LingoDrop
Italian · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "davvero" in Italian?
dahv-VEH-roh, with a doubled v held a beat longer and stress on the middle syllable. In IPA: /davˈve.ro/. That geminate v is the detail most learners miss.
Three syllables, dav, ve, and ro, stressed on the middle one. The double v splits across the syllable boundary, so the buzzing v sound carries over from the end of "dav" into the start of "ve."
Listen: davvero
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Sound it out
This is the same gemination idea as "sotto," but with a fricative instead of a stop: holding a doubled v means sustaining the buzz longer, not just hitting it harder or louder.
Hear it in a sentence
Sei davvero gentile.
You're really kind.
Listen: Sei davvero gentile.
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"Sei davvero gentile" places "davvero" between the verb "sei" (the informal tu form of essere, to be) and the adjective "gentile" (kind), intensifying it the way English "really" or "truly" intensifies an adjective. "Davvero" is a neutral, all-purpose intensifier, comfortable in both casual and fairly polite conversation, unlike some Italian intensifiers that read as distinctly informal.
Because it sits directly before the adjective it's strengthening, word order here mirrors English almost exactly, "you're really kind" and "sei davvero gentile" line up piece for piece.
Where English speakers slip
The most common mistake is shortening the geminate v to a single quick sound, producing something closer to "da-VEH-roh" and losing the emphatic doubling that gives the word its weight.
The second slip is stressing the first syllable, "DAH-veh-roh," pulled forward by the visual weight of "dav-" at the start of the word. Italian stress here firmly lands on the middle syllable, "ve," not the first.