LingoflyLl ll — elle
«elle» is a digraph of the Spanish script, read as “y (as in 'yes')”. Y. In Argentina and Uruguay — 'zh'. For example, in the word “calle” — street. The Spanish alphabet has 27 letters in total, and this character can be played right here. This character does not count as a letter of the alphabet. Also counted as a separate letter until 2010. 'llamar' — 'yah-MAR', 'calle' — 'KAH-yeh'. It appears, for example, in the word “ella” — she.
In short
| Character | Ll ll |
| Name | elle |
| Sound | y (as in 'yes') |
| What it is | a digraph |
In our course the character comes 29th of 30: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are ch and rr, appears in 190 words of this site.
How it sounds
Y. In Argentina and Uruguay — 'zh'
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.
- callestreet
The character in the “a letter of its own and three combinations” group
ñ is the only letter Latin does not have by default. ch and ll stopped being letters in 2010 but stayed sounds; rr was never a letter at all.
Words with this character
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 «elle» it is “y (as in 'yes')”, as in the word “calle”), 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 — 27 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 Spanish character ll read?
As “y (as in 'yes')” — it is a digraph of the Spanish script. Y. In Argentina and Uruguay — 'zh'. For example, in the word “calle” — street.
What is the sign ll called?
Elle. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Spanish script: it is called “elle” and reads as “y (as in 'yes')”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.