"eramos" vs. "éramos"

Question

When should an accent mark be placed on the first vowel of a word.

Gracias por su ayuda,

Saludos

Jim

Answer 1

There is no short way to explain where we should put accents and why we do it. There are just too many reasons to include in just a few answers. This lesson covers a lot of the reasons to use accents.

We don't ever use "eramos," it's always "éramos." It is the first person plural imperfect past tense of "ser" in the indicative mood. It means "to be". The reason is to maintain stress of pronunciation on the appropriate syllable. Here is the pattern in which it is pronounced for the different people doing the verb.

Yo - era (I was)... pronounced EH - rah

Tú eras (You were)... pronounced EH - rahs

El / ella era (He/she/it was)... pronounced EH - rah

Ellos / ellas eran (They were)... pronounced Eh - rahn

Vosotros erais (You [familiar plural] were)... pronounced EH - rah - eees.

The stress is always on the EH, but if we continue to conjugate the verbs in the "nosotros" form, the stress would be on the "rah." To fix this, we put an accent on the "e" to keep the stress on "Eh."

Nosotros éramos (we were)... pronounced EH - rah - m - oh - s

I hope this helps

It's interesting that in Latin (Eram, Eras, Erat, erAmus, erAtis, Erant), there is no such consistency with keeping the stress on the appropriate syllable! - tomsky, Apr 29, 2012

Answer 2

Aylino, I tend to disagree with your theory that knowing about written accents doesn't help you and that they are not too important. They are very important. For one thing they tell you where the emphasis falls in a word, which can be very important to non-native speakers who may have never heard a word that they are reading. Knowing the rules is a necessity if you are involved in any type of academic writing, translation or analysis of poetry. Sadly you are right that many advanced/native speakers have orthographic problems, the most obvious one being accents. I know several bilingual students that could make a great living writing or translating, but are rejected due to poor grammatical skills. Furthermore, one of the first signs that a language is dying is when speakers don't know how to write it properly.

Tienes razon = You are right. - aylino, Apr 29, 2012

Answer 3

You could learn about accent,but it doesn't help you too much.The graphic accent is used: -to distinguish the homonymous (the same form,but diferent meaning):

Te----Té =(personal pronoun) You----(masculine noun) Tea

-to show that two vowels don't form a diphtong,but a hiatus( two vowels which aren't pronounced in the same syllable):

-Río (rí-o) = River

-Tío (tí-o) =Uncle

-to show the interrogation and the exclamation of the words could be interrogative or exclamatory (for example,the relative and interrogative pronoun que and qué ):

-El coche que está aqui,,,,= (relative pronoun) The car which is here...

-¿Qué estas haciendo? = (interrogative pronoun) What are you doing?

-¡Qué día hermoso! = (exclamatory pronoun) What a beautiful day!

It's important to know to use the graphic accent,but it isn't too important to know that: -palabras oxítonas----words with the accent on the last syllable:

Canción = Song

-palabras paroxítonas------words with the accent on the penultimate syllable:

MAdre = Mother

Carácter = Character

-palabras proparoxítonas-----words with the accent on the antepenultimate syllable:

Simpático = Nice

These things don't help you,but they "kill" you.I know persons that don't know about palabras oxítonas,paroxítonas,but they speak spanish better than I do.There are dictionaries! It's unless to know all about the spanish accent,but somebody isn't able to speak and understand spanish.

Podrías aprender sobre acento, pero no te ayuda demasiado.El acento gráfico se usa:

-para distinguir los homónimos (la misma forma,pero significado diferente)

Te----Té =(personal pronoun) You----(masculine noun) Tea

-para enseñar que dos vocales no forman un diptongo,sino un hiato (dos vocales que se pronuncian en silabas distintas):

-Río (rí-o) = River

-Tío (tí-o) Uncle

-para enseñar la interrogación y la exclamación de las palabras que podrían ser interogativas o exclamativas (por ejemplo, el pronombre relativo y interrogative que y qué):

--El coche que está aqui,,,,= (relative pronoun) The car which is here...

-¿Qué estas haciendo? = (interrogative pronoun) What are you doing?

-¡Qué día hermoso! = (exclamatory pronoun) What a beautiful day!

Es importante de saber como usar el acento gráfico,pero ne es demasiado importante de saber esto:

-palabras oxítonas---palabras con el acento en la última silaba:

Canción = Song

• palabras paroxítonas ---palabras con el acento en la penúltima silaba:

MAdre = Mother

Carácter = Character

-palabras proparoxítonas----palabras con el acento en la antepenúltima silaba:

Simpático = Nice

Estas cosas no te ayudan,sino te "matan".Conozco personas que no saben sobre palabras oxítonas,paroxítonas,pero hablan castellano mejor que yo.¡Hay diccionarios!.Es inútil de saber todo sobre el acento español,si alguien no es capaz de hablar y entender castellano.

Answer 4

GuitarWarrior is right and in this case if the tilde were not there - and because the word has 3 sylables and no ending letter that automatically accents the last sylable, such as L, D, or Z - it would be pronounced "er/a/mos" which would be wrong.

That explains it :) - GuitarWarrior, Apr 29, 2012