Stress Rules and Punctuation

Video Transcription

Stress rules. This word stress does not refer to the stress that you feel from working too many hours or having too much on your plate. This is linguistic stress. So it is how we put the stress on a word. One word that has one syllable we only have one option. But if it has multiple syllables, then you have to know which of the syllables receives the stress.

So first of all, a syllable, just as a reminder, is a sound within a word. So if we have [SPANISH], we have a two syllable word. If we have a longer word like [SPANISH], I think that was five. [SPEAKING SPANISH] So we have to know where the stress goes. Is it [SPEAKING SPANISH] or [SPANISH] or [SPANISH]?

So this is the list of rules that will help us determine which one is correct. By the way, you never want to put the stress on the wrong syll-ah-ble, or it will sound very silly. In fact, in Spanish, it could have a different meaning. It might actually be a different meaning than what you're trying to convey. So it's very important to stress the words correctly. Again, in English, we have lots and lots and lots of stress rules.

Oftentimes you have to hear a word pronounced before you know where the stress goes because so many of our words break the rules. We have lots of exceptions to them. We're a very schizophrenic language with our base language being German because English is a Germanic language. But we have about 40% of our words that come from Latin. And then we pick and choose and borrow from other languages as we please. So that's why our stress rules are very convoluted.

But in Spanish they're extremely straightforward. They all follow these rules. Every single one. Even names. So you want to pay attention to where the stress goes. And if you can remember rule number one, then it'll be very easy to remember the next two, because they simply follow suit. Just to clarify, I am speaking of vocal stress. So where your voice goes out and loudest within the word. Not necessarily of written stress, as in the written accent mark that you place onto a vowel. Although rule number three does deal with that. I just want you to know that stress is not just something that's written. It's also something that's heard and spoken.

Rule number one. If a word ends in a vowel, the letter N, or the letter S, the natural stress-- in other words, where you pronounce the word the strongest and the loudest-- will fall on the next to last syllable. You always want to start with the next to last because sometimes you'll have a word that has more than two syllables.

For example, [SPANISH]. That's a five syllable word. So you need to count from the end. So for the word [SPANISH], it's stressed on the next to last syllable. If you were to break that apart, it would be H-O dash L-A. That's where the syllables would split. And that's a two syllable word. But again, we count from the end. So the stress is not on la. It's on ho.

So we have [SPANISH]. [SPANISH] If you want to envision the ho as being higher than the la, that might help. So [SPANISH]. [SPANISH]. Now try [SPANISH]. [SPANISH]. Would the next word be [SPANISH] or [SPANISH]? [SPEAKING SPANISH] And then finally [SPANISH]. Not [SPANISH] but [SPANISH]. There actually is a word [SPANISH], but it means he called or she called not I call as in I call myself. So again, the stress is extremely important. [SPEAKING SPANISH]

Again, if your word ends in a vowel, an ah, eh, ee oh, oo, or the letter N, [SPANISH], or the letter S, [SPANISH], the natural stress-- in other words, where the syllable is the loudest-- is the next to last syllable. The next to last spot. Rule number two. Otherwise, the natural stress falls on the very last syllable. Another good reason to count from the end.

So the word for city is [SPANISH]. Notice how it goes up on the last syllable. [SPANISH]. How about C-O-M-E-R? How would that be pronounced? [SPEAKING SPANISH] Not [SPANISH] but [SPANISH]. How about H-A-B-L-A-R? [SPEAKING SPANISH] And finally, paper is pronounced [SPANISH]. [SPANISH].

So the key is to look at the last letter. If it's a vowel, N, or S, the stress goes on the next to last syllable. If it's anything else, the stress goes on the last syllable. Finally, all exceptions will actually follow a rule of their own. This is beautiful. In Spanish, the accent mark, the written stress mark, actually has a purpose. It will either tell you how a word is pronounced, or it will help you determine what a word means, which we'll cover next. But in these examples, it's really just for pronunciation.

So these words are breaking the rules. They're breaking rules one and two. Therefore they are carrying a written stress mark to show you where they are pronounced the strongest. So L-A-P-I-Z would normally follow rule number two. It does not end in a vowel, N, or, S. So it should be [SPANISH]. But it's not. It has an accent mark over the A or [SPEAKING SPANISH]. So it's [SPANISH]. [SPANISH]. You can think of that little accent mark as an indicator, as an arrow pointing to where you should stress the word the loudest.

Now try the next one J-O-S-E with an accent mark on the E. [SPEAKING SPANISH] It's not [SPANISH], but rather [SPANISH]. And the last word is pronounced [SPANISH]. Not [SPANISH], but [SPANISH]. There's an accent mark on the I. Now this is an example of a diphthong. You have an I and an A. [SPANISH] and [SPANISH]. Which normally, according to our rule, would be in one syllable. Right? [SPANISH]. [SPANISH]. They would merge because one is weak and one is strong.

However, an accent is placed on the I, on the [SPANISH], to denote that it is stressed. This places it into a separate syllable. [SPANISH]. [SPANISH]. This happens with lots of words that end in an I-A. But not all. From earlier, our example for pharmacy, [SPANISH], does not have an accent on the I. It's not [SPANISH], it's [SPANISH]. [SPANISH]. This one however does have the accent on the I, so it's [SPANISH]. [SPANISH]. So just pay close attention to whether or not your word has an accent mark. If it does, know that the other two rules are out the window.

Punctuation. In Spanish, you'll notice that exclamation marks and question marks make an appearance at the beginning of a sentence or a phrase as well as at the end. Only they're upside down at the beginning. So look at the examples here. We have [SPEAKING SPANISH]. Consider it a courtesy to the reader. If you were reading a very long sentence that perhaps went on for several lines, you might be reading it with an incorrect inflection until you got to the end without knowing whether it was a declaration, a question, or an exclamation.

For example, [SPEAKING SPANISH]. That's just a declaration. But [SPEAKING SPANISH]? I'm confused. Is there one? I didn't know that. Versus [SPEAKING SPANISH]! I'm panicking, there's an exam, I didn't study. I forgot. Accent marks, as we learned, are very important in Spanish because they tell us how to pronounce a word. And they can even tell us what a word means.

Here's an example. [SPANISH] is the word this. But [SPANISH] with an accent on the A is the word is. So [SPEAKING SPANISH], where is the bathroom? [SPEAKING SPANISH] This computer is mine. So those words are spelled the same way. Only one has an accent mark and one doesn't.

But that accent mark controls both how the word is pronounced, in other words, where it's stressed-- [SPANISH] versus [SPANISH]-- and what it means. The accent mark in Spanish is always written the same way. It is written from top right to bottom left. So Spanish does not have an accent mark written in the opposite direction. Just top right to bottom left.

You have seen how the accent mark is used for pronunciation purposes. You'll also see them use to control meaning. For example, if you have a question word like [SPANISH] or [SPANISH]-- in other words, an interrogative word. One of those journalism words, the who, what, where, when, why and how. You'll find an accent mark over the strong vowel. This has nothing to do with pronunciation. It's just used to indicate that the word is being used as a question word. One reason for this is that in Spanish, sometimes they use the same words to answer the question. So it's just to clarify. You may have heard [SPANISH], [SPANISH]. Why? And then the answer is [SPANISH]. Because. Same word.

[SPEAKING SPANISH] What's the mom say? [SPEAKING SPANISH] She says that she has a daughter. So notice that [SPANISH] can both mean what and that. It's just to clarify. When an accent mark is written over a word that has only one syllable, its only purpose is to distinguish that word from another word that does not have an accent mark.

If you think about it, [SPANISH] is the only way you could possibly pronounce the word E-L. However, it has two different meanings. [SPANISH] with no accent is the. [SPANISH] with the accent is he. [SPANISH] with no accent mark is if. [SPANISH] with the accent mark is yes. Are you ready to practice? Hopefully [SPEAKING SPANISH].

Let's practice. You're going to identify where the stress should go in a word. You're going to use the rules that you just learned, and you'll see a visual of that word. I will pronounce it a number of different ways. And then you're going to choose the correct pronunciation based on where the stress goes. I will be using the same sounds for the vowels and the consonants. Those will all be correct. You're only listening for the stress. So let me give you an example. For this word, [SPANISH]. It could be pronounced either [SPANISH] or [SPANISH]. Which one do you think is correct? [SPANISH]. And again you imagine that stress syllable as being higher and louder. [SPANISH].

Here we go. [SPEAKING SPANISH] This word is [SPANISH]. Is it [SPANISH] or [SPANISH]? [SPANISH]. The stress goes on the last syllable because it ends in something other than a vowel, N, or S. [SPEAKING SPANISH] Here are the options. [SPEAKING SPANISH]

What do you think? [SPEAKING SPANISH] That one goes on the next to last syllable because it does end in a vowel. How about this one? [SPANISH]. Is it [SPEAKING SPANISH]? Which is correct? [SPANISH]. The stress is on the next to last syllable. OK, now this one. [SPANISH]. Is it [SPANISH], [SPANISH], or [SPANISH]? [SPANISH]. Again, next to last syllable since the word ends in a vowel.

How about this one? [SPANISH]. Is it [SPANISH] or [SPANISH]? [SPEAKING SPANISH] It goes in the last syllable because it does not end in a vowel, or the letter N, or an S. How about [SPANISH]? Is it [SPANISH] or [SPANISH]? [SPANISH]. It goes on the last syllable again because it does not end in a vowel, N, or S.

Now take note of the stress mark on this one. [SPANISH]. Is it [SPANISH], [SPANISH], or [SPANISH]? [SPANISH]. The stress mark overrides all other rules. And finally, [SPANISH]. Is it [SPANISH], [SPANISH], or [SPANISH]? [SPANISH]. Because there is a written accent mark over the E. It gets the stress. [SPEAKING SPANISH]