how do i know...

Question

how do i know when to put the accent marks on letters like á or ñ

Correct English: How do I know when to put the accent marks on letters as in á and ñ? - Jubilado, Oct 1, 2013

Answer 1

First I corrected your English for the benefit of those who use this site to learn English.

The letter ñ "eñe" does not have an accent mark it is a separate letter from n "ene", even in the Spanish alphabet.

Some words will always have a written accent: difícil is one.

Some words require the written accent to show in writing where the stress falls in pronunciation: llama can mean call (when you tell some one to call) call me in Spanish is written as one word so to keep the stress on the syllable lla it is llámame.

There are also times when an accent mark is use to distinguish the grammatical function of the word: solo is an adjective meaning alone, single (only), and a noun meaning (a musical) solo or (café) solo (black) and sólo is an adverb meaning only: Sólo quiero decirte.... I only want to tell you....

Now your job is to be aware of all these uses as you study Spanish and soon they will not seem hard at all!