# 'Stress'-Question



## estudiantedeespanol

I did a quick forum search but couldn't find anything here or elsewhere about where the accent falls on compound words, i.e. Encontramo-nos.

Any suggestions on where to read more about this?  Where does the stress fall on the above example?

Thanks


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## Maria Maya

no exemplo "encontramo-nos" não há acento. Vamos esperar mais, eu não sou tão confiável no que diz respeito a acentos.


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## Ariel Knightly

it falls on -_tra_-, enconTRAmo-nos.


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## ewie

I thought you had to add written accents to keep the stress in the right place:
_encontr*á*mo-nos_
but I'm not up-to-date with the latest spelling conventions ...


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## Ariel Knightly

ewie said:


> (1)I thought you had to add written accents to keep the stress in the right place:
> _encontr*á*mo-nos_
> but (2)I'm not up-to-date with the latest spelling conventions ...



(1) No.
(2) Nor am I.


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## Maria Maya

Ok, estudiantedeespanol wants to know what is the strongest silable, and not where there is an graphic accent on the word... 

ok "TRA" is the strongest silable. I think his confusion would be caused by spanish rules for this, where the complement becomes one word with the verb, then the word "encontrámonos", proparoxítona (don't know how to say in english)...

If we had to add written accents to stress in the right place all words would have accents, wich is not true...


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## Vanda

oops. This one is tough. The stress changes according to the conjugation of the verbs. 
Example:
enconTRAR
enconTRAmo-nos (no accent in Brazilian Portuguese) 
The case is that we know where the stress is , but you won't find it in dictionaries - most of them - and I am trying to remember where to find some aid for you. So far I can only think of you listening to the word you want. Type it here and listen to the pronunciation and the stress of it. (Attention: this voice is from a Portuguese not a Brazilian, just to let you know).


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## Ariel Knightly

I think there must be a pattern. I'm not an expert in Portuguese, but I think most of the time the stress falls on the second to last syllable when you use the _FIRST _person plural.

beiJAR - beiJAmos
aMAR - aMAmos
beBER - beBEmos
enconTRAR - EnconTRAmos

What do you think?


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## Ariel Knightly

Vanda said:


> oops. This one is tough. The stress changes according to the conjugation of the verbs.
> Example:
> enCONtrar
> enconTRAmo-nos (no accent in Brazilian Portuguese)
> The case is that we know where the stress is , but you won't find it in dictionaries - most of them - and I am trying to remember where to find some aid for you. So far I can only think of you listening to the word you want. Type it here and listen to the pronunciation and the stress of it. (Attention: this voice is from a Portuguese not a Brazilian, just to let you know).


By the way, the stress in _encontrar _falls on _-trar-_, not on -_con_-.


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## Vanda

hannn_... Xô _pensar...True for some verbs - can't think in all. You have to pay attention to proparoxytone and oxytone verbs. Let me find examples.

*Pôr* (irregular verb) - totally confusing, although there are accents on the oxytone and proparoxytone forms.
põe/ pôs/porá/ *pún*hamos/ pu*sé*ssemos..

*vir *- viéssemos/ viéramos
*ver-* vê/ víssemos/víramos

*poder * - *poderíamos* / poderá/ pudéramos

Well, couldn't find an online help about the topic.


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## Ariel Knightly

Vanda said:


> hannn_... Xô _pensar...True for some verbs - can't think in all. You have to pay attention to proparoxytone and oxytone verbs. Let me find examples.
> 
> *Pôr* (irregular verb) - totally confusing, although there are accents on the oxytone and proparoxytone forms.
> põe/ pôs/porá/ *pún*hamos/ pu*sé*ssemos..
> 
> *vir *- viéssemos/ viéramos
> *ver-* vê/ víssemos/víramos
> 
> *poder * - *poderíamos* / poderá/ pudéramos
> 
> Well, couldn't find an online help about the topic.


I see. Well, none of your examples are in the present simple. Let me rephrase what I said: the stress falls on the second to last syllable when you use the first person plural in the present simple.


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## Vanda

I was replying to Estudiante...


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## Brass

Hi,

About the compound words and the tonic syllables: I would say you should treat each word separately, and the accent will fall on the same syllable it would fall on, if the words were not together.

So, taking the first example of studiantedespaniol:
Encon*tra*mos nos  => encon*tra*mo-nos        

pu*sé*ssemos nos  => pu*sé*ssemo-nos

bei*ja*mos nos  => bei*ja*mo-nos

Tra*ga*mos o  =>  tra*ga*mo-lo

And the "nos" is not tonic, ever. If it were tonic, it would need to be graphically accented.

Most Portuguese words are paroxytones (second syllable stressed). If not, they should be graphically accented.
Oxytones - accented if ending with "a", "e", "o" (even when followed by a "s"). 
Oxytones - ending with "i", "u" , not accented.
Proparoxytones - always accented.

In some cases, the words may be accented when compound, but not so by themselves. Even so, the accent will fall in the same syllable as it would, had the words been read appart. For instance:

tra*zer* o   =>  tra*zê*-lo    (in this case, we follow the rule of an oxytone, ending with "e").

Of course there must be other rules to apply (Portuguese has no shortage of rules *and* exceptions) but this is the mais set of rules I do apply in order to get the accents right.


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## Outsider

Compounds like _encontramo-nos_ can be treated as multiple words:

_encontramo(s) + nos_

This makes clear that the stress falls on the syllable _tra_ of the first element (_nos_ is a clitic).

P.S. As already explained in more detail by Brass.


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## Istriano

There is no need for a graphic accent because it's two words joined together with a hyphen (unlike in Spanish when they form one word so accent is needed: 
_Se amem / Amem-se _  vs.  _ Ámense._ )


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## estudiantedeespanol

Thank you all for the informative discussion!  Great to know you can treat compound words as two separate words for accent sake.

Thanks


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## Ariel Knightly

estudiantedeespanol said:


> Thank you all for the informative discussion!  Great to know you can treat compound words as two separate words for accent sake.
> 
> Thanks


_Encontramo-nos_ isn't a compound word being treated as two seperate words for accent sake; it's really two seperate words! It's in terms of pronunciation that one could argue it's one single word, for the pronoun is an atonic word phoneticly attached to the one it follows. For example, _de repente_ are two separate words, but phoneticly it's pronounced as a single one, for _de _is an atonic word attached to _repente_, see?


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## R.U.I.

ewie said:


> I thought you had to add written accents to keep the stress in the right place:
> _encontr*á*mo-nos_
> but I'm not up-to-date with the latest spelling conventions ...



Encontramo-nos: presente do indicativo

Encontrámo-nos: pretérito perfeito do indicativo

Pelo menos em português de Portugal!


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## almufadado

As a thumb rule all word with 3 or more syllables that are not accentuated (não têm acento) the emphasis is on the penult (The next to the last syllable in a word).

The accent is usually to shift the emphasis to another (previous ou last) syllable.

Acórdão - A ruling in a court
Acordam -> they wake up 

There are many exceptions : 

O Acordo -> the agreement -> it reads "Acôrdo" with a close 2 syllable "ô"

Eu acordo -> I wake up -> it read "acórdo" with a open 2 syllable "ó"

In a great majority, when two word are written the same way  substantives are with closed vowels and verbs with open vowels.


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