Spanish syllable divider
Words split into syllables, with the stress.
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Example
Example: ten Spanish words split for a lesson on stress and written accents
A Spanish teacher preparing a lesson on stress and accents pastes ten words, one per line, with Language: Spanish and A hyphen between syllables. Each word comes back split, with its number of syllables, its stress type and the stressed syllable — the labels are in Spanish, as the class will use them.
- A diphthong stays in one syllable: puer in a-e-ro-puer-to, ciu in ciu-dad, hue in hue-vo. Two strong vowels split: the a-e at the start of aeropuerto.
- rr stays together and starts a syllable, fe-rro-ca-rril, and so does gü in pin-güi-no.
- An accent on i or u breaks the diphthong into a hiatus: dí-a has two syllables. A silent h between vowels does not join them: a-ho-ra.
| Word | Split | Syllables | Stress | Stressed syllable |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| aeropuerto | a-e-ro-puer-to | 5 | llana | puer |
| ferrocarril | fe-rro-ca-rril | 4 | aguda | rril |
| pingüino | pin-güi-no | 3 | llana | güi |
| murciélago | mur-cié-la-go | 4 | esdrújula | cié |
| construcción | cons-truc-ción | 3 | aguda | ción |
| ciudad | ciu-dad | 2 | aguda | dad |
| día | dí-a | 2 | llana | dí |
| huevo | hue-vo | 2 | llana | hue |
| ahora | a-ho-ra | 3 | llana | ho |
| examen | e-xa-men | 3 | llana | xa |
The stress column explains the accents: murciélago is esdrújula, so it always takes one; construcción is aguda ending in n, so it does; ferrocarril and ciudad are agudas ending in l and d, so they do not; examen is llana ending in n, so it does not — while exámenes, e-xá-me-nes, is esdrújula and does.
How it works
- Choose the language and type the words, one per line or in a sentence.
- Each word appears split, with the number of syllables — in Spanish and Portuguese with the stressed one too.
- Paste a longer text and it comes back with every word hyphenated.
Frequently asked questions
- What rules does it follow?
- The written rules each language’s schools teach: a consonant between vowels starts the next syllable (ca-sa), ch, ll and rr stay together, pr, bl, tr and the like begin a syllable together, a diphthong stays in one syllable (cue) and a hiatus splits (rí-o, po-e-ta).
- What do aguda, llana and esdrújula mean?
- Where the stress falls in Spanish: on the last syllable (ca-mión), the second to last (ca-sa) or the third to last (mur-cié-la-go). Portuguese calls them oxítona, paroxítona and proparoxítona; both are shown with the stressed syllable.
- Why does English not work?
- English syllables follow pronunciation, not spelling, so no rule on the letters alone can split them reliably. Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French and Turkish are written close enough to how they sound for the rules to work.
- Is Italian always right?
- Nearly: the spelling cannot show where a stressed i or u stands alone (pa-u-ra, zi-o), so common words like those are kept right from a list and rarer ones may be joined.
- What about y at the end of a word, as in rey or Paraguay?
- A final y counts as a vowel and stays in the diphthong: rey, muy and hoy are one syllable each (monosílaba), Pa-ra-guay has three with the stress on guay, and jer-sey two. Between vowels y is a consonant and starts the next syllable: ma-yo, le-yes.
- Can I paste a whole paragraph?
- Yes. Up to 60 words you get one line per word, with its count and stress, and a word that appears twice is listed once. Past 60 words the text comes back as it is with every word hyphenated — “Mi ca-sa es tu ca-sa” — which is handy for reading practice but has no counts.
- Is anything uploaded?
- No. It is worked out in your browser, and nothing you type leaves your computer.