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Stress Rules, Accents, and Syllabication

I. Stress Rules
Spanish words follow strict rules of stress. There are two rules.
Rule 1: Words that end in n, s, or a vowel are stressed on the next to last syllable:
hablan

comemostristes

termine ejemplo

Rule 2: Words that end in a consonant other than n or s stressed on the last syllable.
color

azul

fenomenal

Madrid

II. Accents
The stressed vowel of any Spanish word takes an accent if that words pronunciation violates one of the
two stress rules, or stresses the wrong vowel in a diphthong.
Words that break rule 1:
leccin ingls tombamos
sinnimo
Words that break rule 2:
lpiz
difcil
lbum
III. Spanish Syllables Spanish syllabication is a little different from English division. To understand how words are
stressed and when you need an accent, its important to first understand how to divide Spanish words into syllables.
Single consonant (VCV V-CV) A single consonant between two vowels starts the next syllable. Note: These
letter combinations are considered one letter and never separated: ch, ll, rr
co-mu-ni-dad

pe-lo

de-do

so-ni-do

cho-co-la-te

mu-cha-cha

calle

ba-rra

Two consonants (VCCV) There are two ways to divide two consonants between vowels.
1. Syllable-initial consonant clusters (V-CCV: These letter combinations in which l or r is always the second letter
are clusters that can begin a word or syllable: bl, br, cl, cr, dr, fl, fr, gl, gr, pl, pr, tr
blo-que
bro-ma
cla-ro

ha-bla
po-bre
de-cli-ve

cru-za
sa-cri-fi-ca
dro-ga
la-dri-llo
flo-re-ce re-fle-ja

fru-ta
re-fra-nes
glo-sa
re-gla
gro-se-ro a-gra-de-ci-do

pla-cer di-plo-ma
pre-pa-ra re-pre-sa
tra-ba-jo pa-tro-ci-na

2. Not syllable-initial consonant clusters (VC-CV): With two consonants that are NOT one of the l/r clusters, the
syllable divides between the consonants. Note that s is not part of any consonant cluster in Spanish. The following
double-consonant combinations are common possibilities (this is not an exhaustive list).
b-n: ab-ne-gar
b-t: ob-te-ner
c-c: ac-ce-so

c-t: di-rec-to
d-m: ad-mi-tir
n-d: in-di-ca

n-t: pin-tu-ra
r-l: char-le-mos
r-s: per-so-na

t-b: ft-bol
s-c: es-co-lar
s-f: es-fu-ma

Three consonants (VCCCV)

There are two ways to divide three consonants between vowels.
1. Syllable-final consonant + syllable initial consonant cluster (VC-CCV): A consonant cluster (see above)
preceded by another consonant will be divided between the initial consonant and the consonant cluster. The
following triple-consonant combinations are common possibilities (this is not an exhaustive list). Note: words like
excluye and extreme are not included on this list because the x makes a double-consonant sound: ks.
m-bl: a-sam-ble-a
m-br: cos-tum-bre
m-pl: sim-ple-men-te

m-pr: em-pre-sa
n-cl: in-clu-ye

n-dr: ten-dre-mos
n-fr: en-fren-ta

n-tr: con-tro-la
s-tr: res-trin-ge

2. Syllable-final consonant cluster + consonant (VCC-CV). A syllable-final consonant cluster (always ends in s or
the s sound: x = ks) followed by another consonant will be divided between the cluster and the third consonant.
The following triple-consonant combinations are common possibilities (this is not an exhaustive list).
ns-c: trans-cu-rre
ns-p: ins-pi-ra

ns-c /s/: cons-cien-te

ns-t: cons-ti-tu-ye

rs-p: pers-pec-ti-va
x-p /ks-p/: ex-po-ner

x-t /ks-t/: ex-tin-guir

Four consonants (VCCCCV VCC-CCV) There is only one way to divide four consonants between vowels. The
combination of a syllable-final consonant cluster (almost always ending in s) plus a syllable initial consonant
cluster is divided between the two clusters.
ns-cr: ins-cri-be
ns-pl: trans-plan-tar

ns-tr: cons-tru-ye
bs-tr: abs-trac-to

x-cl /ks-cl/: ex-clu-ye

x-pr /ks-pr/: ex-pre-sa

x-tr /ks-tr/: ex-tre-mo

Two vowels (VV) There are two kinds of vowels in Spanish: strong vowels (a, e, o) and weak vowels (i, u).
1. Two syllables (hiatus) (V-V) Two strong vowels or a strong vowel plus an accented weak vowel
a-e: a-tra-er
a-: pa-s
a-o: ex-tra-o-fi-cial
a-: Ra-l

e-a: cos-te-ar
e-: pro-te--na
e-o: co-rre-o
e-: far-ma-ce--ti-co

-a: po-li-c-a
-e: en-fr-e
-o: he-ro--na

o-a: o-a-sis
o-e: su-ro-es-te
o-: o--do

-a: fluc-t-a
-e: con-ti-n-e

2. One-Syllable Diphthong (VV) A weak vowel (no accent) plus a strong vowels or another weak vowels
ai: pai-sa-je
au: au-men-to

ei: pei-na-do
eu: neu-tro

ia: fa-mi-lia-res
ie: pa-rien-te
io: na-cio-nal
iu: ciu-da-da-no

oi: oi-go
ou: es-ta-dou-ni-den-se

ua: ac-tual-men-te
ue: en-cuen-tra
ui: gra-tui-to
uo: res-pe-tuo-so