Listen and compare · 7
CEFR A2
Review the contrast after listening
rey
[rei̯]
king; one syllable
reí
[reˈi]
I laughed; two syllables
What tells the two sounds apart
- i̯In rey, the final i-like sound stays in the same syllable as e.
- e.ˈiIn reí, i is the stressed centre of a second syllable. Move between the vowels without adding a consonant.
Why it is hard
The contrast is syllable structure as well as stress, not vowel length. Keep rey in one syllable and reí in two. Aire and viaje contain diphthongs; oír and día contain hiatuses in this careful Spain model. Some vowel sequences vary across Spain and the Americas; this unit does not prescribe the syllable count of words such as guion. Task: Listen to the first six utterances with the written words, IPA and meanings closed. For each utterance, write the word you heard and mark its syllable nuclei; decide whether the relevant vowels share a syllable. Give one audible reason for your decision. Then open the support, compare your attempt and repeat each model. Use oír and viaje in two new short Spanish sentences, keeping their syllable patterns.
Ayer reí durante el viaje del rey.
To practise
- aire[ˈai̯ɾe]air
- oír[oˈiɾ]to hear
- viaje[ˈbjaxe]trip
- día[ˈd̪i.a]day