1. Pronunciation practice: Stress in compound nouns Práctica de pronunciación: El acento en nombres compuestos Author: Victoria Reina Gil

2. ¿Qué es un nombre compuesto? What is a compound noun? A compound noun is one word created by adding two words together. abre (from abrir) + latas = abrelatas

3. ¿Cómo se forma un nombre compuesto? How is it formed? One way is by merging a verb and a noun Verb in the 3rd person singular (present tense) + noun generally in the plural lavaplatos: “lava” from lavar (to wash) + “platos” (dishes). They lose the stress on the verb and carry only the stress on the noun. lavaplatos

4. Here are some examples: sacapuntas tajalápices cortalápices (pencil sharpener) sacacorchos (corkscrew) espantapájaros (scarecrow) rompecabezas (puzzle) Verb in the 3rd person singular (present tense) + noun generally in the plural

5. Gender and number Mainly masculine in gender el aguafiestas (spoil sport) (with a female version if referring exclusively to women) la aguafiestas How can we distinguish between singular and plural? el aguafiestas los aguafiestas un abrelatas dos abrelatas

6. Pronunciation of compound nouns Words ending in a vowel “n” “s” are stressed on the penultimate syllable rasca + cielos = rascacielos Rule breakers When a word does not follow the rules we put a written accent called tilde (or acento ortográfico) over the stressed vowel cortacésped espantapájaros Words ending in a consonant (excluding “n” and “s”) are stressed on the last syllable. gira + sol = girasol They follow the general rules of word stress in Spanish

7. Pronunciation of compound nouns rasca + cielos = rascacielos catavinos abrelatas abrecartas cascanueces cumpleaños paracaídas girasol cortacésped

8. Read what you see espantapájarosrompecabezaslavaplatos abrelatas

9. Build up compound nouns (verb + noun in the plural) rasca + = rascacielos cata + = abre + = gira + = pinta + = catavinos abrecartas girasol pintalabios

10. Compound nouns catavinosabrecartasgirasol pintalabios

11. References and acknowledgements All images from Google Images and Clipart Microsoft