Italian Syllabication

Phonetically speaking, the syllable is the smallest fraction of a word, pronounced as a single sound.

Most Italian syllables end in a vowel sound. All syllables must contain at least one vowel, which is their strong sound, while they do not necessarily need a consonant: syllables without vowels do not exist, while syllables without consonants do exist.

Grammatically, the division of a word into syllables follows these rules:

A single consonant goes with the following vowel.

Casa (house) » ca-sa
Matita (pencil) » ma-ti-ta

Positivo (positive) » po-si-ti-vo
Ruvido (rough) » ru-vi-do.

Any double consonant must be split into two subsequent syllables:

Gatto (cat) » gat-to
Carrozza (carriage, wagon) » car-roz-za

Mappa (map) » map-pa
Possessore (owner) » pos-ses-so-re

Two consonants, the first of which is l, m, n, or r, are divided.

Trenta (thirty) » tren-ta
Cantante (singer) » can-tan-te

Perla (pearl) » per-la
Contento (contented) » con–ten–to

Otherwise, a combination of two consonants belongs to the following syllable.

Figlio (son) » fi–glio
Vetrina (shop-window) » ve-tri-na

Padre (father) » pa-dre
Decreto (decree,bill) » de-cre-to

A vowel alone may form a syllable at the beginning of a word if followed by a consonant:

Isola (island) » i-so-la
Animale (animal) » a-ni-ma-le

Odore (smell) » o-do-re
Aratro (plough) » a-ra-tro

However, when the following consonant is either nasal or liquid and any further consonant comes after it, i.e. vowel + nasal or liquid consonant + any consonant (such as alt..., enc..., imp..., ond..., urg..., and so on), the first syllable binds to the vowel, to accomplish the previous rule:

Intero(whole) » in-te-ro
Urgente (urgent) » ur-gen-te

Ultimo (last) » ul-ti-mo
Imparare (to learn) » im-pa-ra-re

When three consonants are together the first goes with the preceding syllable, except s, which goes with the following syllable:

Sempre (always) » sem–pre
Entrare (to enter) » en-tra-re

Membro (member) » mem–bro
Inglese (english) » in-gle-se

However, with 3 consonant that are together with "s" at the beginning:

Finestra(window) » fi–ne–stra
Maestro(Master) » ma-e-stro
Minestra(soup) » mi–ne–stra

Strano(strange) » stra-no
Ministro(minister)»mi-nis-tro
Spremere(to squeeze)»spre-me-re

Diphthongs and triphthongs are never divided.

Buono (good) » buo - no
Quadro (picture, painting) » qua - dro
Viale (avenue) » via - le

Miele (honey) » mie – le
Chiodo (nail) » chio - do
Lingua (language) » lin–gua

Diphthongs may occur in stressed or unstressed syllables. However, when a diphthong is broken by stress (the vowel i or u directly bears the stress), then the two vowels break into separate syllables.

Mio (mine) » mi–o
Terapia (therapy) » te–ra–pi–a
Tuo (yours) » tu–o

Allegria (joy) » al–le–gri–a
Mania (mania) » ma–ni–a
Farmacia (pharmacy) » far–ma–ci–a

There are many monosyllabic words, which cannot be split since they are made of only one syllable. The most common ones are:

Definite articles (il, lo, la, i, gli, le);
Simple prepositions (di, a, da, in, con, su, per, tra, fra);
Several conjunctions (e, o, ma, sì, no, etc.);
Most personal pronouns (io, tu, te, ti, lui, lei, gli, le, noi, ci, voi, vi, si etc.);
Many indicative pronouns (quel, qui, qua, lì, là);
Two numbers (tre, sei);
Some short words of daily use (blu, più, già, giù, etc.).