Diphthongs

A diphthong is a glide or blend from one vowel position to another when two vowels come beside each other in a word. Of the five Spanish vowels,

a, e, and o --- strong

i and u --- weak

2 strong beside each other-- two separate sounds real, Paos

2 weak beside each other-- diphthong (blend) triunfo, ciudad, veintiuno, ruina, Luis

1 weak and 1 strong-- diphthong (blend) seis, auto, Eduardo, Miguel, radio, gracias

Stressed & Accented Words• Most words ending in a vowel, -n, or

–s are stressed on the next-to- last syllable.

(cla-ses, co-mo, re-pi-tan)

•Most words ending in a consonant other than –n or –s are stressed on the last syllable.

(fa-vor, se-ñor, us-ted, es-pa-ñol)

• Words that are stressed in any other way have a written accent mark on the vowel of the syllable that is stressed.

(ca-fé, a-quí, nú-me-ro, in-glés)

• Written accent marks are also used to mark the difference between pairs of words spelled the same.(el-the/él-he, si-if/sí-yes, tu-your/tú-you)