ACCENTS AND STRESS WHEN SPEAKING
Word stress can affect the meaning of the word and generally follows these rules: If a word is marked with an accent, then that syllable receives the stress. Additionally, if the accent marks a dipthong a syllable break occurs between the two vowels of the dipthong. If a word is NOT marked with an accent, then if the word ends in a consonant other than N or S , the stress occurs on the last syllable. if the word ends in a vowel, N or S , the stress occurs on the next to last syllable. Examples: círculo ( SEER-koo-loh ) → circle circulo ( seer-KOO-loh ) → I circulate circuló ( seer-koo-LOH ) → (s)he/it circulated estás ( ehss-TAHSS ) → you are estas ( EHSS-tahss ) → these origen ( oh-REE-hehn ) → origin orígenes ( oh-REE-hehn-ehss ) → origins ciudad ( syew-DAHD ) → city ciudades ( syew-DAH-dehss ) → cities An accent can also be used to differentiate between words that are pronounced the same but have different meanings: si → if tu → yo...