Modern Spanish Grammar: A Practical Guide

tra-er

a-ho-ra

fe-o

A single consonant followed by a vowel is grouped into the same syllable as the

following vowel.

bue-no

a-la

A consonant group between two vowels is split between the two syllables, except that

the groups pl, pr, bl, br, fr,fl, tr, dr, cl, cr, gl, gr are never split:

ad-qui-rir

but

re-gla

a-cre

A major difference between English and Spanish is that s is never considered to belong

to the same syllable as a following consonant:

Es-pa-ña

ex-tra-ño

as-que-ro-so

ll and rr count as single consonants and are never divided between syllables:

hue-lla

pe-rro

NOTE Spanish words are hyphenated in writing only at syllable divisions.

1.4Sinalefa

When one word ends in a vowel and the next word begins in a vowel (unless there is a

break between the words involved), the two vowels are considered to belong to the

same syllable, even though they may not naturally form a diphthong. This

phenomenon, which is a striking feature of Spanish pronunciation, is called sinalefa:

hasta_hoy [as-taoj]

entre_ellos [en-tre-ʎos]

tengo_hambre [ten-oam-bre]

Even groups of three or more vowels may be treated in this way:

culta_Europa [kul-taew-ro-pa]

1.5 The written stress accent

1.5.1 Use of the written stress accent in Spanish assumes that Spanish words are stressed on
the next to the last syllable if they end in a vowel, n or s, and on the final syllable if they
end in a consonant other than n or s. Such words are not written with an accent.

The written stress accent 1.5