HIATOS / DIPTONGOS / TRIPTONGOS

HIATO

Un hiato is where two vowels appear together in a word but they are pronounced in different syllables e.g. creo – cre-o, emplea – em-ple-a.

DIPTONGO

Un diptongo is where two vowels appear together in a word and they are pronounced in the same syllable e.g. aqua – a-gua, Canario – ca-na-rio.

A diptongo is formed by two closed vowels or one open vowel and one closed vowel.

TRIPTONGO

Un triptongo is where three vowels appear together in a word and they are pronounced in the same syllable e.g. estudiáis – est-udi-áis, limpiáis – lim-pi-áis.

The middle vowel will be open and the other two will be closed.