| Strong vowels/weak vowels A, E, and O are considered the strong vowels in Spanish and U and I are considered the weak vowels in Spanish Whenever 2 or more strong vowels follow each other, they are considered to be separate syllables. Whenever a weak vowel and a strong vowel appear side by side, the strong vowel gets the emphasis. Whenever two weak vowels appear side by side, the second weak vowel gets the emphasis ~ This mark is called a tilde and only appears over an �n� / This mark is called an accent mark and is used to indicate when the spoken stress is to be placed. It only appears over vowels When using a exclamation mark or question mark, Spanish requires the use of one at the beginning of the phrase and at the end of the phrase. The one at the beginning of the phrase is written upside down: Examples: �C�mo est�s? �Ay Dios m�o! Dipthongs: A dipthong, or blended sound, is when a strong vowel (a, e, o) is preceded or followed by a weak vowel (i, u, and the consonanrt y) Possible combinations: AI / AY SOUNDS LIKE THE "I" IN THE WORD "TIME" AU SOUNDS LIKE THE "OW" IN THE WORD "NOW" EI / EY SOUNDS LIKE THE "A" IN THE WORD "DATE" EU SOUNDS LIKE THE "EY" IN THE WORD "HEY" FOLLOWED BY THE "O" SOUND IN THE WORD "WHO" OI / OY SOUNDS LIKE THE "OY" IN THE WORD "TOY" OU SOUNDS LIKE THE "OU" IN THE WORD "OUCH" IA / YA SOUNDS LIKE THE "YA" IN THE WORD "YACHT IE / YE SOUNDS LIKE THE "YE" IN THE WORD "YET" IO / YO SOUNDS LIKE THE "YO" IN THE WORD "YOGA" IU / YU SOUNDS LIKE THE ENGLISH WORD "YOU" UA SOUNDS LIKE THE "WA" IN THE WORD "WATT" UE SOUNDS LIKE THE "WA" IN THE WORD "WAIT" UI SOUNDS LIKE THE "WEE" IN THE WORD "WEEK" UO SOUNDS LIKE THE "UO" IN THE WORD "QUOTA" Tripthongs: A tripthong is a combination of a stressed strong vowel in between two weak vowels, forming a single syllable. Only four combinations exist in Spanish: 1. IAI SOUNDS LIKE THE "YI" IN THE WORD "YIPE" EX: ESTUDI�IS 2. IEI SOUNDS LIKE THE WORD "YEA" (RHYMES W/ "WAY") EX: ESTUDI�IS 3. UAI OR UAY SOUNDS LIKE THE "WI" IN THE WORD "WIME" EX: CONTINU�IS OR PARAGUAY 4. UEI OR UEY SOUNDS LIKE THE "WA" IN THE WORD "WADE" EX: CONTINU�IS OR BUEY Rules for spoken stress: 1. If a word ends in a vowel, �n� or �s�, the spoken stress goes on the next to the last syllable. 2. If a word ends in a consonant, except �n� or �s�, the spoken stress goes on the last syllable. 3. If a word does not follow rule #1 or #2, it has an accent mark which will indicate where to place the spoken stress |