| How Do You Pronounce Fui, Fue ... ? | |
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The preterite forms of ir are: fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fuisteis, fueron.
But how to read-pronounce these forms?
fui: [fuy] or [fuí]?
I think that the correct pronunciation is always the second one, that is the longer one. But there is no written accent!
I think three rules:
I think there exists only one standard method how to change theses three rules: to use the written accent (rio is read as [RYO] but río is read as [RÍO]).
So what is correct?
You've got the basic distinction between strong and weak vowels almost right but backward. A, E and O are strong vowels, and I and U are weak vowels. Fui is not pronounced "foo-ey" but "fwee" as a diphthong (one byte), that is, the two vowels together have one sound. Fui is a monosyllable, has three letters but only two phonemes (sound "bytes"): f and ui. It used to carry an accent on the i but several decades ago the RAE (the Royal Spanish Academy, a kind of official ultimate authority on the way things should be in Spanish) came out with a dictum that said accent marks are no longer necessary on monosyllabic (you would say "one-byte") words. Another general orthographic rule is that when a u or an i carries an accent mark it breaks a diphthong (one byte) into two syllables (two bytes). So río, which is pronounced "REE-oh," carries an accent mark on the i and is a two-syllable word. It has two syllables (rí and o) and three phonemes (r-í-o). Without the accent mark on the i, it would be pronounced "reeOH" as a monosyllable, which it is not. Also, of course, it's a case of a weak+strong vowel, so the strong vowel would naturally get the stress and since it does not in reality, the accent mark is necessary. You should understand a fundamental about the accent mark so as not to get the cart before the horse. Accent marks do not dictate how to pronounce a word but show how a word should be written in accordance with the way it is pronounced. In other words, the pronunciation comes first. Hope all this helps more than it confuses.
Note: This question and answer were adapted from a discussion on the bulletin board. This answer came from a forum participants using the name of Royhelama1.
To read the original discussion, go here.
fuiste: [fuyste] or [fuíste]?
fuimos: [fuymos] or [fuímos]?
fuisteis: [fuysteis] or [fuisteis]?
1) When A/E/O neighbour with A/E/O they form together two bytes.
2) When A/E/O neighbour with I/U they form only one byte.
3) When I/U neighbour with I/U they form only one byte.
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