Rules for stress

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AnnaC

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Jan 2, 2002
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I thought these might be helpful to some of us. ;)
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In Spanish, words are spelled just like they sound. In order to take advantage of this simple and nearly perfect system of spelling, one must first know the rules for stress - that is, how to know which syllable is pronounced the loudest.

Words ending in a vowel, -n, or -s are stressed on the next to the last (penultimate) syllable:

nada
na - da

limonada
li - mo - na - da

zapatos
za - pa - tos

origen
o - ri - gen

compro
com - pro

esta
es - ta

estas
es- tas


Words ending in any consonant except -n or -s are stressed on the last syllable:

doctor
doc - tor

ciudad
ci - u - dad

comer
co - mer


When rules #1 and #2 above are not followed, a written accent is used:

compr?
com - pr?

est?
es - t?

est?s
es - t?s


Written accents are also used to differentiate between words that are pronounced the same but have different meanings:

si - if
s? - yes

mi - my
m? - me

el - the
?l - he

tu - your
t? - you

Don't think of these rules as burdensome. Rather, view them as your friends. They allow you to pronounce any Spanish word correctly.
 
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