Spanish is a language with a great variety of words, in fact it is considered to be one of the most complex that we use to communicate. That’s how surprising language can be. Part of the vocabulary we use every day is made up of very short words, even two or one letter that form a syllable. Let’s take a tour of these types of words that are called monosyllables, We will review the types, spelling and several examples of sentences and phrases with monosyllabic words.
What are monosyllabic words?
If we want to learn about monosyllabic words, let’s start by knowing what a syllable is. Simply put, syllables are units of sounds articulated in the sequence of a word. Let’s put it easier, a syllable is each sound that is pronounced with a single stroke of voice. For example the word ice cream has three syllables and these are: he-la-dolike the word pe-lo-ta which also has three syllables.
It is impossible to divide a monosyllabic word as we did in the previous example since they only have one syllable in total. The word monosyllabic comes from the Greek bun- which means (only one) and syllable which means “letters together that form a sound.” So:
Monosyllabic words are those that have only one syllable.
Go on the train that goes on the rail south.
If you look closely, the previous sentence is built only with monosyllables. It’s fascinating, isn’t it? We really use monosyllables in much of our everyday language and these constitute a fundamental part of our vocabulary to be able to communicate.
Characteristics of monosyllabic words
They are usually short words. They cannot be divided into syllables because they only have one. Monosyllabic words do not have an accent, except if they require the use of diacritic accent.
Why don’t monosyllables have an accent?
Years ago, some monosyllables were accented, but currently it has been agreed that words that are monosyllable do not have an accent or spelling accent. This accentuation law has been established by the institution that regulates the Spanish language, the RAE and it has a fairly simple explanation.
Examples of monosyllabic words
Bus script gave was pon saw gave then went Remember that monosyllables do not have accent marks
One of the reasons that has led to this decision is based on the fact that all monosyllabic words have an accent on the last vowel. If a monosyllable had the accent on another vowel other than the last one, then a separation of syllables would undoubtedly be generated and it would no longer be a monosyllable. For example: River river) and mine Mine) They are disyllabic words because they have two syllables.
However, there are some words that, although they are considered monosyllables, carry a graphic accent or accent and correspond to an exception in the language. These types of words are specific cases that, due to their use in the language, require a distinction due to their grammatical functions or because they require a distinction due to their meaning. They are called monosyllabic words with a diacritic accent and we will talk about them later.
Diacritical tilde
The graphic accent is called a diacritical accent that allows us to differentiate some words that are written the same but have different pronunciations and different meanings.
The Spanish language is very broad and sometimes there are cases in which two words have identical spelling but belong to different grammatical categories and a distinction must be made. In these cases, an accent is used to differentiate them, obtaining two words, thus obtaining a stressed word and another that is unstressed because it is not written with a graphic accent. For example: te and tea (the first indicates a personal pronoun of the second person singular to refer to someone to whom it is addressed and the second is a noun that refers to the leaves used to prepare infusions).
Don’t forget to buy tea when you go to the store.
Tea I want a lot.
Tea I prepared a delicious tea of herbs.
Types of monosyllabic words
Monosyllabic words make up a large part of our language, even if we don’t believe it. There are several types of monosyllabic words in Spanish that we can distinguish as follows: monosyllabic words with diacritical accent, monosyllabic interjections, monosyllabic onomatopoeias,
Monosyllabic words with diacritical accent
This group of monosyllables includes all those words that have a diacritical accent. The diacritical accent or diacritical accent is used in the language to distinguish two words that have the same morphology, that is, the form of their writing and phonetics are the same, but they have different grammatical categories. Since these are two totally different words, the diacritical accent is used to avoid confusion in the absence of sufficient context.
There are not many monosyllables with a diacritical accent in Spanish and now we will see some of them. The meaning of each one is different although they may or may not have the same etymological origin. Let’s see the monosyllables with a diacritic accent:
1
Of
Preposition. I would go with you of here to the Moon.
Of
Imperative of the verb “give”. Don’t interrupt me if you want me of an explanation.
2
He
Definite article used preceding a noun or noun phrase. Today I’m going to wear he blue dress.
He
Personal pronoun to refer to a living being or thing that is talked about. They always blame he without reason.
3
Which
Relative pronoun of comparative function or to introduce indirect sentences. Collapsed which building.
Which
Pronoun to introduce exclamatory or interrogative sentences.
Which is your favorite color?.
4
How
Relative adverb used in comparisons. Lucia is so messy, how affectionate.
How
Adverb used to introduce exclamatory sentences.
How sad is this movie.
5
Further
It is an equivalence of ‘but’. We left late further we arrived on time.
Further
Adverb that denotes excess or increase. Could you help me a little further?
6
That
Relative pronoun. Your dog is taller that mine.
That
Introduces interrogative or exclamatory statements.
That type of word is an adjective?
7
Who
Relative pronoun to refer to people.
Who more and who the least he has ever made a mistake.
Who
Interrogative or exclamatory pronoun.
Who Is she your math teacher?
8
HE
Personal pronoun. The word life is not HE write with b.
HE
Conjugation of the verb “know”. It may not seem like it but HE What’s the true.
9
Yeah
Conditional conjunction. You can go to the park Yeah You finish your obligations early.
Yeah
Affirmative adverb. My answer is a resounding Yeah.
10
Tea
Second person personal pronoun.
Tea wanna.
Tea
Herbs infusion. My tea Favorite is red.
eleven
You
Possessive adjective that indicates that something is someone’s own or particular. I can’t find you brother nowhere.
You
Personal pronoun.
You You told me the meeting was at seven.
12
My
Possessive adjective and noun. I lost my gold bracelet.
My
Personal pronoun. Are you asking me my?.
Monosyllabic interjections
One type of monosyllables are some interjections, those words that serve to express emotions, feelings or reactions. These are stated in an exclamatory tone with the intention of indicating a state of mind or capturing the listener’s attention. Interjections describe an action without being lexically or grammatically organized. Below we will give some examples of monosyllabic words that are interjections and we will add some examples that can be very useful in their understanding.
Oh!
Indicates a latent feeling in any circumstance.
Oh! How unfortunate what you just told me.
Hey!
It is used to ask, draw attention, reprimand or warn someone.
Hey! Where do you think you are going?
Hey!
It is used at the beginning of a conversation to captivate a person’s attention.
Hey! Are you there? I need to tell you something that happened to me today.
Ah!
It serves to express a certain level of astonishment or also to indicate that something has been understood or realized.
Is the ice cream out of the fridge? Ah! What a pity.
Ar!
It is used for military commanders to indicate the moment to carry out the order that was given.
Discretion Ar!
Bah!
It serves to express contempt or some disinterest in something specific.
Bah! What you say is pure nonsense.
Hey!
It is used to draw attention to whoever is addressed.
Hey! Look who just passed by here.
Hey!
It is used to express certain rejection, disapproval or surprise.
Hey! I can’t believe what you’re saying. It seems excessive to me.
Hey?
Being an interrogative form, it expresses doubt as to having understood what was heard, or also indicates a request to repeat something that was not heard.
Hey? It seems to me that your way of acting is not appropriate.
Whoops! either oops!
Expresses amazement, surprise at something unusual.
Whoops! how lucky you have been.
Phew!
It serves to denote tiredness, annoyance or suffocation.
Phew! I finally finished what I was doing.
Oooh!
It is used to show disappointment or disdain.
Oooh! What a bad time I’m having here.
Monosyllabic onomatopoeias
Monosyllabic onomatopoeias are sound imitations or written representations of various natural sounds that are written using a single syllable. Onomatopoeias recreate a real sound of the thing or action to which they refer and They can be visual or auditory onomatopoeia. Some monosyllables that are more frequent onomatopoeia in Spanish are:
Crack
Something that breaks.
Hip
Hiccup.
Muac
Kiss sound.
Plop
Repetitive blows or falls.
Plof
Hitting a liquid or a soft object.
Pouf
Annoyance caused by bad smells or rotten things, complaint.
Pom
Drums.
Ring
Doorbell or telephone sound.
Zaz
Sudden blow.
Phew
Tiredness, something disgusting, annoyance or something suffocating.
Knock
Hit an object, knock on a door.
Sniff
Cry sob.
Boom
Indicates a fall or impact.
Tock
Bang.
Orthographic monosyllables
They are those monosyllabic words that contain a vowel or a set of vowels that form diphthongs or tripthongs. Monosyllables frequently have the following combinations of vowels:
Two different closed vowels: ui, ui.
One open and one closed unstressed (without accent): ai, oi, ei, eu, au, ou.
One closed unstressed and one open: ia, io, ie, ua, ue, uo.
For it to be a monosyllable, it is essential that the closed vowel be unstressed, otherwise it would not be a case of diphthong, but rather a case of hiatus and it would become a disyllabic word. For example: I huí (hu-í), I read (le-í).
Some examples of diphthongs or tripthongs in monosyllables are: flee, foot, skin, dash, wow, ten, rail, which, meow.