One sentence, five statements
Yo no dije eso ayer. Depending on which word you highlight, you are disputing something different: the person, whether it happened at all, the manner of saying it, the thing itself, or the day.
The word at issue is called the foco – the focus. You already do this in English: I didn't say that YESTERDAY. The concept transfers. What differs is how Spanish does it: mainly with pitch, a high, sharply separated peak on the stressed syllable of that word. The sentence stays as it is, and no word moves.
Five accent positions
YO no dije eso ayer.
I didn't say that yesterday – somebody else did.
It was somebody else. Possible continuation: Fue Marta.
Yo NO dije eso ayer.
I did NOT say that yesterday.
It never happened. Possible continuation: Te lo estás inventando.
Yo no DIje eso ayer.
I didn't SAY that yesterday.
Written it, perhaps – said it, no. Possible continuation: Lo escribí.
Yo no dije Eso ayer.
I didn't say THAT yesterday.
Something else, yes. Possible continuation: Dije otra cosa.
Yo no dije eso aYER.
I didn't say that YESTERDAY.
A peak at the end also sounds like the neutral statement. Possible continuation: Lo dije el lunes.
What English speakers need to change
English builds emphasis from several things at once: pitch, a longer and louder vowel, and reduced vowels all around it. Spanish keeps mainly the pitch. It moves up, not out: short, high, and back down.
The second English tool is missing: do-support. I DID tell you has no Spanish counterpart, because Spanish has no dummy auxiliary to stress. Learners who look for one end up piling up pero, realmente and pues. What is left is the peak, and it has to do the job.
Spanish can also move the highlighted word to the end of the sentence (Eso lo dijo MaRÍa). Even then the peak carries the contrast.
What a focus accent sounds like
A focus accent is more than getting louder. The voice climbs clearly on the stressed syllable and falls again right after it. The rest of the sentence runs out low and quiet.
Keep the vowels clean there. English habitually shrinks unstressed vowels to schwa, and that habit follows you: ayer after the peak is still a clear [a-ˈʝeɾ], just low and quiet, not [ə-ʝər].
Peak and flattening
MaRÍa trajo el postre, no Ana.
MARÍA brought the dessert, not Ana.
Te dije el JUEves, no el viernes.
I said THURSDAY, not Friday.
Lo peDÍ, no lo compré.
I ORDERED it, I didn't buy it.
Quedamos a las Ocho, no a las nueve.
We're meeting at EIGHT, not at nine.
How to practise
- 1
Think of the false claim you are contradicting, say You said it yesterday.
- 2
Find the one word in the Spanish sentence that contradicts it.
- 3
Say that word higher, not longer, and let the voice fall afterwards. Finish the sentence low and quiet.
Focus is not a question
Both melodies rise, but in different places. A question rises at the end of the sentence and stays up. A focus rises anywhere in the sentence and falls again immediately: it turns a statement into a contradiction, not into a question.
Two rises, two jobs
¿Dijiste eso ayer?
Did you say that yesterday?
The rise sits at the end of the sentence and stays up.
TÚ dijiste eso ayer.
YOU said that yesterday.
The peak sits mid-sentence and falls again at once.
When the accent alone is not enough
Three reinforcements
The subject pronoun you did not need
English needs a subject pronoun in every sentence, so yo, tú and él slip in out of habit. In Spanish the ending already names the person, so a pronoun that is there is usually meant to highlight or contrast, and it takes the peak. Say yo in a neutral sentence and your listener hears a contrast you never intended.
YO no he sido.
It wasn't me.
sí que - the Spanish emphatic did
The closest thing to I DID tell you. It contradicts a negative claim, and sí takes the peak.
Yo SÍ que te avisé.
I DID let you know.
No fui yo quien - the cleft sentence
The counterpart of It wasn't me who said it. Spanish has it, but the bare accent already carries the contrast, so a cleft can sound heavy.
No fui yo quien lo dijo.
I wasn't the one who said it.
