Accents in Spanish Spanish words with accents

Still having trouble understanding the rules of Spanish accentuation? In this don Quijote article you’ll learn everything you need to know to know when to accent words in Spanish. If you want to master this language, the accent of the words is essential to know how to pronounce them and how to differentiate them.

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What is accentuation in Spanish?

Accentuation is a basic part of Spanish as a language, as knowing how and when words are accented is essential to speaking and writing correctly. That said, Spanish words are accented according to the stressed syllable, that is, the syllable on which the stress falls when pronouncing a word.

Therefore, Spanish accents will help you to know how to pronounce a word simply by seeing it written. In Spanish, the accent mark is only written on the five vowels: á, é, í, ó, ú. Thus, the letters that are accented in Spanish are only these five, the rest of the letters or, rather, consonants, do not have an accent mark.

When to stress stressed syllables in Spanish?

Spanish words are stressed depending on where the stressed syllable is, but not all words are stressed. Therefore, it is necessary to know how to identify the stressed syllable to correctly stress words. In addition, depending on the position of the stressed syllable, Spanish words can be divided into four groups.

The rules of accentuation of Spanish words are as follows:

• Palabras agudas (oxytone words). They are accented when they end in a vowel, n or s, and the stressed syllable is the last one. For example: camion (truck), café (coffee), sofa (sofa), jamás (never), compás (compass).
• Palabras graves or llanas (paroxytone words). These words have stress when they end in a consonant other than s or no and do not end in a vowel. The stressed syllable is the penultimate syllable: lápiz (pencil), césped (lawn), fácil (easy), débil (weak), túnel (tunnel), ángel (angel).
• Palabras esdrújulas (proparoxytone words). These words always have a tilde and their stressed syllable is in the antepenultimate place. Examples: pájaro (bird), música (music), teléfono (telephone), lógico (logical), rápido (fast), histórico (historical).
• Palabras sobresdrújulas (proparoxytone words). Like the previous ones, they also always have a stress mark, but their stressed syllable is before the antepenultimate, i.e., fourth or fifth. For example: devuélveselo (give it back to him), repíteselo (repeat it), explícaselo (explain it to him), entrégamelo (give it to me).

Stressing monosyllabic words in Spanish

As a rule, monosyllabic words in Spanish are not accented, but there are exceptions. The rule that applies to these words is that they are accented when it is necessary to distinguish between words that are spelled the same, but have different meanings, i.e. homophones in Spanish.

For example, in the sentence “Tú tienes que traer tu propia camiseta el domingo” (You have to bring your own shirt on Sunday), there are two words that are the same but are differentiated by the accent: tú and tu. The first is a personal pronoun and the second a possessive. The same happens with other monosyllables such as: él and el, se and sé, mas and más, si and sí, te and té.

This type of accentuation is called diacritical tilde and, as we mentioned before, it is used to differentiate two words that are spelled the same but do not mean the same thing.

Accenting questions in Spanish

Questions in Spanish are always accented. Interrogative pronouns are accented to differentiate them from adverbial conjunctions. Thus, in addition to the question marks at the beginning and end of the sentence, you can tell that it is a question with the tilde that the pronouns carry.

For example:

1. ¿Qué tienes de comer hoy? (What do you have to eat today?)
2. Dime quién te lo contó (Tell me who told you)
3. ¿Cómo prefieres el café: solo o con leche? (How do you prefer your coffee: black or with milk?)
4. ¿Cuánto cuesta este libro? (How much does this book cost?)
5. No recuerdo cuándo fue eso (I don't remember when that was)
6. ¿Dónde vives ahora? (Where do you live now?)
7. ¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños? (When is your birthday?)
8. Explícame por qué no viniste (Explain to me why you didn't come)

Common Spanish words with accents

Here are some of the most common Spanish words that have a tilde and can be heard daily. Do you know all of them?

• Café (Coffee)
• Inglés (English)
• Papá (Dad)
• Compás (Compass)
• Mamá (Mom)
• Además (In addition)
• También (Also/too)
• Jamás (Never)
• Útil (Useful)
• Limón (Lemon)
• Quizás (Maybe)
• León (Lion)
• Corazón (Heart)
• Francés (French)
• Árbol (Tree)
• Lápiz (Pencil)
• Fácil (Easy)
• Débil (Weak)
• Azúcar (Sugar)
• Móvil (Mobile)
• Césped (Lawn)
• Cárcel (Jail)
• Frágil (Fragile)
• Música (Music)
• Teléfono (Telephone)

• Pájaro (Bird)
• Fantástico (Fantastic)
• Lógico (Logical)
• Rápido (Fast)
• Científico (Scientific)
• Decisión (Decision)
• Esdrújula (Proparoxytone)
• Lágrima (Tear)
• Eléctrico (Electric)
• Álbum (Album)
• Dígamelo (Tell me)
• Panadería (Bakery)
• Repíteselo (Say it again)
• Tráigaselo (Bring it back to me)
• Devuélvemelo (Give it back to me)
• Préstaselo (Lend it to him)
• Cuéntamelo (Tell me about it)
• País (country)
• Río (River)
• Frío (Cold)
• Raíz (Root)
• Día (Day)
• Vacío (Void)
• Reír (To laugh)
• Aéreo (Aerial)

Of course there are many more Spanish words that are accented, but you will have to discover them for yourself. You can improve your command of the Spanish accentuation rules by reading, watching Spanish series and movies in their original version or by joining one of our intensive Spanish courses. Constant practice will help you understand and use Spanish accent words.