Diptongos, Hiatos y Triptongos = Confundido

[Iceycold]

English is my first language so bare with me here, lol.

Hola, mi español no es mi primer language pero voy a tratar de explicar esto lo mejor que pueda.

En mi clase de español estoy estudiando los diptongos, hiatos, y triptongos, no lo entiendo, por lo meno tenge algunas reglas escritas que creo que estan correct pero no estoy 100% seguro. El problema es que mi maestro nadamas enseña ejemplos y las reglas lo dice no lo escribe.

Vocales Fuertes: A E O
Vocales Debil: I y U

CORRECTA ESTO PLEASE, NECESITO ENTENDERLO.

HIATOS - Dos vocales que no se encuentran dentro de una misma siliba, se pronuncian junta pero se escriben separada.

REGLAS: Se considera Hiato la palabra cuando:

Hay 2 vocales fuertes, o 1 fuerte + 1 debil QUE LLEVA LA FUERZA DE PRONUNCIACION.

Finalmente, los hiatos rompen la reglas general de acuentacion, en el sentido que se ponen tilde siempre.

DIPTONGOS - Pronunciacion de dos vocales juntas en una sola siliba.

REGLAS: Se considera diptongo la palabra cuando:

Dos debiles, o debil + fuerte y la fuerta lleva la fuerza de pronunciacion, TENGO UNA REGLA que no estoy seguro si esta correcta: fuerta + debil es diptongo tambien? No estoy seguro.

Le pregunte a un amigo dijo: Un diptongo es la unión de dos vocales en una misma sílaba, siendo al menos una de ellas débil, sin importar el orden. Ejemplos de diptongos: aire, auto, pierna. Esta correcto?

Los Diptongos sigen la regla general de Acentuacion.

TRIPTONGOS- 3 vocales junta en una siliba.

REGLAS: 1 debil + 1 fuerte con fuerza de pronuncacion o tilde + 1 debil.

Los triptongos sigen la regla de acuentacion general.

La Real Academia dise algo y otra persona dise algo todo el mundo dise algo diferente, y estoy muy confundido. Tengo un examen de esto pronoto y no quiero fallarlo.

Ayudame please, gracias :D

[Rusty]

¡Bienvenido a los foros!

There's an 'Accents' drop-down menu just above where you type which you can use to insert all the special characters needed for typing in Spanish. ;)
Hola, el español no es mi primer languaje pero voy a tratar de explicar esto lo mejor que pueda.

En mi clase de español estudio los diptongos, los hiatos y los triptongos. No los entiendo. Por lo menos, tengo algunas reglas escritas que creo que son correctas pero no estoy seguro 100%. El problema es que mi maestro nada más da ejemplos y las reglas las dice pero no las escribe.

Vocales Fuertes/Abiertas: A E O
Vocales Débiles/Cerradas: I U

CORRIJAN ESTO POR FAVOR. NECESITO ENTENDERLO.

HIATOS - Dos vocales que no se encuentran dentro de una misma sílaba, sino que forman parte de dos sílabas consecutivas.

REGLAS: Se considera que hay hiato cuando:

Hay dos vocales fuertes, o una fuerte y otra débil QUE LLEVA LA FUERZA DE PRONUNCIACIÓN.

Finalmente, los hiatos rompen la reglas general de acuentación, en el sentido que se ponen tilde siempre.

DIPTONGOS - La pronunciación de dos vocales en una sola sílaba.

REGLAS: Se considera que hay diptongo cuando:

Hay dos vocales débiles o una débil y otra fuerte, y la fuerte lleva la fuerza de pronunciación. TENGO UNA REGLA que no estoy seguro que sea correcta: ¿Una vocal fuerte y otra débil es un diptongo, también? No estoy seguro.

Le pregunté a un amigo y me dijo: Un diptongo es la unión de dos vocales en una misma sílaba, siendo al menos una de ellas débil, sin importar el orden. Ejemplos de diptongos: aire, auto, pierna. ¿Es correcto?

Los diptongos siguen la regla general de acentuación.

TRIPTONGOS- Tres vocales en una sílaba.

REGLAS: Se considera que hay triptongo cuando:

Hay una vocal débil, otra fuerte, con fuerza de pronuncación o tilde y otra débil.

Los triptongos siguen la regla de acuentación general.

La Real Academia dice una cosa, otra persona dice otra cosa y todo el mundo dice algo diferente. Estoy muy confundido. Tengo un examen sobre esto pronto y no quiero salir mal en él.

Ayúdenme, por favor. Gracias. :D
Aquí te doy unos enlaces a sitios web donde explican lo que quieres saber.

http://www.livingspanish.com/Silaba-diptongos-triptongos-hiatos-A.htm (http://www.livingspanish.com/Silaba-diptongos-triptongos-hiatos-A.htm)

http://www.uamenlinea.uam.mx/materiales/lengua/ortografia-20%20jul/Hiatos.htm (http://www.uamenlinea.uam.mx/materiales/lengua/ortografia-20%20jul/Hiatos.htm)

http://www.uamenlinea.uam.mx/materiales/lengua/ortografia-20%20jul/Diptongos.htm (http://www.uamenlinea.uam.mx/materiales/lengua/ortografia-20%20jul/Diptongos.htm)

[Iceycold]

Gracias por corregir mis errores de ortografia.

Creo que ya lo entiendo esto esta correcto?:

¿Cómo sabemos si dos vocales están en diptongo o en hiato? Lo primero es seguir tres
sencillas reglas:
● Si las dos vocales son débiles, entonces están en diptongo y forman una sola sílaba:
cui-da-do, fui, ciu-dad, ruin.
● Si las dos vocales son fuertes, entonces están en hiato y pertenecen a sílabas
distintas: ro-er, ca-o-ba, so-ez, be-a-to.
● Cuando una de las vocales es fuerte y la otra débil, tenemos que fijarnos en el acento:
○ Si el acento va en la vocal débil, entonces las vocales están en hiato y
pertenecen a sílabas diferentes: ca-í-da, le-í-do, Ra-úl, bú-ho, E-lí-as. En estos
casos, como te habrás fijado, las vocales débiles siempre llevan tilde.
○ Si el acento no va en la vocal débil, entonces las vocales están en diptongo y
pertenecen a la misma sílaba: feu-do, cau-dal, puen-te, vie-ra, trein-ta

Una cosa mas, cuando mi maestro dise "fuerza de pronunciacion" el se refiere a el tilde o siliba tonica no?

Mi regla de triptongo esta correcta?

Ultimamente, si lo que esta arriba esta correcto, la ultima cosa que me tiene preocupado es cuando lleva tilde los Hiatos? Yo se que los diptongos siguen la reglas general, pero cuando lleva tilde el Hiato? Si hay Diptongo, pero la palabra no sigue la regla de acentuacion, no se acentua verdad?

Tengo tantas preguntas despues de leer lo que me distes.

edit1: Ya entiendo cuando una palabra es diptongo, hiato, o triptongo, ahora como se pone tilde en hiato, diptongo y triptongo?

Yo se que cuando hay aguda se pone tilde en la siliba tonica cuando la palabra termina en N, S, o Vocal. Y cuando es llana se pone tilde en todos casos menos cuando la palabra termina en N, S, o Vocal. Cuando hay esdrujulas y sobresdrujulas siempre llevan tilde. Pero estoy confundido cuando hay una situacion con Diptongos, Hiatos, y Triptongos.

Ultimamente, cuando la gente dise siliba tonica es lo mismo que tilde, y, fuerza de voz, y todo esos terminos, no? Por ejemplo en la palabra manzana man - za - na las siliba tonica es za, pero la fuerza la lleva la A no?

[Iceycold]

Can someone help? I have exams on this next week. I found this, is it right? Remember I just need to know now when to put a tilde on hiatos, diptongos, and triptongos.

En los diptongos formados por vocal abierta + vocal cerrada la tilda va sobre la vocal abierta.
En los diptongos formados por dos vocales cerradas, la tilde va sobre la segunda vocal.
En los triptongos la tilde va sobre la vocal abierta.
En los hiatos formados por vocal abierta + vocal cerrada la tilde se coloca sobre la vocal cerrada.
Los hiatos formados por dos vocales abiertas llevan tilde según las reglas generales de acentuación.

[Rusty]

It depends on the word. A written accent mark is only needed if the syllable that is stressed is different than expected. It doesn't matter what the vowel(s) are in that syllable.
Here are some two-syllable words with diphthongs. All but one are palabras llanas (the stress is on the penultimate syllable, as expected). Note that there is no written accent mark on these. The last word is accented to maintain the stress of the imperative when object pronouns are suffixed.
avión, vuelo, Jaime, viudo,
demuestra, demuéstramelo

Here are some words containing triphthongs. Note that one doesn't have an accent mark.
averigüáis, Uruguay

Here are some words with hiatos. Not all have written accents.
europeo, león, teatro, cohete, miau,
oíste, bahía, maíz, frío

[Iceycold]

Okay. Thanks for the info Rusty. But the rules that I last posted,

En los diptongos formados por vocal abierta + vocal cerrada la tilda va sobre la vocal abierta.
En los diptongos formados por dos vocales cerradas, la tilde va sobre la segunda vocal.
En los triptongos la tilde va sobre la vocal abierta.
En los hiatos formados por vocal abierta + vocal cerrada la tilde se coloca sobre la vocal cerrada.
Los hiatos formados por dos vocales abiertas llevan tilde según las reglas generales de acentuación.

Would they be good general ones to follow?

Man I've usually done well with Spanish but I really hit a bump here in learning.

[aleCcowaN]

Okay. Thanks for the info Rusty. But the rules that I last posted,

En los diptongos formados por vocal abierta + vocal cerrada la tilda va sobre la vocal abierta.
En los diptongos formados por dos vocales cerradas, la tilde va sobre la segunda vocal.
En los triptongos la tilde va sobre la vocal abierta.
En los hiatos formados por vocal abierta + vocal cerrada la tilde se coloca sobre la vocal cerrada.
Los hiatos formados por dos vocales abiertas llevan tilde según las reglas generales de acentuación. Would they be good general ones to follow?

Man I've usually done well with Spanish but I really hit a bump here in learning.

There's something there looking wrong. There seems to be some confusion about an accent mark being needed and where that accent mark is placed if needed.

Check this authoritative source (http://buscon.rae.es/dpdI/SrvltGUIBusDPD?lema=tilde2).

Here, I rewrite your set of rules:

I) Los diptongos (definidos en 2.1.1) y triptongos (definidos en 2.3.1) siguen las reglas generales de acentuación:
a) En caso de llevar tilde, en los diptongos formados por vocal abierta (que debe ser tónica) y vocal cerrada (que debe ser átona), en cualquier orden, la tilde se coloca sobre la vocal abierta (por ser tónica) (2.1.3.a).
b) En caso de llevar tilde, en los diptongos formados por dos vocales cerradas, la tilde se coloca en la segunda vocal (2.1.3.b)
c) En caso de llevar tilde, los triptongos la llevan sobre la vocal abierta (2.3.3)

II) Los hiatos (definidos en 2.2.1) siguen las siguientes reglas de acentuación:
a) Los hiatos formados por dos vocales abiertas siguen las reglas generales de acentuación (2.2.2.a)
b) Los hiatos formados por dos vocales idénticas siguen las reglas generales de acentuación (2.2.2.a)
c) Los hiatos formados por una vocal cerrada (que debe ser tónica) y una vocal abierta (que debe ser átona) cualquiera sea el orden, siempre llevan tilde sobre la vocal cerrada, independientemente de que lo exijan o no las reglas generales de acentuación (2.2.2.b)

What I added in grey is what allows native speakers to translate oral language into written language and how to pronounce a written word we didn't know, that is, if it has a hiato or a diphthong. I mean, I pronounce BOO-oh, so I must write it búo, (or strictly búho for other reasons, but ignore the h -that comes from this word's history- for the sake of this argument). May we pronounce it bwoh, we'd write it buo.

It also explains some general rules in Spanish:
A diphthong with two vocales cerradas has the stress in the second one, whether it has a stress mark or not according with las reglas generales de acentuación (veintiún, viudo). Any attempt to move the stress to the first vowel would break the diphthong, becoming it a hiato, but it would sound pretty un-Spanish, as native speakers will tend to insert some consonant in there. The same about an unlikely triphthong-like sequence with an accent mark placed on a weak vowel -it'd become a diphthong, a very hard to pronounce one-.

I don't know if I left something out, but I hope that the hierarchical distinction between a word having or not an accent mark and where it is placed in the stressed syllable, plus some perspective about some ways Spanish wouldn't follow, will aid you in remembering these rules, then mastering them.

[Iceycold]

THANK YOU so much, I'll write those rules down and study them for an exam.

One more thing:

Say I was given the word: fun-ción but like this: fun-cion, It's aguda, and a dipthong and dipthongs with fuerte + debil in whatever order can't have the force in the debil vowel so it's on the O ok cool I understand that.

Now, say I was given a hiato: mí-o but on the exam it'd be: mi-o (without accent, I need to place it since that's the goal of the exam), it's llana and ends in N, S, or Vowel, so it doesnt have an accent, and our rule for Hiato is debil + fuerte in any order the debil needs the force. When I say MIO, the I is what sounds the most which is debil and that is why it's on the I right?

Reason I ask this above: My teacher says "la vocal que reciba la fuerza de pronunciacion" is this the same as saying the letter/vowel that is pronounced the most?

I understand it all now, but still confused on what I typed above.

[aleCcowaN]

Now, say I was given a hiato: mí-o but on the exam it'd be: mi-o (without accent, I need to place it since that's the goal of the exam), it's llana and ends in N, S, or Vowel, so it doesnt have an accent, and our rule for Hiato is debil + fuerte in any order the debil needs the force. When I say MIO, the I is what sounds the most which is debil and that is why it's on the I right?


As you said, it's llana and it shouldn't have tilde as it ends with a vowel, but as stated in 2.2.2.b (or our II-c) it always get a tilde in the weak vowel independently of what is stated in the general rules regarding accent marks. Besides, the tilde couldn't be anywhere but on the i, otherwise it would still be a diphthong, then a monosyllable (mio) so it'd be unstressed like almost every monosyllable, according to the general rules that diphthongs follow (our I). About this business of it still being a diphthong and not a hiato, we used to say at my elementary school -third to fifth grade- (one and a third generations ago) "la tilde rompe/quiebra el diptongo".

But the key point is that the exam necessarily tests your knowledge of these rules but most of all your general vocabulary. Otherwise how would you now what to do with mio, as it could be mío (mine) or mio (prefix meaning "heart")? If you do know that the word has a tilde, and only general rules and our rules apply, well, I suppose there's almost one way to place it, provided you know enough Spanish to detect frequent or infrequent syllables. I mean, if you get albedrio, only álbedrio:bad: and albedrío:good: are possible. If you didn't know the word (will, as in biblical free will, otherwise will is voluntad), well then the syllable drio should be perceived as highly unusual.

"La vocal que reciba la fuerza de la pronunciación" is the stressed vowel, independently if it's abierta or cerrada (don't use fuerte or débil loosely until you got all of this right)

mío ---> í (vocal cerrada tónica) o (vocal abierta átona)
unión ---> i (vocal cerrada átona) ó (vocal abierta tónica)
chiíta ---> i (vocal cerrada átona) í (vocal cerrada tónica)
necio ---> i (vocal cerrada átona) o (vocal abierta átona) Why? Because e (vocal abierta tónica)

[Rusty]

The word mío has an accent mark because without it the vowels would be a diphthong and there would be only a single syllable. The person who coined this word wanted it to have two syllables, so the accent mark serves that purpose; it decouples the vowels (the diphthong), making two syllables. In a word like dio, there is only one syllable, even though the 'same' vowels appear in both words. This is because there is no accent mark and the two vowels are not decoupled (they are a diphthong).

Stress (what your teacher calls 'fuerza de pronunciación') falls on a particular syllable for each word in Spanish. Which syllable that is was decided by the person who coined the word. In order for everyone else to know what the coiner had in mind, there is a set of spelling rules that must be followed so everyone pronounces it correctly.
The rules are set forth in the link that Alec gave you. Plain and simple. English doesn't have this luxury.

Word stress, or 'accent', is called 'acento (tónico)' in Spanish.

I'm surprised to learn that your teacher expects you to know where a word should be accented if someone forgets to properly spell it. The only way to know that is to know how the word is pronounced. There are three proper ways to mark 'io', for example - dio, mío, durmió. There are two proper ways to mark 'ia' - guardia, sandía. How are you supposed to know which way to spell these words if you don't know how there are pronounced to begin with?!?

[Iceycold]

Yeah, he can be confusing sometimes. What I don't like is he doesn't right the rules on the board, if he did, this confusion would of never happened in the first place.

So it's safe to think the fuerza de voz is just the vowel that, how do I say this, sounds the most in the word?
Like how gato is llana, is ga-to but the A is the "fuerza" or stress?

I'm slowly starting to understand it. The help is greatly appreciated. Unfortunately, my teacher doesn't respond to emails or my school's email system must be broken.

[aleCcowaN]

Exactly, "a" is the vowel that has la fuerza de pronunciación. It's la vocal acentuada (the stressed vowel) so it's abierta (for being an a) and tónica (for being stressed).

[Iceycold]

Okay so it's all one big group of synonyms haha.

Well thanks a lot guys I skimmed through it all since I'm doing something at the moment if I have any questions I'll post back.

[Iceycold]

Since: Los diptongos (definidos en 2.1.1) y triptongos (definidos en 2.3.1) siguen las reglas generales de acentuación

Say I'm given a word and asked to put the tilde where needed. If the word needs no tilde, but is a diptongo I wouldn't put it right since the diptongos & triptongos follow the general rules of tilde?

On the other hand, if the word needs no tilde and is Hiato, I can break the general rules right?

[Rusty]

Whether there's an accent mark in a word or not has NOTHING to do with its vowel configuration!

If someone gives you a word you've never seen before, you need to trust that that person wrote the word correctly. Proper spelling of a word INCLUDES an accent mark, if one is needed. If a word that requires an accent mark is written without it, that word is MISSPELLED and you'll mispronounce it. Guaranteed.

This is why I said that I can't believe a teacher would expect a student to know where an accent mark should be placed in words that are unfamiliar to said student. It is absolutely impossible to know! The teacher must either say the word aloud or provide a pronunciation guide that indicates which syllable is stressed.

[Iceycold]

I understand what you trying to say Rusty but, he's testing us:

If a word that requires an accent mark is written without it, that word is MISSPELLED and you'll mispronounce it. Guaranteed.

But he wants to know if we know where to put the tilde. So that's why I ask if the word forms a diptongo, but does not follow the general rules of tilde it doesn't get one right cause Diptongos follow the normal rules? And if there's a Hiato and it does not follow the general rules does it follow the hiato tilde rules?

What I'm trying to say is: Diptongos don't bend the general rules of acentuacion, but Hiatos do (which is where they're special tilde rules come into place), am I correct on this?

Here's an example of what I mean: La Palabra Convierta. Es llana, termina en n, s, o vocal entonces no lleva tilde. Pero froma un diptongo porque en la siliba vier hay una i y una e. La fuerza no esta en la vocal debil entonces es diptongo. Pero no se pone tilde porque la palabra siguiendo las reglas generales de acentuacion. O, si lleva tilde por las reglas que me dio aleccowan?

Another word, Vahido. Es llana (h no suena) es llana no debe llevar tilde pero lleva uno porque es Hiato formado por a y i, y la i lleva la fuerza.

Another word, Maria. Es llana, rompe las reglas generales de acentuacion pero se acentua (María) porque es Hiato y la fuerza la lleva la i.

I understand aleccowan's rules, what I don't understand is if I should break the general accentuation rules in Hiatos, and follow them in Diptongos & Triptongos, the rest I understand.

Rusty I know you say it's hard to believe but here's the man: http://matermiddlehigh.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=139131&type=u (school website)

[aleCcowaN]

What's the problem?

Los diptongos siguen las reglas generales de acentuación: ciudad, función, gratuito, cuídalo

En caso de llevar tilde, en la combinación abierta-cerrada llevan tilde en la abierta (función), y en caso de cerrada-cerrada, en la segunda (cuídalo)

Los triptongos siguen las reglas generales de acentuación: miau, confiéis

En caso de llevar tilde, la llevan en la vocal abierta: confiéis

Los hiatos formados por dos vocales abiertas o por dos vocales idénticas siguen las reglas generales de acentuación: veedor, petróleo, caé, cae

Los hiatos formados por vocal abierta átona y vocal cerrada tónica llevan tilde en la vocal cerrada independientemente de que así lo exijan las reglas generales de acentuación: lío (palabra llana), caído (palabra llana), caí (palabra aguda), vahído (palabra grave).

You would understand only if you can pronounce those words without the tilde: lio sounds like North Korean leadership, caido like Japanese art period, cai like the name of one of Tarzan's friends. If you are still hearing in your mind lío, caído and caí, and not the real lio, caido and cai, then you'd never understand the rules.

[Rusty]

Here's the dilemma, as I perceive it (assuming the teacher isn't telling you which syllable is stressed):

1) continuo
This word is properly spelled. How is it pronounced?

2) continuo
This word is not spelled correctly (it's supposed to have an accent mark, but I purposely left it off). I'm not telling you which syllable is stressed. Where does the accent mark go?

3) continuo
This word is also misspelled (it's supposed to have an accent mark, but I left it off). I'll tell you that the stressed syllable in this word is not the same as in the last word. Where does the accent mark go?

4) continuo
This word is not pronounced like the last word. Does it need an accent mark?

If these four questions were the only ones on your test, you would stand a good chance of missing three out of the four. That's a failing grade.

The only question you can get right is number 1. I told you the word is spelled correctly, so that means it has no accent mark and that is the key you need to determine its pronunciation, by following the rules.

To get a 100% on this test you need to have more information - you need to be told where the stressed syllable is for numbers 2-4.

EDIT: I found this PDF (http://sofi.uprag.edu/attachments/article/84/Manual%20para%20la%20Acentuaci%C3%83%C2%B3n.pdf) that I think may be of some benefit, especially the exercises at the end. Some of the exercises may be similar to the test you're studying for. Note that the person who created the exercises acknowledges the need to look up unfamiliar words in order to correctly identify where an orthographic accent mark belongs.

[Iceycold]

You would understand only if you can pronounce those words without the tilde: lio sounds like North Korean leadership, caido like Japanese art period, cai like the name of one of Tarzan's friends. If you are still hearing in your mind lío, caído and caí, and not the real lio, caido and cai, then you'd never understand the rules.

Yes I understand this perfectly now, I just wanted to get the rules down 100% so I am studying the right thing since I won't be able to see my teacher until next week.

Rusty, thank you so much for the PDF.

This is what I will write down and study:

Los diptongos siguen las reglas generales de acentuación: ciudad, función, gratuito, cuídalo

En caso de llevar tilde, en la combinación abierta-cerrada llevan tilde en la abierta (función), y en caso de cerrada-cerrada, en la segunda (cuídalo)

Los triptongos siguen las reglas generales de acentuación: miau, confiéis

En caso de llevar tilde, la llevan en la vocal abierta: confiéis

Los hiatos formados por dos vocales abiertas o por dos vocales idénticas siguen las reglas generales de acentuación: veedor, petróleo, caé, cae

Los hiatos formados por vocal abierta átona y vocal cerrada tónica llevan tilde en la vocal cerrada independientemente de que así lo exijan las reglas generales de acentuación: lío (palabra llana), caído (palabra llana), caí (palabra aguda), vahído (palabra grave).

1 last situation I thought of.. What happens to a word that is a hiato or diptongo, but it does not need a tilde because of the general rules? I don't put a tilde at all?

[Rusty]

I hope you can see that the rules you're trying so hard to learn are only needed AFTER you know which syllable is stressed.

For example, you rightly claim that the three-syllable word 'cuídalo' needs to have an accent mark over the 'i' in the diphthong, but that's only because the first syllable needs to be stressed ('cuídalo'). When the second syllable of the three-syllable word, the one containing the 'a', needs to be stressed instead, no accent mark is needed ('cuidalo').
Both of these words are imperatives with a suffixed direct object pronoun ('lo'), but the person is different. The person used in the first example is tú (two-syllable imperative: cuida). The person used in the second example is vos (two-syllable imperative: cuidá). When the direct object pronoun is suffixed, the normally-stressed syllable of the imperative is maintained. In order to maintain the normally-stressed syllable, the first form (cuida) needs an accent mark added. In the second form (cuidá), the accent mark is subtracted.

So, the thing you must know first is where a word is stressed (how it's supposed to be pronounced). Only then can you determine if an accent mark is needed or not; only then do the acentuation rules apply. This is all I've been trying to say. Make sense? I hope your teacher realizes this and that his test INCLUDES a pronunciation guide so you have a fighting chance. Without that clue, you'll be looking at the dilemma in post #18.