Introduction:
I would
like this page to be a complete guide with all the necessary rules which
will allow you to write the accents correctly in Spanish. Unfortunately
I don't really believe that it is very easy to learn the rules and then
be able to apply them. I myself find that writing Spanish accents is
difficult and so I use a mixture of knowing the rules and memorising
the individual words. Before I send a written text I cheat by using the
spell checker although there are some cases where the accents change
the meaning so beware.
Why
do accents exist in Spanish?
They
show the word stress when the word stress breaks the normal rules. If
you understand the written accents you will be able to read Spanish out
loud with correct word stress. Some words can have a change in meaning
according to the accents eg. esta = this, está = it is. This concept
also exists in English, compare the pronunciation of refuse = rubbish,
and, refuse = choose not to do something.
What
are the rules for regular word stress, i.e. words with no accents?
We use
accents to show irregular word or syllable stress. Therefore first of
all we should learn the rules for regular word stress (for words of more
than one syllable).
Rule
1:
Words ending in a vowel; n or s are stressed on the last syllable but one.
eg: casa, libro, mesa, coche, madre, lunes, joven
Rule 2:
Words
ending in a consonant (not including n and s) are stressed on
the last syllable.
eg:
beber papel, verdad
Now
we will look at words that break the rules and therefore have an
accent.
When a word does not follow the rules above we put
an accent over the stressed vowel.
eg:
Words that break rule 1 (they ought
to have the stress on the penultimate syllable)
comí, miércoles,
cuídate, vivió, estación
Words that break rule 2 (they
ought to have the stress on the last syllable)
lápiz, clímax, difícil,
(note:
not many of accented words have broken rule2)
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
Are
you confused yet?
You may
be thinking to yourself "this is all fine and dandy but I doubt
if I can remember all that" Well don't worry because neither can
I. Accents will help you read correctly but for a non native they are
difficult to use when you are writing.
Here are some notes which will help you:
Tip1: The
most common use of the ó accent are the words that end in
-ación. eg. nación, concentration There are not many
words that end in -on that don't have an accent, the big exception
is the third person plural preterites eg. jugaron = they played,
amaron = they loved etc
Tip2: Learn
the accents in the regular verbs because
they will be the verbs that you use most.
Tip3: Learn
the accents in of the most common words. Examples which come to mind
are, aquí, más, allí, página, sí (yes
not if).
Accents
to show meaning
Some
words which are spelt the same have an accent to show their meaning
or different grammatical function. |
