Confused about accent marks!

Question

Okay, I'm a little confused. I've been reviewing stress and accent rules, and from what I can understand:

• if it ends in a vowel, s, or n, stress the next to last syllable. -if it ends in a consonant except for n or s, accent the last syllable. -if a word is to be pronounced in a way that does not follow these rules, an accent mark must be placed on the stressed syllable.

Why, then, if "Buenos días" ends in s does it need an accent mark on the i? It seems as though you would just be following rule number one anyway right? Am I missing something?

nice question, aamerine! - Sassette, Feb 25, 2015

Answer 1

I am weak on this area, but this is my understanding:

It is due to the formation of a dipthong:

http://www.lingolex.com/accents.htm

Now we look at when we have two vowels together and it starts to get complicated.

When there are two vowels together we have to consider if they are one or two syllables and if they form one syllable, which one of them should have the syllable stress?

There are two types of vowels:

Strong vowels: a, e and o

Weak vowels: u and I

Rule A When two strong vowels come together they make two separate syllables:

eg: tarea, caer, poema, peor

Rule B When two weak vowels come together they make a dipthong (one syllable):

(the stress goes on the second vowel)

eg: ruido, viuda. Rule C When there is one strong vowel and one weak vowel together they make a diphthong (one syllable) (the syllable stress goes on the strong vowel)

eg: idiota, causa, Juan, oigo

Note: A strong and a weak vowel together make one syllable so the stress on "lengua" is on the penultimate syllable in accordance with rule 1 Words that break rule B (the stress ought to be on the second vowel)

Flúido

Words that break rule C (the stress ought to be on the strong vowel)

río, vía, oído, grúa

I think día falls in that last category.

Ah! It makes perfect sense now! Thank you! - aamerine, Feb 24, 2015

De nada. :) - bosquederoble, Feb 24, 2015

Thanks. I'm weak in this area. I'm going to have to re-read this. There's only so much my brain can take on the first reading. - Sassette, Feb 25, 2015

And this is something that drives me crazy in Spanish. You have these rules and there are always exceptions to those rules. - Sassette, Feb 25, 2015

The thing is I don't really learn this particular set of rules, I just learn the spelling, and the pronunciation separate by memory and don't bother with the rule. That does lead to dumb mistakes at times though, if I misremember. - bosquederoble, Feb 25, 2015

Answer 2

Bosque is quite correct, but I think I can make it a little easier.

Dani's rule #5 for accents: To stress the weak vowel in a dipthong, add the accent mark as shown by Bosque above. ("u" and "i") are considered "weak" vowels.

Hmph. I need to bookmark this answer. Thanks Dani! - 00ffada9, Feb 24, 2015

Thanks Dani...I didn't see your answer until after I posted. - rac1, Feb 24, 2015

This is great! Thank you! - aamerine, Feb 24, 2015

thanks - Sassette, Feb 25, 2015

Answer 3

Okay. Then what is the case with "área"? It does not follow the rule, so, therefore, the tilde above the "a", ¿no?

Yes, e and a are strong vowels, so separate syllables making the first a third from the end, so in need of an accent if it is stressed. :) - bosquederoble, Feb 25, 2015

Answer 4

Welcome to SpanishDict.

In addition to Bosque's information, here are some links here to have a look at.

Written accents ((tildes)

Explain the accents and tildes

Can I know the tildes