Learn Italian: Il coltello è sul tavolo. - The knife is on the table.

The accent on è (meaning "is") is very important because it distinguishes it from e without an accent, which means "and". Without the accent, this sentence would read "The knife and on the table," which wouldn't make sense!

What exactly is sul?

Sul translates to "on the". In Italian, when the preposition su (on) is followed right away by the definite article il (the), they combine into a single word. So, su + il becomes sul.

I've also seen the word tavola used for "table". Why is it tavolo here?

In Italian, il tavolo (masculine) usually refers to the everyday physical piece of furniture, which is why a single knife is just sitting on it here. The feminine version, la tavola, is specifically used when a table is fully set for a meal or when talking about dining.

Do I need to do anything special to pronounce the double 'L' in coltello?

Yes! Double consonants in Italian are pronounced slightly longer and stronger than single ones. When saying coltello, hold your tongue on the "L" sound for a split second longer than you normally would in English.