Spanish: An Essential Grammar

Stress and written accents

The correct pronunciation of Spanish depends not only on being able to

reproduce the correct sound for each letter, but on applying the correct

emphasis to each syllable in individual words. Incorrect stress may mean

that listeners have difficulty in understanding your meaning, and in some

cases may even change the meaning of words.

Syllables: basic principles

For the purpose of identifying the syllables in Spanish words in order to

understand stress and written accents, it is generally sufficient to know the

following basic principles:

(a) syllables should end in a vowel as far as possible (so that a single

consonant between vowels is attached to the vowel or vowels which

follow it): ta-ba-co, po-pu-lar.

(b) combinations of consonants ending in -lor -r, as well as ch, cannot be

split: a-pli-car, re-gre-so, ca-lle, cu-cha-ra.

(c)sdoes not belong to the same syllable as a following consonant: cas-

ta-ña, pos-tre.

Stress: general principles

For purposes of identification only, stressed vowels are underlined.

When words end in a single vowel or the consonants nor s, the stress

normally falls on the next to last syllable:

verde muchacho noches venden volumen

When words end in consonants other than nor s, the stress normally falls

on the last syllable:

Madrid hospital tenaz vivir coñac

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Alphabet,
pronuncia-
tion, stress,
spelling and
punctuation

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