Vowel Confusion!

Question

Okay, My question is how many vowels are there in Espanol. In the research I've done there seems to be 5. But to me there seems to be 12 more because of the accents; a, á, e, é, i, í, o, ó, u, ú, ñ. Someone please enlighten me.

Answer 1

While the ñ is a different letter than the n, it doesn't work that way with accented vowels.

a is a.

á is a con acento. Sigue siendo a.

Sigue siendo a* - Peinadin, Jan 28, 2012

I accept your answer but I see in some cases that an accent can change the whole meaning of a word; ex. como(how) and como(as) (couldn't apply accent on como) - craftinine, Jan 28, 2012

Definitely. Often the accent is used to identify words, for instance sé (from saber) and se.... which means many things. Still.... the e and é are not considered different letters of the alphabet. - Goyo, Jan 29, 2012

Answer 2

The accent in the vowel doesn´t change the pronunciation of the vowel, it only marks the strees in the word.

but it can change the meaning of the word, as in "mire-miré" ;) - Peinadin, Jan 28, 2012

Espanol es muy confuso - craftinine, Jan 28, 2012