1. Pronunciación y ortografía
Notes on Pronunciation and
Accent Marks

2. Word Stress Every word has at least one syllable.
Every Spanish syllable has at least one vowel.
The vowels are the same in English and Spanish…they are__________________
If more than one vowel exists in a syllable, one must be stronger than the other.
The stronger of the two vowels carries the stress.
Let’s look at the following Spanish words:
Buenos 3. Agua
Piano 4. Dieta
How many syllables are there in each of these words?
How are the syllables divided?
When the above words are pronounced, listen to the vowel combinations as in the “ue” in “buenos” and decide which vowel of the two is stronger.
_______________ ________________
_______________ ________________
A, e, I, o, u
buE/nos
a/guA
piA/no
diE/ta

3. Spanish Word Stress Rules
The syllable of a word that is pronounced with the most emphasis is the stressed syllable.
a. Examples: can-SA-do, TRI-ste, pre-GUN-ta
Words that end in n, s, or a vowel usually carry the stress on the next to last syllable. [notice where the stress lies in the words above] (Palabras llanas)
a. Examples: GRA-cias, cua-DER-no, LLA-man
Words that end in n, s, or a vowel and carry their stress on a syllable other than the next to last syllable must carry an accent on the stressed syllable.
a. Examples: a-QUÍ, a-DIÓS, in-GLÉS, Jo-SÉ, a-ten-CIÓN
b. With what syllable SHOULD the stress lie in the above examples according to rule #2?

4. Spanish Word Stress Rules Cont’d.
Words that DO NOT end in n, s, or a vowel normally carry the stress on the last syllable. (palabras aguadas)
a. Examples: hab-LAR, es-pa-ÑOL, a-ni-MAL
If words that DO NOT end in n, s, or a vowel carry their stress on a syllable other than the last syllable, they must carry an accent mark on the stressed syllable.
Examples: BÉIS-bol, LÁ-piz, ÁR-bol, LÓ-pez, FÚT-bol
With what syllable SHOULD the stress lie in the above examples according to rule #4?

5. Palabras aguadas
Palabras llanas
Palabras esdrujulas (always have accents)
Palabras sobreesdrujulas (always have accents)

6. C. Single Syllable Words
While accent marks typically tell you which syllable carries the stress, they are also used to distinguish between words that are spelled similarly.
Here are a few examples:
El = ______ – masculine singular definite article
Él = ______ – pronoun
Tu =______ – possessive adjective
Tú =______ – informal pronoun
Si = ______ – conjunction
Sí = ______ – adverb/interjection
Mi =______ – possessive adjective
Mí =______– indirect object pronoun [IDOP]
the he
your
you if
yes my me

7. D. Para practicar
For each of the following words, identify which stress rule applies.
[Hint: look at the last letter of each word to narrow down your choices.]
1. profesor – rule #____stress in_______
2. examen – rule #____stress in_______
3. niño – rule #____stress in_______
4. México – rule #____stress in_______ 4
sor 2 a 2 ni Mé 3