Double consonants
Lots of Italian words contain one or more double consonants that are pronounced with greater intensity, lingering on the consonant sound for longer than if it were just a single consonant.
L'abbaglio , la palla , i piccioni , la vetta , tutto .
The blunder; the ball; the pigeons; the tip; everything.
Here are some commonly used double consonants, along with their pronunciations:
- bb as in:
L'obbligo ; il fabbro ; arrabbiato .
The obligation; the blacksmith; angry.
- cc as in:
La giacca ; accettare ; la racchetta .
The jacket; to accept; the racket.
- ll as in:
L'allarme ; brillare ; il pollo .
The alarm; to shine; the chicken.
- mm as in:
La mamma ; il dramma ; infiammare .
The mom; the play; to set on fire.
- pp as in:
La zuppa ; la seppia ; strappare .
The soup; the cuttlefish; to tear.
- tt as in:
Tutto ; attaccare ; l'attenzione .
Everything; to attack; attention.
Double consonants are generally found in the following:
- Words formed of certain prefixes (ne, se, su, fra, così, sopra, contra…) + another word
Ne + pure → neppure ; se + bene → sebbene .
Not even; even though.
Fra + tempo → frattempo ; sopra + mobile → soprammobile .
Meantime; ornament.
- Lots of other words that don't follow any specific rules, which is why it's important to check in the dictionary.
Lo scatto , il cammello , il pacchetto , bello .
The snapshot, the camel, the package, beautiful.
Note: with some words, the presence of a double consonant completely changes the meaning.
Il tono vs il tonno ; il capello vs il cappello ; le note vs la notte .
The tone → the tuna; the hair → the hat; the notes → the night.
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