Levántate , Levantaos,vestíos. When to add accent? When without?

Question

Now I am having problems with the accent. When to add accent after the changing of the verbs? When without? Like levántate, it´s command, the original word is levantar. levántate for Tú. Levantaos is for OS, it´s vosotros. but now it´s without accent.

Vestíos, it´s vosotros too, but it with accent. so ,im confused

Answer 1

Thanks, you explained very well, but how about vestíos?

Okay. Good question. I will try to explain.

The vosotros command form for vestir is vestid. Because vestid does not end in a vowel, n, or s, the stress falls on the last syllable. That is, vestid is pronounced as ves-TID. This is the correct pronunciation of the verb and no accent mark is needed...so far.

Now we want to add os. First we must drop the d. Then we must add the os. This gives us vestios. If an i is before an o, it will make a single syllable with the o and that syllable will be pronounced as yo (as in English yo-yo). Also, because vestios ends in s, the stress will be on the penultimate syllable. That is, vestios will be pronounced as VES-tyos. This causes us to lose the correct pronunciation of the verb vestid.

So we know we need an accent mark, but where do we put it?

If we put the accent on the o, vestiós, it will be pronounced as ves-TYOS. This is still not right.

If we put the accent mark on the i, as in vestíos, the i will become stronger and have its own syllable separated from the o. Vestíos is pronounced as ves-TI-os. This is correct and maintains the original stress of the verb vestid (ves-TID).

Let's look at it all over again but in a different way...let's focus more on the syllables and stress.

ves-TIR ? ves-TID ? ves-TID-os ? ves-TI-os ? vestíos

We start with the original infinitive (vestir) and convert it to the os command (vestid). Then we add os (vestidos), which would need no accent because it ends in s and would naturally be pronounced as ves-TID-os. However, we must get rid of the d, but when we do, the i will blend with the o to make a single syllable. We must prevent the i and o from blending and we must maintain the correct stress of the original verb (ves-TID). Putting the accent mark over the i does all this for us.

I hope that helps. I know it is also confusing to read.

By the way, ao does not blend into a single syllable like io does. That is one reason no accent mark was needed with levantaos but was with vestíos. - webdunce, Dec 19, 2010

Also, if we don't drop the d from vestid and levantad, we get vestidos and levantados, which are plural forms of the past participles. (Los niños vestidos con ropa azul son mios.) - webdunce, Dec 19, 2010

Is it only put accent on i when io together? But others no? Like ao? What else? - zhmelissa, Dec 19, 2010

Answer 2

First, three quick rules about syllable stress.

(1) for words ending in a vowel, n, or s...the stress will normally fall on the penultimate syllable.

(2) for all other words (words ending in consonants except for n or s), the stress falls on the last syllable.

(3) for words that do not follow rule 1 or rule 2, we must use an accent mark to show where the stress goes.

For example, corazón is pronounced correctly as co-ra-ZON. However, corazón ends in an n, so without the accent mark (corazon), according to rule 1, it would be stressed on the penultimate syllable and so it would be pronounced as co-RA-zon. However, with the stress mark it is stressed on the last syllable as co-ra-ZON. The pronunciation of corazón doesn't follow rule 1 or rule 2, so an accent mark is needed to prevent people from pronouncing it as co-RA-zon.

Levantate, if we take off the te, is simply levanta (the main verb). Levanta ends in a vowel and thus is pronounced as le-VAN-ta. That is the correct stress on the verb. And we can use that verb for tú commands like: Levanta la mano.

We don't want to lose the correct pronunciation of the verb just because we added te onto the end. However, without the accent, levántate (levanta + te) would be written as levantate, which ends in a vowel and thus would be governed by rule 1. So, without any accent marks, levantate would be pronounced as le-van-TA-te. This causes the main verb to be pronounced as le-van-TA, which is incorrect. But, with the stress mark, we can keep the correct pronunciation of the main verb. Levántate would be pronounced as le-VAN-ta-te.

Levantaos...hmmm...first know that the main verb is levantad, which we can use in commands like: Levantad la mano. Levantad is pronounced as le-van-TAD because it ends in a d and thus is controlled by rule 2. So, le-van-TAD is the normal and correct pronunciation of the verb without os. We do not need any accent mark so far because rule 2 helps us pronounce levantad correctly without any accent mark.

Now, to add os, we must drop the d and add the os...this gives us levantaos. Levantaos ends in s and so is controlled by rule 1 and would be pronounced as le-van-TA-os. Well, this is the correct pronunciation. Dropping d and adding os did not cause the main verb to lose its correct stress so no accent mark is needed thanks to rule 1.

I hope that makes sense. It is confusing even for me to read, and I wrote it.

Thanks, you explained very well, but how about vestíos? - zhmelissa, Dec 19, 2010

Answer 3

At the top of the page there's a tab that reads "more". Click that and choose reference. That take you to a screen where you can click on Spanish Grammar. That will take you to a list of topics and one of those is accents.