Diphthongs: one syllable, two vowels

Erklärung

Fourteen combos glide: ia ie io ua ue uo (rising: tierra, fuego), ai ei oi au eu ou (falling: aire, deuda), iu ui (ciudad, cuidado). They count as ONE syllable for stress rules.

An accent on the weak vowel breaks the diphthong into two syllables — that's hiatus (día, país) — see the hiatus rule.

Why this matters mechanically: a diphthong counts as a single syllable for the stress rules, so vie-ne and bue-no are two syllables, not three. The fusion only breaks when a written accent lands on the weak vowel (i or u) — that is hiatus, and it is exactly what the tilde in día or país is signalling.

Beispiele

Verwandte Regeln

• Hiatus: día, país, leer
• Splitting syllables: the CV rhythm