When do two vowels get treated as one syllable?

Question

At the end of some words in Spanish, there are two vowels that, for the purpose of the deciding where the stress comes in pronunciation, are treated as a single sound. For example, in sucio the stress is on the u, not the i. On the other hand, desea stresses the second e, not the first one. Is there a general rule saying that certain vowel combinations are treated as a unit for the purpose of stress?

Answer 1

The "a", "e" and "o" are strong vowels, and the "i" and "u" are weak vowels. A general rule of thumb is that two strong vowels together are two different syllables; a strong and a weak are one syllable, with the strong vowel taking over. Therefore: "ca-os" - two syllables with the stress naturally falling on the second to last syllable. "cie-rra" - two syllables with the stress naturally falling on the second to last syllable. Contrast with: "día", which needs the accent to give strength to the "i" and let it form its own syllable. Likewise "oíste" and "Prohíbe" (in some countries it is accented.

Isn't it easy once you get the vowels separated regarding strong an weak?

Thank you, mountaingirl. So for cacareo, the stress would be on the e? - adamglesser, Nov 21, 2009

Ha. You're a faster typist. - Goyo, Nov 21, 2009

correct!! - mountaingirl123, Nov 21, 2009

Correct regarding the "cacareo" question! - mountaingirl123, Nov 21, 2009

Muchas gracias! - adamglesser, Nov 21, 2009

Answer 2

The vowels a, e, and o are strong vowels.

The vowels i, u, and y (when a vowel) are weak vowels.

Two strong vowels together are pronounced separately, as in leer, caer.

When a weak vowel is followed by a strong vowel, a diphthong is produced, where the two vowels produce one syllable. The stress is placed on the strong vowel.

Therefore, the following diphthongs are found in Spanish-

ai, ay

ei, ey

oi, oy

au

eu

ou

uy

Thanks, Goyo. Is 'io' also a dipthong? - adamglesser, Nov 21, 2009

It's not technically a diphthong, but when a weak vowel is followed by a strong one, it loses it's syllabic value and becomes consonantal. I is pronounced like English y in you; u is pronounced like English w in we. - Goyo, Nov 21, 2009

Your examples are all of weak following (not followed by) strong. - samdie, Nov 21, 2009

Answer 3

I think that it's because we say the '-io' on the end of 'sucio' kind of like 'yo', so one syllable...the rule I learnt was the the emphasis is usually on the second to last syllable, and that seems to work most of the time unless of course there's an accent. Hope I helped!