Syllables, Stress, and Written Accents

SyllablesThere are two kinds of vowels in Spanish: strong vowels (A, E, O), and weak vowels (I, U).

When strong vowels are placed together, they make separate syllables. When weak vowels combine with other vowels, they form a diphthong (two vowel sounds in one syllable).

ExamplesTwo strong vowels together (separate syllables):

feo, emplear, barbacoa

Strong vowel and weak vowel together (blended sound with emphasis on the strong vowel):puerta, tierra, baile

Two weak vowels together (blended sound with emphasis on the second vowel):cuidado, fuimos, viuda

In order for a word to have a weak vowel sound and a strong vowel sound next to each other without blending together in a diphthong, the weak vowel must have a written accent.

día, frío, policía

Note: The letter U is silent in gue-, gui-, que-, and qui-, and does not therefore count as a vowel. (Examples: guerra, guisantes, que, quince). For more on this, see the section of the pronunciation guide for the letter U.

StressSpanish syllable stress is very predictable. When dealing with words that have more than one

syllable, there are only three rules to know.

Rule #1Words that end with: a vowel, n, or s are stressed on the penultimate (next-to-last) syllable.

Examples: para, como, cuando, primero, entonces, principio, necesario.

Note: The vast majority of Spanish words fall into this category.

Rule #2Words that end in any consonant besides n or s are stressed on the last syllable.

Examples: estar, usted, fatal, hotel, mujer.

Rule #3Exceptions to the first two rules must have a written accent mark on the stressed vowel of the

intended syllable.

Examples: así, también, inglés, crédito, razón, número.

Copyright 2009 by S. Robert Nielsen http://www.languagepossible.com

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Written AccentsWritten accents are sometimes used to distinguish between homophones (words that sound the

same, but have different meanings). In these cases, the written accent does not affect pronunciation. Question words all have accents for this reason.

Examples: el / él the / hesi / sí if / yesque / qué that / what?como / cómo as, like / how?

Helpful tip: On some signs and in other publications, written accents are not used on capital letters. It is best to use them whenever you can, however.

Note: Written accents are also used to split up diphthongs (see Syllables section above).

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