In Spanish, stress can be predicted based on the written form of the word. As usual, there are also rules that help a bit-- I remember as a child thinking how I was supposed to remember all those rules to speak correctly! Do not worry these rules a lot simpler than the ones I had to learn.
La acentuación (stress) of words such as hablar, papá, mamá and sobrino is the bold and italicized vowel.
Below are a few of the rules that will help you figure out where to place the stress in a Spanish word.
1. If a word ends in a vowel, the letters n or s, stress normally falls on the next to the last syllable.
hablo casa joven hablamos prima
2. If a word ends in any other consonant, stress normally falls on the last syllable.
usted español trabajar hablar doctor
3. Un acento ortográfico ( a written stress mark) will be on the stress vowel for the words that are exceptions the last two rules.
papá mamá nación dólar televisión francés
4. One syllable words have accents to distinguish from other words that sound like them such as:
tú (you) tu (your)
él (he) el (the)
sí (yes) si (if)
5. Interrogative and exclamatory words have a written accent on the stressed vowel like in ¿quién? (who?); ¿dónde? (Where?); ¡cómo no! (of course!).
NOTE: Accent marks are added or deleted to preserve the original stress when words are made into plural. We delete the accent when make into plural nación---> naciones; francés---> franceses. On the other hand, we add an accent that are made into plural like joven ---> jóvenes.
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