CHAPTER 13: Pronunciación II

Syllables and Syllabification Rules/ Silabas y Reglas de silabificacion.

Knowing how to separate a word into syllables can help you pronounce and spell Spanish words correctly, as well as help you decide if a word needs a written accent or not.

The sophisticated word for dividing a word into syllables is syllabification. Here are some general rules for Spanish syllabification.

Word/ palabra Syllabification/ Silabificacion

sábana sá-ba-na

vaso va-so

velita ve-li-ta

musica mu-si-ca

comida Co-mi-da

Invitalo In-vi-ta-lo

escoba es-co-ba

Rule # 1: Consonant Plus Vowel Whenever possible, you should break up words so that each syllable contains a consonant followed by a vowel. A consonant between two vowels belongs to the syllable with the second vowel. The goal is to end each syllable with a vowel. Listen and Repeat.

Rule # 2: Two Consecutive ConsonantsTwo consecutive consonants will generally belong to separate syllables. However, if the second consonant is a r or l, the consonant pair is not separated into different syllables. Listen and Repeat.  

Word/ palabra Syllabification/ Silabificacion

deseschable de-se-cha-ble

alcanzar al-can-zar

abrazo A-bra-zo

llegar lle-gar

frecuente fre-cu-en-te

amarillo a-ma-ri-llo

hecho he-cho

Rule # 3: Three Consecutive ConsonantsWhen three consonants appear together, the first one will generally belong to a separate syllable or consecutive consonants will generally belong to separate syllables. Listen and Repeat.  

Word/ palabra Syllabification/ Silabificacion

ingles in-gles

panfleto pan-fle-to

ombligo om-bli-go

constante cons-tan-te

instrumento Ins-tru-men-to

construcion cons-tru-ci-on

Rule # 4: Weak and strong vowelsSpanish has both strong vowels (a, e, o) and weak vowels (i, u). Here are some rules on how the combinations of these vowels are divided into syllables.

Two weak vowels together form a diphthong and are not separated into different syllables. Examples escucha y repite :

Fui, Ma-ria, poe-ta, cui-da-do, pau-sa

Rule # 4.1: Weak and strong vowels

A weak vowel and a strong vowel together form a diphthong and are not separated into different syllables. Example, Listen and Repeat:

Juan, co-me-dia, tie-rra, fue-go, re-si-duo, pia-no, A-sia, Po-lo-nia, hie-lo, qui-sie-ras, mie-do, vie-nto,no-vio, mi-llo-na-rio.

Rule # 4.2: Two strong vowels

Two strong vowels together form a hiatus and are separated into different syllables. Listen and Repeat

Le-o, to-a-lla, fe-o, ti-o, cre-er, ca-os , po-se-er.