The letter combination gn has a special pronunciation, very similar to the English ni in onion. In addition, when this gn sound occurs between two vowels it is always pronounced as though it were a doubled consonant (see Lesson 3) - in other words, the preceding vowel is short and the consonant itself is elongated.
Examples
gnomo
gnocchi
cognato
campagna
agnello
lasagne
bisogni
magnifico
legno
cognome
ognuno
The Letter Combination GLI
The letter combination gli has a special pronunciation, very similar to the lli in million. Like gn, this sound is pronounced as though it were a doubled consonant when it appears between two vowels (which it usually does).
Examples
egli
maglina
raccoglitore
taglia
sbagliato
moglie
biglietto
figlio
maglione
However at the beginning of a word, gli is pronounced as three separate letters.
Examples
glicine
glissare
glicerina
Exceptions
There are a handful of exceptions to the rules regarding the pronounciation of gli, the most important being the words gli and glie.
Examples
gli
glie
negligente
anglicano
geroglifico
Exercise
The following exercise contains all the example Italian words from this lesson.
