Stress Placement
In the word "la hortensia," why is the stress place on "ten" instead of on "si" since the word ends in a vowel? Does Spanish regard "sia" as one syllable?
3 Answers
Spanish rules are almost mathematical in this respect. In terms of syllables, even a machine can do this:
hor-ten-sia
If you see a stress mark, that's it, but if you don't, the rules are simple:
1) If the word ends in a consonant other than N or S, the stress is on the last syllable.
2) Otherwise, the stress is on the second to last (penultimate) syllable.
"Hortersia" has no visible accent, so judging form the two rules stated above, the stress is on the penultimate syllable.
Are you thinking of a word like the name María? María is often written without the tilde, Maria, in the US and other non-Spanish speaking countries. diphthongs are slightly different from vowels. StudySpanish.com says
Diphthongs occur when an unstressed "i", "u", or "y-ending" appears next to another vowel in the same syllable. Their vowel sounds do not change, but they blend together to form a single syllable. One such vowel combination, "ai" (or "ay" word ending), is pronounced like the English word "eye," except that it is a somewhat shorter sound. Note that when there is a written accent over the letter "i", the diphthong is "broken" and the two vowels are pronounced separately.
" why is the stress place on "ten" instead of on "si" since the word ends in a vowe ]
On one level, your questions is silly. They pronounce it that way because that's the way they pronounce it. Over the years Spanish orthography has, been modified to reflect pronunciation (unlike English spelling). The use of diacritics serves the same purpose, when the stress falls in an "unusual" place, an accent mark is needed to indicate that fact,.
