accented vowels
Hi,
I am a beginner in learning Spanish and have been recently doing the exercises on object pronouns. I seem to have great difficulty understanding why the accented vowels are added when there an object pronoun is added. For example;
"Compra ( las plumas)" becomes "cómpralas" with an accent on the letter 'o'. What causes that?
Thank you
4 Answers
When a sentence has two verbs there are two options for placement of a pronoun. Place it immediately before the conjugated (usually the first) verb or attach it to the Infinitive (the second verb). in your example, the infinitive would be comprar. When the pronoun is attached to the infinitive, an accent on the third to last syllable is often required to preserve the pronounciation of the word.
Here's an example where the accent changes to keep the proper pronunciation.
¿Puedes llamarme? (stress is on the second "a" is normal, so no accent mark needed)
Llámame. (stress is now on the first "a" which is unusual, so an accent mark is needed)
Here are two lessons:
Hope this helps!
This is done in order to maintain the original accent of the word. Using your example, before adding the "las" to the word "compra" the natural accent falls on the penultimate syllable (or the second to last syllable). That is the "com." Since it is following the rule there is no written accent required. However, when you add the "las" the second to last syllable would then become the "pra"which does to retain the original sound of the word. The accent is added to help identify the natural spoken accent because it is not following the penultimate rule.
¿Trajó (el libro)?
Lo siento. Incorrect. "Lo" is the direct object pronoun for a singular masculine noun. It is placed in front of the conjugated verb. Correct answer: ¿Lo trajo?
How about in the above case when the accent disappears? My logic says it should be "Lo trajó" but it's wrong .
