L·L l·l — ela geminada
«ela geminada» is a digraph of Catalan, the “The Catalan Latin alphabet” script, read as “a long (doubled) l”. Two l sounds in a row: you start the first and finish the second — the sound stretches. For example, in the word “intel·ligent” — intelligent. The Catalan alphabet has 35 letters in total. The only mid-word dot in Europe: intel·ligent, il·lusió. Losing the dot changes the word: cel·la is "cellar", cella is "eyebrow". It appears, for example, in the word “l'al·lèrgia” — an allergy.
In short
| Character | L·L l·l |
| Name | ela geminada |
| Sound | a long (doubled) l |
| What it is | a digraph |
In our course the character comes 15th of 35: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are ll and m, appears in 26 words of this site.
How it sounds
Two l sounds in a row: you start the first and finish the second — the sound stretches
The character in a word
A lone character is hard to remember: memory holds on to meaning, and a letter has none. The word it stands in provides that anchor.
- intel·ligentintelligent
The character in the “signs of its own” group
ç is the only letter with a cedilla, l·l the only mid-word dot. The combinations are not letters, but no menu can be read without them.
Words with this character
- l'al·lèrgiaan allergy
- la pel·lículafilm
- presentar una sol·licitudto file an application
- instal·lar-seto settle in
- la cancel·lació de la reservabooking cancellation
- han cancel·lat el volthe flight was cancelled
- la sol·licitud oficialofficial request
- tinc al·lèrgia als fruits secsI am allergic to nuts
- registrar la sol·licitudto submit a request
- instal·lar l'aplicacióto install the app
- cancel·lar la citato cancel the appointment
- la novel·lanovel
How to remember this character
A single letter is the hardest thing to remember: memory has nothing to hold on to — a character has no meaning. A three-step loop works: see the character, try to recall the sound (for «ela geminada» it is “a long (doubled) l”, as in the word “intel·ligent”), see the right answer.
And come back to it the next day, not in an hour: a check a day or two later beats a check the same day. Nobody holds the whole alphabet — 35 letters — at once.
- It is better to test yourself the next day than at the end of the same session. That is why a word comes back to you tomorrow.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · g = 0.82 when tested a day or two later, against 0.56 on the same day.
- Studying a little every day gets more into your head than spending the same total time in one sitting.checked many timesDonovan & Radosevich, 1999, Journal of Applied Psychology 84(5) · 63 studies compared, difference d = 0.46 — a sizeable figure for a learning effect.
Frequently asked
How does the Catalan character l·l read?
As “a long (doubled) l” — it is a digraph of the “The Catalan Latin alphabet” script. Two l sounds in a row: you start the first and finish the second — the sound stretches. For example, in the word “intel·ligent” — intelligent.
What is the letter l·l called?
Ela geminada. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Catalan script: it is called “ela geminada” and reads as “a long (doubled) l”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.
What can l·l be confused with?
The only mid-word dot in Europe: intel·ligent, il·lusió. Losing the dot changes the word: cel·la is "cellar", cella is "eyebrow". Similar characters are best studied side by side and deliberately compared: learned on different days, they stay separate and get mixed up at their first meeting inside a word.