accent marks and object pronouns

Question

How do I know what vowel to put an accent on when I add an object pronoun to the verb?

good question .. see the answer below.. - 00b055e0, Apr 21, 2014

Answer 1

It is very simple .. you first need to understand the accentuation rules of Spanish pronunciation .. just learn the following rules and you will be good to go :

1. When the word ends in a consonant (except for n and s) the stress lies on the last syllable .. for example trabajar, caminar (or any other infinitive) as it ends with theconsonant the stress would be on the very last syllable "ar" ..so while pronouncing you would stress on ar

2. If the word ends in a vowel or either of the two consonants (left out earlier) n or s ..the stress will fall on the second syllable from the last .. For example .. when I conjugate trabajar in first person indicative ,, it will become : yo trabajo .. now our new form ends in the vowel o .. so the stress will shift to the second last syllable "ba" (only while pronouncing ,, no written accent mark needed yet)..

3. The words with written accent marks are an exception to the above two rules.

Now, once you memorize the rules I have stated above it will be very easy for you to determine where you need to place an accent on a conjugated verb followed by a pronoun. For example. Estoy tomando una medicina ..now, I can use the direct object pronoun la in place of medicina .. in which case it will be .. estoy tomándola.... now how I figured as to where the accent had to placed .. well I just have to look at the form prior to adding the pronoun and apply the aforementioned rules of accentuation .. In this case tomando ends in a vowel so the stress should be on the second last syllable "man" but we don't yet need to place any written accent because it is in accord with the rules thus far ,, but when we add the suffix la we need to put an accent mark (in writing) to the modified form to preserve the original position or place of accentuation ..because la is just an extra word added and we don't want it to alter the original pronunciation of the verb so we add the accent mark on the second last syllable and then add la

Hope you understand now..

pardon the typo errors .. very difficult to type on this small touch screen of my phone - 00b055e0, Apr 21, 2014

thanks jimmy...and thanks for going through all that on your small screen. If you want, I can fix them for you...or at least most of them. just let me know. And I am still reading, so I have no comment about this yet except thank you for your help. - actorgirl, Apr 21, 2014

please do .. I get too worked up typing for long duration on this little screen .. so kindly edit any typo errors you may observe .. I dont feel like tapping my fingers on this screen again .. thanks. - 00b055e0, Apr 21, 2014

sure! :) I just can't right now. but I will get to it. - actorgirl, Apr 21, 2014

did u understand the logic though or are u still trying to discern - 00b055e0, Apr 21, 2014

I think I got it. Here is what I am understanding it to be. You put the accent mark where the accent would be on the orginal word before you mess with it? - actorgirl, Apr 21, 2014

yes .. that is correct but for being able to determine the place the stress would fall originally (before u mess with it) u need to apply those two rules I mentioned above .. - 00b055e0, Apr 21, 2014

Okay. I think I got it. muchas gracias! - actorgirl, Apr 21, 2014

I also wanted to contribute something to your subjunctive thread but I cant muster the stregth to type such a long one on this phone .. my fingers start paining .. ok bye now .. need to sleep ..take care - 00b055e0, Apr 21, 2014

no hay de que (de nada) - 00b055e0, Apr 21, 2014

:) you could do a short one...:) or find somewhere with a computer to do it. :) that is fine if you don't. - actorgirl, Apr 21, 2014

I have a computer ,, but dont have time to turn it on ..and subjunctive is a big hulk .. I wont be doing justice to it by doing a short one .. lets c - 00b055e0, Apr 21, 2014

oh okay. yeah, it sure is!!! I have to go do a Spanish test now! :/ - actorgirl, Apr 21, 2014

Wonderful!!! - jessicamccall117, Apr 21, 2014

thanks jessica - 00b055e0, Apr 22, 2014