2 Medical Spanish Pronunciation Rules to help you ACE medical Spanish words

In this free Medical Spanish lesson you will learn two easy rules for making sure you’re pronouncing medical Spanish words properly. These 2 medical Spanish pronunciation rules apply to all Spanish words as well, and they’re especially great for all of you learners who are learning new vocabulary through self-study with your own books and resources.

Here is the Medical Spanish lesson about Spanish Pronunciation Rules I taught to the Facebook group:

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El Problema – ¿Dónde poner énfasis?

One of the most common confusions when learning a new language is where to put emphasis and which vowels or syllables to stress in a word as you pronounce it. However, once you get a hang of pronunciation and natural stress on words, you’re able to comprehend the people you’re speaking to much easier and you are able to be more easily understood.

Spanish	English
El Doctor	The doctor
La Doctora	The doctor
La Médica	The doctor
El Cardiólogo	The Cardiologist
La Cardiología	Cardiology
Los rayos equis	The X-ray
El hospital	The hospital
El Abdomen	The abdomen
Las estudiantes	The students
El dolor	The pain
La enfermedad	The illness
Hinchar	Puff up
Hinchado	Swollen
Hinchazón	Swelling

Regla número 1 : Palabras que terminan en una vocal (a, e, i, o, u), la letra N o la letra S:

In Spanish, all words that end in a vowel (a, e, i, o, u), N or S have the natural stress on the 2nd to last syllable. The bold syllables below are the natural stress of the word

Spanish	English
La doc-to-ra	The doctor
Los ra-yos e-quis	The X-Ray
Las es-tu-dian-tes	The Students
Hin-cha-do	Swollen

Regla # 2: Todas las otras palabras:

If a word doesn’t end in a VOWEL, N or S, then the natural stress is on the final syllable. See the examples below with the final syllable highlighted.

Spanish	English
El hos-pi-tal	The hospital
El do-lor	The pain
Ha-blar	To speak (v)
Co-mer	To eat (v)
Vi-vir	To live (v)

¿Qué pasa con los acentos? Los acentos rompen las 2 reglas:

When you see written accents on a word, that usually means the word’s pronunciation is breaking one of the natural pronunciation rules. In rare cases, it just distinguishes one word from another like: si = if, sí = yes. However, more often than not, a written accent means that a word may end in a vowel, n or s, but the stress isn’t on the 2nd to last syllable. See below how the words break the natural accentuation rules…

Spanish	English
La mé-di-ca	The doctor
El car-dió-lo-go	The cardiologist
La car-dio-lo-gía	Cardiology
La Hin-cha-zón	The swelling
La In-fec-ción	The infection

Práctica

¿Cómo se pronuncian estas palabras?

Spanish	English
La diabetes	Diabetes
La dia-be-tes
La enfermera	The nurse
La en-fer-me-ra
El órgano	The organ
El ór-ga-no
La infección	The infection
La in-fec-ción

For a more thorough discussion on medical Spanish pronunciation, consider this online course I put together for you to practice your pronunciation!

I packaged all of this into easily downloadable .pdf notes –

Keep up the good work speaking responsible Spanish to your patients!

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¡Gracias POR aprender español conmigo!