Why is there a stress symbol for "día"
Buenos días todos,
Bear with me since I'm a beginner, but why is there a stress symbol for día? Even without it, it will be pronounced the same way, am I right? Please help.
Gracias.
Jeff
2 Answers
No, it would not.
The ia forms a diphthong. In diphthongs, the strong vowel (a, e ,o) receives the stress.
Placing the accent mark on the weak vowel (i,u) shifts the stress from the strong to the weak vowel. This is sometimes referred to as "breaking the diphthong" or "preventing the diphthong from being formed".
When such an event occurs it changes the one syllable containing the diphthong combination into two syllables. dia would have been a monosyllabic word. Dí-a is a two syllable word.
Even without it, it will be pronounced the same way, am I right? Please help.
The accents in Spanish are never there for fun. When they appear, they always indicate where is the stressed vowel. Without the accent, the stress would be, by default, on the final "a" instead.
