Diphthongs

Level 1

A diphthong is one syllable, not two vowels in a row.

How It Works

These pairs of vowels are read as one syllable.

SpellingSounds likeExamples
ai“eye”aiga (water), mai (more)
eithe ay in “day”veire (glass)
authe ow in “cow”pauc (little), aucèl (bird)
eue and a quick oodeu (he or she must)

The second vowel is only a glide. Aiga has two syllables, ai and ga, and pauc has one.

Two other combinations glide as well. Ièr (yesterday) starts with a quick i, and uèi (today) starts with a quick u.

When two vowels must be read apart, Occitan writes a diaeresis on the second one: païses (countries). A later entry covers it.

Examples (5)

  1. aiga

    water

    Ai is one syllable, and it sounds like “eye”.

  2. veire

    glass

    Ei is one syllable, like the ay in “day”.

  3. pauc

    little

    Au is one syllable, like the ow in “cow”.

  4. deu

    he or she must

    Eu is e followed by a quick oo.

  5. uèi

    today

    A quick u starts the word.

Common Mistakes

  • Writing the word the Catalan way.

    aigua
    aiga

    Catalan adds ua. Occitan writes aiga.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

DiphthongsLevel 1

Learn This First

Diphthongs join two vowels in one syllable, and the letter u is one of the vowels in many of them, so the letter u comes first.