Pronunciation question

Edwin R.C1Kwiziq community member

Pronunciation question

Two sentences from today's lessons for me:

1. ?Vosotras pudisteis reservar ese hotel tan barato?

2. Lo he visto a él primero, y después de ella.

In both sentences, the accented stress on the recording is on the last syllable of the last word. I like to listen to all the sentences without looking and make sure I understand what is said.  This pronunciation fools me every time.  Why is it not on the penultimate syllable?  Is this regional?

Asked 3 years ago
InmaNative Spanish expert teacher in Kwiziq

Hola Edwin

I'm not quite sure what you mean by being stressed on the last syllable of the last word. The stress in a full sentence falls in different parts of the sentence. Can you clarifiy a bit more? 

Edwin R.C1Kwiziq community member

The second example comes from the lesson on Repetition of Direct Object Pronouns. When the sentence is read, the last word in the sentence, "ella" is pronounced with the emphasis for that word being on the last syllable.  So, one hears...eh--YA'.  In the first example, the reader stresses barato as bah-rah-TO'.  I hear an example of this about once a week or so.  It seems that the stressed syllable should occur on the next to the last syllable.  Is this a regional dialect, or am I missing something?

Edwin R. asked:

Pronunciation question

Two sentences from today's lessons for me:

1. ?Vosotras pudisteis reservar ese hotel tan barato?

2. Lo he visto a él primero, y después de ella.

In both sentences, the accented stress on the recording is on the last syllable of the last word. I like to listen to all the sentences without looking and make sure I understand what is said.  This pronunciation fools me every time.  Why is it not on the penultimate syllable?  Is this regional?

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