Dividing a word into syllables helps us better understand how to pronounce it correctly and a syllable may end with a vowel or a consonant letter.
Based on the number of syllables, words are divided into:
- Monosillabe (monosyllables): which have only one syllable (è,ma, con, tuoi, dai)
- Bisillabe (two-syllables): which have two syllables(ma-no,pa-dre, fer-ro)
- Trisillabe (trisyllables): which have three syllables (er-ro-re, ve-lo-ce, ma-schi-le)
- Polisillabe (polysyllables): which have more than three syllables (fem-mi-ni-le, gram-ma-ti-ca-le)
Here are some rules for correct syllable division
1. Each consonant becomes a syllable with the vowel that follows.
| La parola (the word) | Le sillabe (the syllables) |
| Verità | ve-ri-tà |
| Venire | ve-ni-re |
| Sicuro | si-cu-ro |
2. Double consonants separate.
| La parola (the word) | Le sillabe (the syllables) |
| Diciotto | di-ciot-to |
| Offensivo | of-fen-si-vo |
| Accettare | ac-cet-ta-re |
3. One, two, or more consonant letters form a syllable with the vowel that comes after them.
| La parola (the word) | Le sillabe (the syllables) |
| Costare | co-sta-re |
| Costruzione | costru-zio-ne |
| Bagaglio | ba-ga-glio |
4. The initial vowel can be a syllable.
| La parola (the word) | Le sillabe (the syllables) |
| Ago | a-go |
| Amico | a-mi-co |
| Asta | a-sta |
5. Two vowels in a word next to each other form two different syllables.
| La parola (the word) | Le sillabe (the syllables) |
| Paese | pa-e-se |
| Paura | pa-u-ra |
| Leone | le-o-ne |
6. Diphthongs are not divided.
| La parola (the word) | Le sillabe (the syllables) |
| Pianta | pian-ta |
| Fiume | pa-u-ra |
| Guerra | fiu-me |
| Uomo | uo-mo |
7. The cq group always separates.
| La parola (the word) | Le sillabe (the syllables) |
| Acqua | ac-qua |
| Piacque | piac-que |
| Acquario | ac-qua-rio |
8. The following letter groups never get divided.
a). Ch, Gh, Gl, Gn, Sc, Sch.
- Macchina (mac-chi-na).
- Ghiaccio (ghiac-cio).
- Ciglio (ci-glio).
- Cognome (co-gno-me).
- Scala (sca-la).
- Scherzo (scher-zo).
b). Qu + (a,e,i,o).
- Quadro (qua-dro).
- Quello (quel-lo).
- Quindici (quin-di-ci).
- Quota (quo-ta).
c). (B,C,D,F,G,T,Sb,Sc,Sd,Sf,Sg,St) + R.
- Brutto (brut-to).
- Crudo (cru-do).
- Droga (dro-ga).
- Frigo (fri-go).
- Grande (gran-de).
- Trucco (truc-co).
- Sbrigare (sbri-ga-re).
- Sdraiare (Sdrai-a-re).
- Sfocare (sfo-ca-re).
- Strano (stra-no).