In this lesson, we will talk about the diaeresis or dieresis in Spanish. But, do you know what a diaeresis is to begin with? Let's take a look at the following clip:
El pueblo de Izamal fue un importante centro urbano maya en la antigüedad.
The town of Izamal was an important Mayan urban center in ancient times.
Caption 26, Mérida y sus alrededores Izamal Pueblo Mágico
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Did you find the dieresis in that clip? If not, please keep reading this lesson, as we are going to tell you how to use the dieresis in Spanish.
In English, a diaeresis is a mark placed over a vowel to indicate that the vowel is emphasized or pronounced separately from the other vowels (as in "naïve" or "Brontë"). In Spanish, a diaeresis is represented by the same symbol (two little dots above a letter). That said, we will now highlight the word that has the diaeresis in the previous clip:
El pueblo de Izamal fue un importante centro urbano maya en la antigüedad.
The town of Izamal was an important Mayan urban center in ancient times.
Caption 26, Mérida y sus alrededores Izamal Pueblo Mágico
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However, as using a dieresis in Spanish is slightly different than in English, let's learn the golden rule for employing this unique symbol.
The rule is quite simple: a diaeresis must be placed over the vowel "u" to indicate that said vowel must be pronounced in words that have the combinations -gue and -gui (since in most Spanish words with these letter combinations, the "u" is silent). For example, in words like guerra (war) and guerilla (guerrilla), the gue- is pronounced more like the English word "gay," while in words like guía (guide) and guisante (pea), gui- sounds like "ghee." The addition of the diaeresis, on the other hand, would transform the sound of the letters gue- to "gway" and -gui to "gwee." Let's take a look at a couple of examples:
todos bastante negativos, humillación, vergüenza, dolor,
all quite negative, humiliation, shame, pain,
Caption 55, Los Años Maravillosos Capítulo 8 - Part 3
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Los pingüinos se parecen a las gallinas
Penguins are like chickens
Caption 24, Guillermina y Candelario Nuestro Amigo Pinguino
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Additionally, please keep in mind that the diaeresis must be used in words that are written in capital letters. Also, if you are wondering how to spell diaeresis in Spanish, it is written as follows: diéresis (an esdrújula word with the graphic accent on the third-to-last syllable).
Are there a lot of Spanish words that require a diaeresis? Although there are not that many, let's take a look at some of the most common palabras con diéresis (words with a diaeresis) in Spanish.
Me muevo mucho entre la ambigüedad.
I move a lot within ambiguity.
Caption 12, María Marí Su pasión por su arte - Part 2
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Justo encima del diccionario bilingüe
Right above the bilingual dictionary,
Caption 5, Tutoriales de Yabla Características adicionales Yabla
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Más bien. ¿Quién se piensa que me trajo, la cigüeña de París?
Of course. Who do you think brought me, the stork from Paris?
Caption 16, Muñeca Brava 48 - Soluciones - Part 8
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o sea, programas de inmersión lingüística en Barcelona.
I mean, language immersion programs, in Barcelona.
Caption 10, Escuela BCNLIP Presentación de la directora - Part 2
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Mírelo tan sinvergüenza.
Look at how shameless he is.
Caption 27, Los casos de Yabla Problemas de convivencia - Part 2
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And that's all for today. We hope that this lesson has helped you to understand how to use the dieresis in Spanish. By the way, do you know more palabras con diéresis? Let us know, and don't forget to send us your suggestions and comments. ¡Hasta la próxima!
Do you know how to say “but” in Spanish? If you are wondering why we need a lesson to answer such a simple question, there’s a reason for that. In fact, we have three options to express the conjunction “but” in Spanish: pero, sino and sino que. Let’s look at each one:
As a conjunction, the Spanish word pero works like the English conjunction “but.” Let’s look at some examples:
Pues, fue muy estresante y agotador pero a la vez divertido porque…
Well, it was really stressful and exhausting but at the same time fun because…
Caption 62, Cleer - Entrevista a Lila
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Llegó al país de los Muiscas una bella pero mala mujer llamada Huitaca.
A beautiful but evil woman named Huitaca arrived in the country of the Muiscas.
Caption 28, Aprendiendo con Carlos - América precolombina - El mito de Bochica
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We use pero in Spanish to create contrast between two statements. This contrast helps us to expand the information provided by the first statement. While most of the time the first statement is a positive one, there are some cases in which that statement can be negative:
No podemos ver, pero podemos escuchar.
We can’t see, but we can listen.
In this case, you could also replace pero with sin embargo (however):
No podemos ver. Sin embargo, podemos escuchar.
We can’t see. However, we can listen.
We use the conjunction sino to create a contrast between two statements where the first one is ALWAYS a negative one. Let’s take a look:
Lo importante no es ganar, sino competir.
The important thing isn't winning, but competing.
Caption 41, Club 10 - Capítulo 1
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Que no es una chica, sino un chico. -Oh...
That's it's not a girl, but rather a boy. -Oh…
Caption 40, Extr@: Extra en español - Ep. 1 - La llegada de Sam
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You can think of sino as something that we could replace with por el contrario (on the contrary). Also, keep in mind that when you have a verb after sino, you need to use its infinitive form.
We use sino que exactly the same way as the conjunction sino. The difference is that we use sino que when both statements contain a conjugated verb. Let’s take a look:
En general, la... la gente no es sólo respetuosa,
In general, the... the people are not only respectful
sino que es súper amable con nosotros.
but are super kind to us.
Captions 41-42, El Instituto Cervantes - Jefa de biblioteca
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O sea que no solamente era una cosa, sino que eran varias.
I mean that it was not only one thing, but rather there were many.
Caption 27, María Marí - Su pasión por su arte
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Considering the fact that you have three options, you might not always know which option to choose in order to say “but” in Spanish. Luckily, there are some simple rules that will help you to figure out whether you need to use pero, sino or sino que. Let’s have a look:
- If the first statement is positive you need to use pero.
- If the first statement is negative, you need to use either sino or sino que.
- If the first statement is negative and you have a conjugated verb in both statements you need to use sino que.
- If you can replace “but” with “however” (sin embargo), you need to use pero.
- If you can replace “but” with “on the contrary,” (por el contrario) you need to use sino.
That's all for now. Now that you know how to say “but” in Spanish, try to write 5 sentences with pero, 5 sentences with sino and 5 sentences with sino que. And don’t forget to send your feedback and suggestions to newsletter@yabla.com.
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