Overview
Knowing how to separate a word into syllables can help you pronounce and spell Spanish words correctly, as well as help you decide if a word needs a written accent or not.
General Syllabification Rules
The fancy word for dividing a word into syllables is syllabification. Here are some general rules for Spanish syllabification.
Consonant Plus Vowel
Whenever possible, you should break up words so that each syllable contains a consonant followed by a vowel. A consonant between two vowels belongs to the syllable with the second vowel. The goal is to end each syllable with a vowel.
Word Syllabification
sábana
sá-ba-na
gato
ga-to
casa
ca-sa
mano
ma-no
oro
o-ro
mesa
me-sa
Two Consecutive Consonants
Two consecutive consonants will generally belong to separate syllables. However, if the second consonant is a r or l, the consonant pair is not separated into different syllables.
Words that begin with prefixes often violate the above rules. For example the syllabification of enloquecer is en-lo-que-cer.
Word Syllabification
cuando
cuan-do
alcanzar
al-can-zar
costa
cos-ta
sombrillo
som-bri-llo
clave
cla-ve
trabajo
tra-ba-jo
aplicar
a-pli-car
frequente
fre-quen-te
hecho
he-cho
amarillo
a-ma-ri-llo
carro
ca-rro
merengue
me-ren-gue
In Puerto Rico and most of Spain, the consonant cluster tl is divided into separate syllables. For example, the syllabification of atlántico is at-lán-ti-co.
In most of Latin America, especially Mexico and other countries with words of Nahuatl origin, as well as the Canary Islands of Spain, the consonant cluster tl is not divided into separate syllables. For example, the syllabification of atlántico is a-tlán-ti-co and the syllabification of tlacuache (possum) is tla-cua-che.
Three Consecutive Consonants
When three consonants appear together, the first one will generally belong to a separate syllable.
Word Syllabification
inglés
in-glés
compresar
com-pre-sar
panfleto
pan-fle-to
ombligo
om-bli-go
constante
con-stan-te
Strong and Weak Vowels
Spanish has both strong vowels (a, e, o) and weak vowels (i, u). Here are some rules on how the combinations of these vowels are divided into syllables.
Two weak vowels together form a diphthong and are not separated into different syllables. Example: fui
A weak vowel and a strong vowel together form a diphthong and are not separated into different syllables. Example: Juan
Two strong vowels together form a hiatus and are separated into different syllables. Example: Leo
A tilde placed over a letter changes the above pronunciation rules, and the accented letter must be separated from any surrounding vowels. Example: mío
Word Syllabification
toalla
to-a-lla
feo
fe-o
iguana
i-gua-na
reina
rei-na
tío
tí-o
ciudad
ciu-dad
creer
cre-er
