”)
    • apuntamento → appuntamento (“appointment”)
    • oficina → officina (“workshop/garage”)
These cover swapped letters, missing letters, wrong letters and missing double consonants.
One particularly bad correction:
I typed:
Il numero e coretto
Expected:
Il numero è corretto
Meaning: “The number is correct.”
EFKey instead produced:
IL NUMERO E CORTO
Meaning: “THE NUMBER IS SHORT.”
There are two separate problems here:
    1. e should become è because it’s the verb “is”.
    2. coretto should become corretto, not corto.
corretto means “correct”, while corto means “short”.
Both are real Italian words, but they have very different meanings.
In this context, numero corretto is the natural expression for a correct number. Replacing it with numero corto changes the intended meaning.
This seems worth looking into because the autocorrect selected a valid but semantically inappropriate word instead of fixing the missing double r.
The output was also uppercase, as shown above.
9. Informal words and technical terms
I also checked whether EFKey preserves valid words that aren’t necessarily found in basic Italian vocabulary.
These worked correctly:
    • Boh, vediamo (“Dunno, we’ll see.”)
    • Mah, non saprei (“Hmm, I’m not sure.”)
    • Vabbè, ci penso (“Alright, I’ll think about it.”)
    • Scrivimi su WhatsApp (“Message me on WhatsApp.”)
    • ABS e ESP sono diversi (“ABS and ESP are different.”)
vabbe vs vabbè
vabbè is a very common informal Italian expression, derived from va bene (“alright/okay”).
The correct colloquial spelling uses a grave accent on the final è.
    • vabbè ci penso → correctly left unchanged
    • vabbe ci penso → not corrected to vabbè ci penso
It would be useful if EFKey could restore this accent, since people often type the word without it.
Technical terms and contextual accents
OBD2 is correctly preserved, which is good.
But:
    • Typed: Il codice OBD2 e valido
    • Expected: Il codice OBD2 è valido
Translation: “The OBD2 code is valid.”
Here è is clearly the verb “is”, regardless of the technical acronym in the middle.
EFKey doesn’t apply that correction.
It may be worth checking whether uppercase words, acronyms or alphanumeric terms affect the contextual autocorrection.
ABS e ESP sono diversi, on the other hand, must keep e unchanged because it means “ABS and ESP are different.”
It’s another useful example of why e and è can’t be corrected using a simple replacement rule.
10. What I think needs the most attention
Based on these tests, I’d focus on a few areas.
Contextual accents
The main problem is still choosing the right form when both accented and unaccented versions are valid Italian words.
This affects e/è, si/sì, da/dà, la/là, li/lì, ne/né and se/sé.
False positives
EFKey should be careful not to turn already-correct words into incorrect ones.
For example, Questa e quella sono diverse is perfectly valid Italian. Changing the conjunction into è makes it grammatically wrong.
I’d consider these false positives especially important.
Consistency
Some corrections work in one sentence but fail in another even though the grammatical rule hasn’t changed.
For example:
    • Marta mi da una mano fails.
    • Si, Marta mi da una mano works.
And:
    • Lo tiene per se works.
    • Pensa solo a se fails.
These might be useful cases for checking how much surrounding context influences the correction.
Common expressions and contractions
Most apostrophe handling is now working, but d'accordo is still missing, and unaccented vabbe isn’t corrected.
Correction candidate selection
The coretto → corto example is worth checking. Autocorrect should ideally prefer a correction that matches both the typed word and the meaning of the sentence.
Final thoug
The latest fix has definitely improved the Italian typing experience, especially for common typos, apostrophes and some e/è corrections.
The main remaining issue isn’t that EFKey can’t recognise Italian words. It’s that it sometimes chooses the wrong grammatical form when two valid words differ only by an accent.
That distinction is particularly important in Italian because a single accent can change a conjunction into a verb, a preposition into a verb, or a pronoun into an adverb.
The examples above should help explain not just what EFKey should output, but why that output is grammatically correct.
Hope this helps! I’m happy to keep testing the Italian language model and check any future fixes.