accent marks count as spelling errors
I am getting confused about getting the accent marks in the right places. Is there any way to tell where they belong by listening? Are my ears just not tuned to it or is it really as random as it sounds to me? If you have any suggestions about how to predict where the accent marks go just by listening, please let me know. Thanks!
4 Answers
Like Lazarus said, the placement of accents is very logical. There are two reasons for an accent mark: to show you how to stress a word that doesn't follow the standard rule, and to distinguish between two words that are spelled the same but mean different things. The last one you'll just have to memorize, but the first one's easy.
All words that end in A, O, S, or N are stressed on the next to the last syllable. All other words are stressed on the last syllable. Unless there is an accent mark. Then they are stressed on the syllable with the accent mark. So it should be easy to tell by ear where the accent mark goes, if there is one.
to show you how to pronounce a word that doesn't follow the standard rule, and to distinguish between two words that are spelled the same but mean different things
I think you forgot the most important use: to show you were is the stress. Even diacritic accents always show the stressed syllable. For example, "de" as a preposition is unstressed, but "dé" as a verb is stressed.
The previous answers said most of the rules. They are indeed pretty simple. The other rule is that if the stress is on the third, fourth, or more syllable from the end, there is always a written accent. That's why some nosotros forms of verbs will be the only forms that have accent marks in some conjugations like the imperfect -ábamos. It is 3 syllables from the end so it needs a mark.
So if a word ends in a vowel, n, or s and the stress is not on the second to last syllable (e.g. lección), there will be a written accent mark. If a word ends in another consonant and the stress is not on the last syllable (e.g. lápiz), there will be a written accent mark. There are some patterns too. Most words that end in ción (and translate to -tion or -sion in English) have an accent mark. Note that when you make them plural, the accent is then on the second to last syllable, so you don't need an accent mark on the plural form e.g. lecciones.
Another thing is that some vowels are weak and make a dipthong with another vowel unless they are stressed. I think they are i and u. If they are stressed, you need an accent mark. So fotografía is stressed on the second to last syllable and ends in a vowel, but has an accent mark so that you distinctly pronounce both vowels at the end. But don't worry, they were right when they said it is very predictable.
Hope this helps.
The rules to determine whether a word has an accent or not are random, but perfectly mathematical: they work 100% of the time, but they are not easily explained in a few lines. Check the reference section first, and come back if you don't get it.
While putting the accents in the right place is not that easy, they are very useful when they are properly applied, for they tell you how to stress word correctly, which is something that you can't do in English.
