How to know when a vowel will be stressed?
I keep seeing rules for accents and stem changing verbs being thrown at me using the indication of "when a vowel is stress" to know the difference. I simply don't understand how to know when a stress is needed.
For example, "camino" and caminó". They are spelled exactly the same. Here is the apparent rule for that:
An accent mark is normally NOT required if:
The word ends in a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) or n or s and the stress falls on the next-to-the-last (or penultimate) syllable. Examples:
camino [ca-MI-no, road, ends in a vowel, and the stress falls on the next-to-the last syllable]
A written accent mark IS required if the situation is not as given in the above two rules, that is, when:
The word ends in a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) or n or s and the stress falls on the last syllable. Examples:
caminó [ca-mi-NÓ, he/she walked ends in a vowel, and the stress falls on the last syllable]
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How am I supposed to know when that word is stressed differently if it's spelled exactly the same? And this isn't the only example.
An accent mark is normally NOT required if:
The word ends in a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) or n or s and the stress falls on the next-to-the-last (or penultimate) syllable. Examples:
hablan [HA-blan, they speak, ends in an n and the stress falls on the next-to-the-last syllable]
The word ends in a consonant other than n or s and the stress falls on the last syllable. Examples:
querer [que-RER, to want, ends in an r and the stress falls on the last syllable]
Why does the stress in "hablan" fall on the first syllable but the stress in querer falls to the last? They have the same amount of syllables and similar structure. Is there some sort of rule that tells you what part of a word is stressed? If not, then I'll never understand accents and stem changes.
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Ok thanks for the answer, now: Is there a rule that tells you when the normal rule will be broken and require an accent? Or do you just have to memorize all the words that break the rules?
2 Answers
Camino. The word ends in an accent so according to the rule, the stress falls on the penultimate syllable and is therefore pronounced ca- MI - no.
Accent marks are normally used to indicate that the pronunciation rules (you have posted) have been broken.
The accent over the ó in caminó lets you know that although it is normally pronounced ca-MI-no as per the pronunciation rules, in this case you should stress the last syllable. You know to break the rule because of the presence of the accent.
This alternate pronunciation is used to differentiate the two words. Now ca-MI-no can mean one thing, and ca-mi-NO can mean another.
Oh and between hablan and querer, the answer is in front of you. You wrote the rule that if a word ends in a vowel, N, or s, the stress is on the penultimate syllable. They are not the same in all regards (their endings).
