👉 Spanish accent marks rules for beginners (and punctuation)
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1. ACCENTUATION
In Spanish, all words have an accented syllable. Every word with more than one syllable has a syllable that is distinguished from the others by a higher volume of sound.
While all words have an accented syllable, it does not always have the written accent, called Tilde.
When the accent is pronounced but not written, it is a prosodic accent (acento prosodico).
When the accent is written in addition to being pronounced, it is an orthographic accent (acento ortográfico).
The Spanish accent is written like the French acute accent and can be found on the 5 vowels (á,é,Ã,ó,ú) but never on a consonant.
The accentuation gives the Spanish language its rhythm and its singing side. To be understood, the correct use of accentuation is very important.
In fact, in some cases, if you change the stress from one syllable to another, the meaning of the word will also change.
Examples :
– Bebé (a newborn) IS DIFFERENT FROM ==> Bebe (verb ‘beber’ – to drink)
– Médico (a doctor) IS DIFFERENT FROM ==> Medico (verb ‘medicar’ – to medicate)
РLa ingle (the groin) IS DIFFERENT FROM ==> Ingl̩s (english)
It is noticeable that, although the spelling is similar, words can have a completely different meaning depending on the placement and use of the tonic accent.
There are three main rules for applying accentuation in Spanish.
* Rule 1: The word has a written accent
When the word has a written accent, the syllable with the accent is stressed.
Examples :
РEl m̩todo ==> The method
– Una lágrima ==> A tear
If the word does not have a written accent, refer to one of the following two cases.
* Rule 2: the word ends with a vowel or the letters N or S
In this case, the accent is placed on the second last syllable of the word.
Examples :
– La crisis==> The crisis
– Una Patata ==> A potato
– Hola ==> Hello
– Un hombre ==> A man
– El agua ==> The water
* Rule 3: the word ends with a consonant or the letter Y
In this case, the last syllable of the word is stressed.
Examples:
– El reloj==> The watch
– La pared ==> The wall
– El color ==> The color
– La juventud==> The youth
Generalities and special cases
* Generally the accent of a noun, pronoun or adjective is always on the same syllable, whether it is masculine or feminine, singular or plural.
Examples:
РFranc̩s ==> Francesa
РPortugu̩s ==> Portuguesa
– Fácil ==> Fáciles
– Pared ==> Paredes
However, there are exceptions where this rule does not apply:
Examples:
– Carácter = Caracteres
– Régimen = RegÃmenes
– Espécimen = EspecÃmenes
Notes:
* Words ending in -mente (tranquilamente, suavemente, fácilmente, rápidamente, etc.) have 2 tonic syllables.
Here, the tonic syllable of the adjective is kept and the second tonic syllable is added to the ending -mente.
* The diacritical accent: the diacritical accent (acento diacrÃtico) is used to distinguish monosyllabic words that are written in the same way but do not have the same meaning.
Examples:
РT̩ (Tea) IS DIFFERENT FROM ==> Te (pronoun)
РDe (preposition) IS DIFFERENT FROM ==> D̩ (verb Dar)
РSe (personnal pronoun) IS DIFFERENT FROM ==> S̩ (verb Saber)
2. PUNCTUATION MARKS
– El punto ==> dot
– La coma ==> comma
– Punto y coma ==> semicolon
– Los dos puntos ==> colon
– Las comillas ==> quotation marks
– El signo de interrogación ==> question mark
– El signo de exclamación ==> exclamation mark
РLas parent̩sis ==> parentheses
– El guión ==> dash/hyphen
👉 Next lesson: Dipthongs, accents and word stress
👈 Previous lesson: Alphabet and spelling rules
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