Pronunciation is a big issue when acquiring a new language. To be good at it, we need to know how to separate a word into syllables. That will be the topic of this post. A syllable is, according to Wordreference, “a unit of pronunciation having one vowel sound, with or without surrounding consonants, and forming all or part of a word.”

The basic rule of word division at the end of a line in Spanish is that the divided word in a new line begins with one consonant unit or a strong vowel. Let´s take a look at some examples to apply this rule and its exceptions properly:

– A consonant goes with the following vowel. We should have in mind that in spanish the combinations “ch” “ll” and “rr” are considered as one single consonant.

a-bu-so                   ce-rra-do               lla-no              co-che

 

– A syllable doesn´t usually start with more than a consonant unit, (that is, a single consonant and a vowel, ) but when the second one is L or R, the syllable breaks before them:

a-trás                            blan-co                           in-glés                     flo-ri-do

 

Obviously, every rule has some exceptions, so the combinations “rl,” “sl,” “tl,” “sr,” and “nr” will be separated as follows:

Is-la                   per-la             at-las

 

– Dipthongs ant tripthongs are not divided. A dipthong is a combination of a strong vowel (a, e, o) and a weak one (i and u) if the weak ones are not stressed. The two vowels are pronounced together in one syllable, giving each one its own sound, and they are not separated when a word is divided into syllables.

Ai-re              deu-da

 

A tripthong is a combination of a stressed strong vowel between two weak vowels. It is considered a single syllable. The four combinations are iai, iei, uai (uay), uei (uey).

Buey                      miau             pa-ra-guay

 

But if the weak vowel of a diphthong or triphthong is accented, or the first vowel when both are weak, they will be considered as two different syllables.

dí-a                               le-í-do

 

Only a few more things before we leave it for next day: try to avoid single letters standing on their own at the beginning of a line, and do not break prefixes to fit them into the rules we have been talking about.

Des-or-den (not de-sor-den)                       sub-ur-ba-no (not su-bur-ba-no)

I hope you find it useful for your next Spanish paper. And if you feel confident enough,

try what we have learned with this poem by Garcilaso de la Vega. See you soon!

 

Cual suele el ruiseñor con triste canto

quejarse, entre las ramas escondido,

del duro labrador que cautamente

le despojó su caro y dulce nido

de los tiernos hijuelos entretanto

que del amado ramo estaba ausente,

y aquel dolor que siente

con diferencia tanta

por la dulce garganta

despide que a su canto el aire suena,

y la callada noche no refrena

su lamentable oficio y sus querellas,

trayendo de su pena

el cielo por testigo y las estrellas.

(Égloga primera, de Garcilaso de la Vega)