Lápiz and Fácil
The accents in Lápiz and Fácil seem to serve no purpose.
The penultimate syllable is usually emphasized so why do these words have accents?
Are there any other words like this?
10 Answers
Hi, Ian. If a word ends in a consonant other than "n" or "s", the last syllable is stressed unless there is a written accent.
If a word ends in a vowel or "n" or "s" the second to last syllable is stressed unless there is a written accent.
hence, the accents are there for pronunciation purposes...
Spanish orthography is meant to reflect the pronunciation. There is no answer to "Why do they pronounce a word a certain way?" other than, because they do. Once the pronunciation is established, your orthography can show how it pronounced (as in Spanish) or not (as in English).
However, it makes no more sense to ask "Why don't they say 'lapiz' (stress on the penult)?" that it does to ask "Why we don't say in English TOday (with the stress on the first syllable) or faCILE (with the stress on the final syllable)?"
Just to clarify the 3 rules for stress:
Rule 1: If a word ends in a vowel of "n" or "s", the word is pronounced with the stress on the next to the last syllable. Examples: e-JEM-plo, Ha-BLA-mos, SA-ben.
Rule 2: If a word ends in a consonant other than "n" or "s", the word is pronounced with the stress on the last syllable. Examples: en-TRAR, fal-se-DAD, e-sta-TAL.
Rule 3: If a word is pronounced in a way that does not follow the above 2 rules, there is a written accent over the stressed vowel. Examples: fá-cil, di-fí-cil, lá-piz, te-lé-fono, sa-béis, ju-rí-di-co, et-cé-te-ra.
I hope this helps!
"feliz" no accent mark so accented on last syllable
I don't know the answer to your question, but I have been corrected by spanish-speaking natives because I didn't emphasize the accent enough, on these exact two words.
Words such as infinitives: "correr" and "abrir", and other words that end in a consonant such as "abril" and "lugar" have the stress on the last syllable because they end in a consonant.
This rule goes for all words ending with a consonant, except when the consonant is "n" or "s" in words such as corren and libros
If lápiz had no accent mark, it would be pronounced lapíz If fácil had no accent mark, it would be pronounced facíl.
dont forget dipthongs.... i promise it's not inappropriate.
singers use these when singing, they are also used in english for that reason
its where theres a break in the word
Hi Ian. I have attempted to answer this question in my Website at: link text
Richard
"feliz" no accent mark so accented on last syllable
Feliz is stressed on the final syllable, so it doesn't need the stress.
Great question, Ian.
Here's the only thing that I found online.
lápiz --> With accent because it's a word, ending in letter different from vowel, n or s.
