Accent This: Written and Spoken
All words with more than one syllable are pronounced with a little more emphasis on one of their syllables. This is referred to as the “stress” or “accent” of the word. In Spanish, the rules for which accent to stress are very simple, and any word that breaks the rule has a written accent over the vowel of the syllable that should be stressed. Take a look at the two rules of pronunciation first: Rule #1: Any Spanish word that ends in a vowel or the consonants
TRACK 5
Look at the following examples and listen to the pronunciation of each word on Track 5. Focus on the stressed syllable. Repeat each example after you hear it.
co-MI-da |
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es-tu-DIAN-te |
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ar-BUS-to |
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con-VER-san |
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pa-LA-bras |
Rule #2: Any word that ends in a consonant other than
TRACK 6
Listen to each of the following words on Track 6. Focus on the stressed syllable, and repeat each example after you hear it.
u-ni-ver-si-DAD |
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re-LOJ |
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fe-rro-ca-RRIL |
When a word is pronounced with the stress on a different syllable than the one indicated by the appropriate rule, a written accent mark is placed over the vowel of the stressed syllable so you know how to pronounce the word. For example, listen to Track 7 on the audio CD and read the following words.
TRACK 7
Accent marks are also used to separate vowels that would otherwise form a diphthong. When this occurs, the accent mark is written over the vowel of the syllable that follows the rule.
As you see, it's really quite simple to determine which syllable is stressed in a Spanish word, and, when you know how a word is pronounced, it's easy to remember where to write an accent mark if one is needed. Just test the word with Rule #1 and Rule #2: if it doesn't follow the rule, it needs a written accent.
Accent marks are only written above the vowel of the stressed syllable of a word. They primarily tell you which syllable to emphasize when a word varies from the normal stress pattern outlined in Rule #1 and Rule #2.
