Pronunciation Rules for Syllable Stress
D. Diseñar (to design) una casa
With a classmate, draw the floor plan for a house. Include all the rooms presented in the vocabulary. Then, label each room and the items within each room.
E. Repaso
Make sure that you understand and can do the following:
1. Do you know the Spanish words for different rooms of a house?
2. Can you name appliances and furniture related to each room in a house?
3. Can you answer the following questions in complete sentences?
a. ¿Qué cuartos hay en tu casa?
b. ¿Qué hay en tu habitación?
c. ¿Dónde está el inodoro?
d. ¿Qué hay en tu cocina?
Tarea:
Complete 3.2 Para Estudiar en Casa and 3.2 Para Practicar en Casa.
Introduction:
The focus of this section is diphthongs. Diphthongs occur when two vowels are pronounced together as one syllable. This is the last major lesson on pronunciation.
In English, we sometimes pronounce two vowels together. Carefully pronounce each of the following English words.
sound three
fair load
bear weird
How many syllables does each word have, two or one? In these examples, two vowels are linked to form one syllable, a diphthong. If, when you pronounce these words, you split the diphthongs, they will not sound correct. Try it.
The same is true in Spanish; some vowels must be linked to form diphthongs and others cannot form diphthongs. Besides correctly forming the syllables of a word, understanding diphthongs will allow you to correctly stress all words as discussed in 2.3. A good
understanding of diphthongs will allow you to correctly pronounce all words in Spanish, which is why diphthongs are so important.
The rules for diphthongs (los diptongos) are relatively easy in Spanish. Without getting into linguistic terminology, we can say that there are two types of vowels: strong vowels and weak vowels. Here is a way for you to remember which is which.
U and I are weak.
Not a very positive affirmation, but it does help to remember which vowels form
diphthongs. Only the weak vowels form diphthongs, only u and i (and sometimes y). Here is the main rule of diphthongs in Spanish:
3.2: Para estudiar en casa
3.2 Learning Objectives:
a. To learn what diphthongs are, how they are formed, and why they are important b. To understand how diphthongs are broken
c. To be able to correctly pronounce words with and without diphthongs
3.2.a. To learn what diphthongs are, how they are formed, and why they are important
The order of the vowels does not matter (strong/weak or weak/strong). Any combination of two vowels with at least one weak vowel will form diphthongs, but two strong vowels do not. When a strong vowel is linked with a weak vowel, the main stress will be on the stronger vowel. When two weak vowels are linked, the main stress will be on the last vowel. Here are some examples of Spanish words with diphthongs.
aire agua
reina fuego
Luis ciudad
radio cuota
Note:
The letter h is not pronounced. Therefore, the letter h between two vowels does not block the formation of diphthongs. For example, ahumar, prohibido, and ahijado form diphthongs around the letter h.
When two strong vowels are next to each other, they do NOT form diphthongs. Here are a few examples:
león alcohol poseer caer
Sometimes a strong vowel can be surrounded by weak vowels. This is called a triphthong (triptongo). Here are some examples.
cambiáis Uruguay miau semiautomático
Sometimes the letter u is silent. This occurs in the following combinations: gue, gui, que, and qui. Since the u is silent, it does not combine with the other letters to form a triptongo. The other letters may form a diptongo. Here are some examples.
guerra guiando quema quiero
Diphthongs form automatically any time at least one weak vowel is next to another vowel.
If the weak vowel is stressed, then it will require a written accent mark (tilde) and the diphthong will be broken. Notice how, in the following examples, the tilde occurs on the weak vowel. Pronounce each word carefully, separating the syllables and stressing the one with the tilde.
día Raúl
reír reúno
oído evalúo
3.2.b. To understand how diphthongs are broken
However, if the tilde is on the strong vowel (the one that is stressed anyway), the diphthong is NOT broken. Notice how, in the following examples, the tilde occurs on the strong vowel.
Pronounce each word carefully, maintaining the diphthongs.
habláis cuándo
también quién
nación acentuó
Note:
When both vowels are weak, the tilde does not break the diphthong. This is not common.
Let's quickly review the pronunciation rules that were covered in 2.2.
As you can see, to apply these rules you must be able to correctly separate words into syllables and to do that, you must understand when diphthongs are formed and when diphthongs are broken. All words in Spanish follow these three pronunciation rules.
Here are some words with diphthongs that follow rule number 1 above.
aula Europa tierra aunque
Here are some words with diphthongs that follow rule number 2 above.
ciudad enviar sexual especial
Here are some words with diphthongs that follow rule number 3 above.
educación veintitrés Juárez automóvil
3.2.c. To be able to correctly pronounce words with and without diphthongs
Pronunciation Rules for Syllable Stress
1. Words in Spanish that have no written accent and end in a vowel, n, or s always stress the second-to-last (penultimate) syllable.
2. Words that don't have a written accent and end in any other consonant (other than n or s) always stress the last syllable.
3. Words with written accents (tildes) always stress the syllable with the tilde.