Accents and where to put them
HI! Could somebody please tell me when to put accents?
Cause I'm kind of confused on where accents go. Are there certain rules or ways that I can figure out if there are accents on a word or not. For example, when should there be an accent on a vowel such as o?
Thank you for ur help!
4 Answers
Where to "put" accents can mean two things. One thing is which syllable is stressed (also called accented by some) and another thing is where to put an accent mark (grave) on a word that is spelled out.
Which do you mean, or are you interested in both?
Here is a link to an article that deals with word stress and accents. Why don't you read this and then let us know if you have further questions. With questions, it is usually best to provide an some example sentences or words and ask about what you don't understand. That way we have a better idea what you do and don't know and can help you more effectively.
In general, any syllable of a Spanish word can be stressed (pronunciation) if that syllable has an accent mark on it. Some Spanish verbs tenses, for example, have accent marks on a specific syllable (of most verbs...there are always exceptions) to turn them into past tense, future tense, conditional tense, etc.
If there are no accents marks on a word, then either the last syllable or the second to last syllable is stressed. If the word ends in a vowel, S or N, then the second to last syllable is stressed. If it ends in any other letter, then the last syllable is stressed.
You can remember the above scheme because it it very tightly related to how verbs are conjugated in the present tense. Verbs in the regular present tense all end in a vowel, S or N.
Hablo, hablas, habla, hablamos, habláis, hablan. HA-blo, HA-blas, HA-bla, ha-BLA-mos, HA-bláis, HA-blan. While the infinitive is pronounced ha-BLAR. (because it doesn't end in a vowel, N or S)
There are rules for adding accents to words when pronouns are attached. The basic idea is to keep the regular accent that the verb has when there are no pronouns attached.
For example: dígamelo = diga (no accent) + me + lo = tell me it. We have to put an accent on the í so that diga is still pronounced DI-ga. If we didn't add the accent the word would be pronounced digaMElo, which would be moving the stress on the original verb...not what we want.
Another situation to watch out for is singular nouns and adjectives. If they have an accent mark, IF pluralizing them adds a syllable, then the need for the accent may go away. For example: canción ---> canciones. With the accent on canción, it is pronounced canci-ON, without the accent it would be cancion --> can-CI-on which is not what the Spaniards want to say...that's why they put the accent on the singular word.
I don't think there is any other logic to this except maybe it goes back to how something was pronounced in Latin...if a singular word takes an accent, don't ask why, just memorize it. One thing that can help, is when learning Spanish, try to use software (or a teacher) that pronounces words as you go along. This is the best way to know where an accent mark must go...it goes on the stressed syllable that you can hear. For example fácil --> FA-cil (easy) could just just as easily be spelled facil (no accent) and then it would be pronounced fa-CIL. So by hearing FA-cil instead of fa-CIL and understanding the Spanish accentuation rules, you will know that it needs an accent.
Now, when we add a syllable --> canciones --> canci-ON-es the accent occurs on the syllable with the O without an accent mark because the last vowel ends in S, and when this is the case, you accent the second to last syllable. It sounds complicated, but it is really fairly simple when you get used to it...it is all very logical.
That's probably more than enough for an introduction to this topic. The good thing is that Spanish is almost 100% predictable. If you see how a word is spelled and accented you can figure out how to pronounce it. This is one of the major advantages when learning Spanish compared to English - but there are things that make Spanish more difficult than English in other aspects.
Welcome to the forum. I see you say you want to know where to put the accent [mark/tilde/] on the word. Are you saying when someone is spelling the word for you?
eg If I was spelling como [I eat] I would say c o m o If I was spelling como - he ate I would say c o m o tilde meaning the last letter was comó. If I said tem the first one I would stress the first o and the second the second o.
Here is an infografic [in Spanish]
and here is a link to the excellent blog
Here is the link to an answer I already gave on accent marks.
Where to put accent marks
I mean when you spell out the word how do you know when to put an accent mark on the certain word
