Italian pronunciation
Diphthongs are special pairs of vowels that are considered to be a single sound. They are found in many Italian words and dictate how words are divided into syllables.
All types of diphthongs in Italian
Vowels in Italian can be either weak (i and u) or strong (a, e, and o).
All diphthongs contain either an i or a u vowel + a strong vowel.
Ascending diphthongs
In Italian, a diphthong is called ascendente (ascending) if it is formed by either:
i + u (IA, IE, IO, IU) as in…
| Piangere, iena, fiocco, fiuto | To cry, hyena, flake, sniff |
u + a (UA, UE, UI, UO) as in…
| Guanto, questo, suino, tuono | Glove, this, swine, thunder |
Descending diphthongs
In Italian, a diphthong is called discendente (descending) if it is formed by either:
strong vowel + i (AI, EI, OI, UI) as in…
| Zaino, Pirenei, poi, lui | Backpack, Pyrenees, then, he |
a/e + u (AU, EU) as in…
| Baule, reumatismo | Trunk, rheumatism |
What about triphthongs in Italian?
A triphthong in Italian is a sequence of three vowels that make up a syllable. They are made up of the vowels i and u + a strong vowel.
You can’t divide a triphthong into two syllables. It’s its own syllable.
For example, here are some words with triphthongs in Italian:
| Tuoi, aiuola, suoi, miei, buoi | Your, flowerbed, his, my, oxen |
However, these words do not contain triphthongs:
| Gennaio, noia, ghiaia | January, boredom, gravel. |
That’s because you need two weak consonants (either 2 i’s or 2 u’s or 1 i and 1 u) to form a triphthong.
AIO has one i. OIA also has one i. The same can be said for AIA.
UOI, however, has both an i and a u. IEI as in miei has two i’s and so on.
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