🗣️ Pronunciation Standard Say it yourself

Syllable division and word stress

Divide common words into syllables and place stress correctly from spelling.

A written accent marks the stressed vowel. Without one, words ending in a vowel, n or s usually stress the penultimate syllable; other endings usually stress the final syllable.

Patterns to reuse
vowel/n/s ending → penultimate stress
casa, hablan, jueves
boh-WEHL
other consonant ending → final stress
hotel, ciudad, comer
written accent overrides default
teléfono, inglés, también
WREET-tehn ahk-THEHNT oh-beh-RREE-dehs deh-FOWLT
Watch out for
Ignoring written accents.
Stress the accented vowel.

The accent explicitly marks stress.

Giving every Spanish word penultimate stress.
Check the ending and written accent.

Consonant endings other than n/s default to final stress.

casa → CA-sa
house
hotel → ho-TEL
hotel
teléfono → te-LÉ-fo-no
telephone
inglés → in-GLÉS
English
Split into syllables
Casa
casa
Trabajo
trabajo
Español
español
Teléfono
teléfono
Stress types
aguda
final syllable
llana
penultimate syllable
esdrújula
antepenultimate syllable
Note

Knowing the labels is recognition-only; applying stress is active.

Try it out loud
marking
Divide ten familiar words into syllables and mark stress.
What to include

Apply accent first, then ending rule.

reading
Read a mixed list of accented and unaccented words aloud.
What to include

Exaggerate stress once, then speak naturally.

diagnosis
Explain why café, joven and jóvenes are stressed differently.
What to include

Use written accent and ending rules.

Happy with all of this?
  • I can predict stress in regular written words.
  • I notice and respect written accent marks.

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Aligned to the Instituto Cervantes Elementary 1 and 2 syllabus. Nothing is sent anywhere: your progress is kept in this browser only.