Stress and accentuation in Spanish (La acentuación)
Stress and accentuation in Spanish (La acentuación)
Accents
The written accent used in Spanish is called la tilde:
The graphic accent (en español, <<acento ortográfico>>) is used on any vowel to indicate where the stress falls:
águila, éramos, día, llegó, continúa
Another written accent is used only on top of "n". This consonant sound is known as "ñ" (eñe):
Stress
|
1.
the last syllable |
2.
the second last |
3. the third last |
|
ma/má |
di/fí/cil |
A/mé/ri/ca
|
1. Words stressed on the last syllable (palabras agudas):
a) if they end with a vowel, n or s they need a written accent, eg:
b) if they end with any other consonant but n or s they don't need a written accent, eg:
2.Words stressed on the second last syllable (palabras llanas):
a) if they end with a vowel, n or s they don't need a written accent, eg:
b) if they end with any other consonant but n or s they need a written accent, eg:
As you may notice from the above, 1 a) is in direct contrast with 2 a), whereas 1 b) is in direct contrast with 2 b)
3. Words stressed on the third last syllable (palabras esdrújulas):
Easy! All words in this category must have a written accent, eg:
Other rules of accentuation
Interrogative and exclamative words, used in a direct or indirect question or exclamation such as:
como, cuando, que, donde, quien, cual, cuanto
must have a written accent, in the singular as well as in the plural, eg:
Direct:
¿Quién es este hombre? ¿Quiénes son ellos? ¿Cuántos hermanos tienes? ¡Qué bueno! ¡Cuánto tiempo!
Indirect:
dime (tell me) por favor cuál de las dos chicas es tu hermana.
Demonstrative pronouns (éste, ése, éstos, éstas, ésos, ésas, aquél, aquélla, aquéllos, aquéllas) have a written accent, that is when they are not followed by a noun, eg:
este chico estudia, aquél no, estas casas y aquéllas.
The following monosyllabic words - that is, all made up of ONLY ONE SYLLABLE - have a written accent,
as shown in column A, to be distinguished from the same words - different meaning - in column B:
|
A |
B |
|
mí (me) |
mi (my) |
|
tú (you) |
tu (your) |
|
él (he) |
el (the) |
|
sí (yes) |
si (if) |
|
dé (he may, should give) |
de (of) |
|
sé (I know) |
se (himself, herself, themselves) |
|
más (more, plus) |
mas (but) |
|
sólo (only) |
solo (alone) |
|
aún (still, yet) |
aun (even, also) |
OTHERWISE, monosyllabic words DO NOT have a written accent.
Rules of accentuation for combinations of vowels (diphthongs)
"a", "e" and "o" are STRONG vowels
"u" and "i" are WEAK vowels
A strong vowel together with a weak vowel is called a diphthong, together being one syllable, with the stress falling always on the strong vowel, eg:
HOWEVER, there are exceptions. When this happens, the stress falls on the weak vowel and this is indicated by a written accent, eg:
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and each vowel is a syllable in its own right, eg:
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