Rationale or to learn 'by heart'

Question

I miss the rationale behind this. is this something to learn 'by heart'? as in, just learn these exceptions and you're good to go?... or is there some reasoning, eg. that without the accent it would be pronounced wrong.. this because of ?

Inma Sánchez · Answer

Hola RobertWe have these verbs in a lesson to show that they don't follow exactly the general rules in a certain conjugation - instead they take an accent at the end of the verb. It'd be a mistake to miss that accent - missing that accent will change the pronunciation of the word and it would be incorrect. SaludosInma

Karen Spray · Answer

I want to ask the same question because I don’t think you have answered it. Is there a reason why the exceptions work differently, because of stress etc?

D. L. · Answer

As far as I can tell, the reasoning for using an accent here is to avoid the two adjacent vovels being read as a diphthong.

Inma Sánchez · Answer

Hi allYes, as D said, these verbs are a bit different because the stress falls into a different syllable if we compare them with other common Spanish -iar verbs like cambiar, copiar, negociar... -when the latter are conjugated in the present subjunctive, the stress falls on the penultimate syllable (as shown in the second table in the lesson):CAM- bie, CAM-bies, CAM-bie (the syllables in capital letters are the stressed ones) the last syllable is a diphthong with the vowels ie.However, with verbs like enviar or fotografiar (shown in the first big table in the lesson), the stress falls on that very last syllable where the diphthong ie is.  In this case, the diphthong is broken by that accent and makes it two syllables:en-VÍ-e, en-VÍ-es, en-VÍ-e...fo-to-gra-FÍ-e,  fo-to-gra-FÍ-es,  fo-to-gra-FÍ-e,...(the syllables in capital letters are the stressed ones) This is the reason behind this lesson, to make students aware of this differentiation on some -iar verbs. Saludos a todosInma