Accents and Writing Accents in Spanish

Описание: Very Brief Rules for Stress (Accents)

In Spanish, words are spelled just like they sound. In order to take advantage of this simple and nearly perfect system of spelling, one must first know the rules for stress - that is, how to know which syllable is pronounced the loudest.

1. Words ending in a vowel, -n, or -s are stressed on the next to the last (penultimate) syllable:

nada
na - da

limonada
li - mo - na - da

zapatos
za - pa - tos

manzanas
man -- za - nas


compro
com - pro

esta
es - ta

estas
es- tas



escuela

es -- cue - la

2. Words ending in any consonant except -n or -s are stressed on the last syllable:

doctor comer ciudad
doc - tor co -- mer ciu - dad

3. When rules #1 and #2 above are not followed, a written accent is used. The written accent could be thought of as a mark over the syllable that is "misbehaving":

compró estás lápiz
com - pró es -- tás lá - piz

4. Written accents are also used to differentiate between words that are pronounced the same but have different meanings (el acento diacrítico):









si - if
sí - yes

mi - my
mí - me

el - the
él - he

tu - your
tú - you

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