Questions, Exclamations, Statements
Start first lessonExplanation
When words are combined in speech to form sentences, the resulting rise and fall of a speaker’s voice is called intonation (entonación).
In Spanish, much like in English, intonation varies depending on whether a sentence is a statement, a question, or an exclamation. For example, different intonation is use in each of the following sentences.
Statement: María está trabajando.(Maria is working.)
Spanish Intonation
Stress or Intonation: What’s the Difference?
Each Spanish word has its own individual stress, which is the emphasis that falls on certain syllables. For example in trabajando(working) and chocolate(chocolate), the stress falls on the second-to-last syllable.
Word stress in Spanish is sometimes marked with a written accent, as in María(Maria), está(is) , or fábrica(factory).
When words are combined to form sentences, they have their own pitch and rhythm...a sort of musical quality. Linguists refer to this as intonation.
Types of Intonation
There are three basic types of intonation in Spanish:
Here are some more examples of sentences using the above types of intonation:
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So, Where Do I Place The Upside-Down Question and Exclamation Marks?
Unlike English, Spanish uses an opening question mark (¿) or an opening exclamation mark (¡) to indicate where the intonation of a question or an exclamation begins. This is very useful when you’re reading, but it can be tricky when you’re writing. There are quite a few question words in Spanish that usually have an opening question mark before them. Check them out below!
Note the opening question mark (¿) and exclamation mark (¡) are required when writing questions or exclamations in Spanish! If you're not sure how to type them, check out this article!
Spanish Question Words
Notice that the above question words have accents on them. This differentiates them from their non-interrogative counterparts.
Do you want to learn more about these upside-down marks? Check out this article. And this one too!
Do you want to learn more about Spanish question words? Check out this article! For some Spanish exclamatory words, you can check out this article!
What Does Acento Mean?
The word acento(accent, stress) can refer to the written accent placed on a Spanish word or to the stress with which a word is pronounced. Acento can also to a person’s accent, i.e., their individual way of pronouncing words. Speakers from a particular geographical area can have their own acento made up of the specific pronunciation of certain letters and words, but also of a specific intonation. Therefore, be prepared to hear different melodic lines and intonations when you meet people from Argentina, Cuba, Mexico, or Spain, for example.
Examples of Questions, Exclamations, Statements in Spanish
Now let's take a look at a few more examples of statements, questions, and exclamations in Spanish.
Want to learn more about Spanish pronunciation? Check out the following articles!
• Spanish Alphabet Pronunciation
• Spanish Diphthongs and Triphthongs
• How to Pronounce "B" and "V" in Spanish
