From the category archives:

Fonética

Spanish accentuation – being on the mark

November 12, 2009

Putting Spanish accent marks in the right spot
¡Hola!  Las primeras lecciones sobre silabeo sirven como una base para entender mejor la acentuación en el español escrito.  Ahora nos toca hablar de las reglas que aplican a la acentuación en sí.
The rules for the placement of written accents in Spanish are simple.  If you see the [...]

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Another twist to spoken Spanish – Linking

November 8, 2009

One reason that spoken Spanish seems rapid to beginning speakers is that sometimes words are linked within a phrase as if they were one long word. Consider the following situations:
 
1.  SINGLE CONSONANT BETWEEN VOWELS.  When a single consonant sound appears between two vowels, it begins a new syllable.  This rule also applies between words.  The [...]

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Syllabication (silabeo) – Lesson Two

November 4, 2009

Spanish syllabication
Welcome to the second lesson on how to divide Spanish words into syllables.  (To review Lesson One, see: Syllabication (silabeo) – Lesson One.)  Knowing how words are divided will help you apply the accent rules and improve your pronunciation.  Later, I shall post the rules for the placement of accents.
The formation of syllables in Spanish [...]

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Syllabication (silabeo) – Lesson 1

October 26, 2009

This is the first of two lessons on how to divide Spanish words into syllables.  Knowing how the words are divided will help you apply the accent rules and improve your pronunciation.
We shall begin with five definitions:
1.  OPEN SYLLABLE – This is a syllable that ends in a vowel.  The letter “y” can be considered [...]

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