Accents in Spanish are used to mark which part of the word is pronounced with more emphasis. Although it may seem that accent marks are placed randomly in some words, there are actually a few simple patterns to follow:
The second to last vowel is the most prominent one in most Spanish words, as long as the last letter in the word is a vowel, an n, or an s: pluma meaning pen, orden meaning order, menos meaning less.
Only the words that do not follow this rule require a written accent mark on the stressed syllable.
Let’s dive right in and we’ll be able to master Spanish accent marks in no time!
What is the difference between word stress and accent marks?
All Spanish words have a stressed syllable. This means that in each word, one syllable is more prominent — pronounced with more emphasis — than the rest. Although all words are stressed, not all words need a written accent mark.
For instance, words like palabra meaning word and cándido meaning candid have a prominent syllable (marked in red). However, only cándido needs an accent mark.
Next, let’s take a look at how word stress is assigned in Spanish.
How to assign word stress?
To determine whether a word needs a written accent mark, first, we need to establish where the stressed syllable falls.
To determine word stress:
Check the last letter of a word.
Answer the question: Does the word end in a vowel (a, e, i, o, u), n, or s?
If the answer is yes, then the stress falls in the second to last syllable.
For instance, take the word camino meaning road
It has three syllables: ca-mi-no
It ends in the vowel “o”
Then, the stress falls on the second to last syllable, shown in red: ca-mi-no
If the answer is no, then the stress falls in the last syllable.
Take, for example, the word papel meaning paper
It has two syllables: pa-pel
It does not end in a vowel, but in a consonant “l”
Therefore, the stress falls on the last syllable: pa-pel
Here are some examples:
| Word Stress Assignment | |
|---|---|
Second to last stress when the word ends in a vowel, n, or s. |
|
Final stress when the word ends in a consonant, other than n or s. |
|
Noticed anything unusual? Right! None of the previous examples have written accent marks. Why? Spanish does not write accent marks on words that follow the rules described above. On the contrary, Spanish requires written accent marks only on the words that break the previous rules (the “rule-breakers”).
Ready to find out when accent marks are needed? Keep reading!
When to write accent marks?
After establishing on which syllable word stress falls, we can now determine whether the word needs an accent mark or not.
All exceptions to the previous word stress patterns require a written accent on the vowel of the stressed syllable, as seen in the next chart:
| Accent Mark Rules | |
|---|---|
Rule #1 A word ending in a vowel, n, or s is stressed in the last syllable. |
|
Rule #2 A word ending in a consonant, n or s, is stressed in the second to last syllable. |
|
Rule #3 All words with more than two syllables whose stressed syllable is not the last or the second to last require a written accent mark. |
|
Up to now, we have covered the most important rules of Spanish accents. But there is more to the story, there are exceptional cases in which Spanish words require accents. If you’re ready to learn all the rules, keep reading!
Spanish accent rules: Special cases
In this section we will go over:
Words containing diphthongs: memoria meaning memory, ruina meaning ruin
Homonyms: él meaning he vs. el meaning the; porqué meaning reason vs. porque meaning because
Verbs followed by object pronouns: cuéntamelo meaning tell it to me
Interrogative and exclamatory words: No sé qué quiere meaning I don’t know what (s)he wants, ¡Qué bueno! meaning That’s great!
Adverbs ending in -mente: fácilmente meaning easily, felizmente meaning happily
Words containing diphthongs
A diphthong is formed in Spanish when two vowels are adjacent within the same syllable. Spanish diphthongs are always composed of a strong vowel (a, e, o) and a weak vowel (i, u) or two weak vowels:
Strong + weak: For instance, the word memoria meaning memory has a diphthong, can you spot it? Right! The diphthong ia, at the end, is composed of a weak vowel i, followed by a strong vowel a.
Weak + weak: Let’s take, for instance, the name Luis. It contains a weak + weak diphthong: ui.
Here’s a chart with all possible diphthong vowel combinations.
When do diphthongs require an accent mark?
To answer this question, we must consider the following three rules:
Stress on a strong vowel
When the stress falls on the strong vowel (a, e, o), the general accent mark rules apply. For example:
después meaning later→ des-pués
huésped meaning guest→ hués-ped
miércoles meaning Wednesday→ miér-co-les
Stress on a weak vowel
When the stress falls on a weak vowel, it requires an accent mark, and the two vowels are separated into two separate syllables, thus forming a hiatus (two adjacent vowels in two separate syllables). For example:
país meaning country→ pa-ís
increíble meaning incredible→ in-cre-í-ble
haría meaning I/he/she would do→ ha-rí-a
Two weak vowels
When the stress falls on diphthongs formed by two weak vowels (iu or ui), the diphthong is blocked, thus creating a hiatus, but no written accent mark is required.
ruido meaning ruido→ ru-i-do
Finally, triphthongs occur rarely when three vowels (one weak, one strong, and one weak) are adjacent within the same syllable. For instance, take a word like vieira meaning scallop. The vowels iei are pronounced in the same syllable (viei-ra). Triphthongs follow the regular accent mark rules. When triphthongs require an accent mark, it falls on the strong vowel. For instance, aliviáis meaning you (pl.) alleviate has final stress, even though it ends in an s. Therefore it needs an accent mark on the strong vowel in the last-syllable triphthong.
Homonyms
Homonyms are words that are spelled the same or sound the same, but have different meanings. Monosyllabic words (words that only contain one syllable) in Spanish do not generally require a written accent, unless they are homonyms with another monosyllabic word.
For example: tú meaning you and tu meaning your sound exactly the same, but are used very differently. To tell the homonyms apart, one of each pair requires an accent mark.
This also applies to disyllabic (words containing two syllables) homonyms. For example, porqué meaning reason vs. porque meaning because.
Here’s a complete list of Spanish monosyllabic and disyllabic homonyms.
Interrogative and exclamative words
Spanish interrogative and exclamative words (words used in questions and exclamations) require an accent mark to tell them apart from non-interrogative or exclamative homonyms. For instance:
| Interrogative and exclamative (accent mark required) | Non-interrogative (no accent mark required) |
|---|---|
| Relative pronoun:
|
Here's a complete list of Spanish interrogative and exclamative homonyms.
Verbs followed by pronouns
When pronouns (reflexive pronouns, direct object pronouns, and indirect object pronouns) are attached to a verb, the stress may be shifted to the third or fourth syllable from the end. In such cases, the stressed syllable requires a written accent following general rule #3.
Let’s take for instance the command da meaning (you) give.
You can add an indirect object pronoun to say “give me”: dame.
You can also add another pronoun (and another syllable) like lo meaning it to say: “give it to me.”
You will end up with a three syllable word with the stress on da which results in “dá-me-lo.”
For more on object pronouns head over to our post on direct and indirect object pronouns in Spanish.
Let’s see some possible combos with pronouns:
| Verb + pronouns | Syllable breakdown | Verb with accent when required |
|---|---|---|
compra + me + lo Translation: buy + for me + it | 4321 cóm-pra-me-lo | cómpramelo Translation: buy it for me |
viendo + la Translation: seeing + it | 321 vién-do-la | viéndola Translation: seeing it |
comprando + los Translation: buying + them | 4321 com-prán-do-los | comprándolos Translation: buying them |
peinando + se Translation: combing + yourself | 4321 pei-nán-do-se | peinándose Translation: combing yourself |
ten + la Translation: have + it | 21 ten-la | tenla Translation: have it |
Adverbs ending in ‘-mente’
One way to build adverbs in Spanish is to add the ending -mente to some adjectives. Adverbs formed this way require accent marks only when the adjectives originally had them, as seen in the following chart:
| Adjective | mente | → Adverb |
|---|---|---|
feliz Translation: happy | + mente | felizmente Translation: happily |
común Translation: common | + mente | comúnmente Translation: commonly |
Summary
We can predict the stressed syllable of the vast majority of Spanish words without the help of accent marks. Approximately 90% of all Spanish words assign word stress following regular patterns and do not need an accent mark:
Second to last stress is assigned to words ending in a vowel (a, e, i, o, u), n, or s.
Stress falls on the last syllable of words ending in consonants other than n or s.
Finally, don’t forget that there are some exceptional cases when we use accent marks other than the three general rules.
Some words containing diphthongs
Monosyllabic and disyllabic homonyms
Verbs followed by object pronouns
Interrogative and exclamatory words
Adverbs ending in -mente
Ready to practice? Check out these activities (answer key included!)
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