Pronunciation: accents on hiatuses in Spanish

Learn about hiatuses in Spanish

A hiatus occurs in a word with two consecutive vowels pronounced separately in two different syllables.

(Two vowels found in the same syllable are called diphthongs, see Pronunciation: accents on diphthongs in Spanish.)

It's important to understand hiatuses and diphthongs in order to determine how many syllables are in a word and follow the general rules for Spanish accentuation (i.e., where to pronounce the stress on a word).

Strong and Weak Vowels

In Spanish, vowels are defined as strong or weak:

There are different types of hiatus, depending on the vowel combination:

1. Strong + strong (a, e, o + a, e, o)

As the stress in these words is on the penultimate syllable (-es-, -e-) and the words end in a vowel (-o, -a), there is no written accent, in accordance with the general rules for Spanish accentuation.

This word has four syllables: a - é - re - o

It contains two hiatuses (a+e and e+o). As the stress is on the antepenultimate syllable, this word requires a written accent.

The letter H

The letter "h" is silent and does not affect the hiatus. For example:

2. Two of the same vowel (strong or weak)

The same vowel repeated side by side forms a hiatus and again follows the general rules of Spanish accentuation. Here are some examples:

3.Tonic weak vowel + non-tonic strong vowel
     or
Non-tonic strong vowel + tonic weak vowel

The tonic vowel is the stressed vowel, while the atonic or non-tonic vowel is unstressed. These vowel combinations form a hiatus, separating the vowels into different syllables.

For example, in the word "grúa", [grú-a] the tonic vowel is the weak vowel "u":

The word "reúnen" [ re-ú-nen] also has a weak tonic vowel "u" forming a hiatus with -e (eu), and therefore requires the written accent.

Here are more examples of words with this vowel combination that form hiatuses. They all need an accent in order to separate the vowels: