Use of written accent marks in Spanish

Accent marks are in Spanish for two different purposes:

➢ to indicate where the stress or emphasis falls on a word when it is pronounced,

➢ and to help differentiate between identically spelled words. They are only used over vowels (á, é, í, ó, ú), and are written as a short diagonal line, from upper right to lower left.

A. The following rules regarding written accents assume you know on which syllable of a word the stress occurs. An accent mark is normally NOT required if: 1. The word ends in a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) or n or s and the stress falls on the next-to-the-last (or penultimate) syllable. Examples:

camino [ca-MI-no, road, ends in a vowel, and the stress falls on the next-to-the last syllable] hablan [HA-blan, they speak, ends in an n and the stress falls on the next-to-the-last syllable] muchachas [mu-CHA-chas, girls, ends in an s and the stress falls on the next-to-the-last syllable] 2. The word ends in a consonant other than n or s and the stress falls on the last syllable. Examples: querer [que-RER, to want, ends in an r and the stress falls on the last syllable] ciudad [ciu-DAD, city, ends in a d and the stress falls on the last syllable] B. A written accent mark IS required if the situation is not as given in the above two rules, that is, when: 1. The word ends in a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) or n or s and the stress falls on the last syllable. Examples:

caminó [ca-mi-NÓ, he/she walked ends in a vowel, and the stress falls on the last syllable] canción [can-CIÓN, song, ends in an n and the stress falls on the last syllable] verás [ve-RÁS, you will see, ends in an n and the stress falls on the last syllable] 2. The word ends in a consonant other than n or s and the stress falls on the next-to-last syllable. Examles: mártir [MÁR-tir, martyr, ends in an r and the stress falls on the next-to-the-last syllable] cárcel [CÁR-cel, jail, ends in an l and the stress falls on the next-to-the-last syllable] 3. The stress falls on any vowel more than two syllables from the end of the word. Examples:

propósito [pro-PÓ-si-to, purpose, is stressed on the third-from-the-last syllable] dándomelo [DÁN-do-me-lo, giving it to me, is stressed on the fourth-from-the last syllable] 4. The stress falls on a weak vowel (i or u) which comes immediately before or after a strong vowel (a, e, o). Examples: día [DÍ-a, day; the stress falls on an i which is immediately followed by an a] actúo [ac-TÚ-o, I act; the stress falls on a u which is immediately followed by an o] 5. Note: Unless accented, the letters i and u become semi-consonants when the come in contact with other vowels. Thus, without written accents, the above words would be pronounced dya (one syllable) and AC-tuo (two syllables).
|To sum up the above rules: |
|Does the word end in a, e, i, o, u, n, or s? |
|If the answer is “yes” and it is not stressed on the next-to-the-last syllable, a written accent is required. |
|If the answer is “no” and it is not stressed on the last syllable, a written accent is required. |

A. Accent marks are required on some words to differentiate them from otherwise identically spelled ones. There are three groups of these word pairs; in all cases the more emphatic word of the pair carries the written accent mark

1. Exclamation and question words are