ACCENTS IN SPANISH 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, est = it is. This concept also exists in nglish, 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? !e 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#. "ule #$ !ords ending in a vowel$ n or s are stressed on the last syllable but one. eg% casa, libro, %esa, coche, %adre, lunes, &oven "ule '$ !ords ending in a consonant "not including n and s# are stressed on the last syllable. eg% be(er papel, verdad Now we will loo) at words that (rea) the rules and therefore ha*e an accent! !hen a word does not follow the rules above we put an accent over the stressed vowel. eg% Words that (rea) rule # "they ought to have the stress on the penultimate syllable# com&, mi'rcoles, cu&date, vivi(, estaci(n Words that (rea) rule ' "they ought to have the stress on the last syllable# lpi), cl&max, dif&cil, "note% not many of accented words have broken rule*# Now we loo) at when we ha*e two *owels together and it starts to get co%plicated! !hen 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 !eak vowels% u and I "ule A !hen two strong vowels come together they make two separate syllables% eg% tarea, caer, poema, peor "ule + !hen two weak vowels come together they make a dipthong "one syllable#% "the stress goes on the second vowel# eg% ruido, viuda. "ule C !hen 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, ,uan, oigo -ote% . strong and a weak vowel together make one syllable so the stress on /lengua/ is on the penultimate syllable in accordance with rule 0 Words that (rea) rule + "the stress ought to be on the second vowel# 1l2ido

Words that (rea) rule C "the stress ought to be on the strong vowel# r&o, v&a, o&do, gr2a Are you confused yet? 3ou may be thinking to yourself /this is all fine and dandy but I doubt if I can remember all that/ !ell don4t worry because neither can I. .ccents will help you read correctly but for a non native they are difficult to use when you are writing. 5ere are some notes which will help you% Tip#$ The most common use of the ( accent are the words that end in 6aci(n. eg. naci(n, concentration There are not many words that end in 6on that don4t have an accent, the big exception is the third person plural preterites eg. 7ugaron = they played, amaron = they loved etc Tip'$ 8earn the accents in the regular verbs because they will be the verbs that you use most. Tip,$ 8earn the accents in of the most common words. xamples which come to mind are, a9u&, ms, all&, pgina, s& "yes not if#. Accents to show %eaning Some words which are spelt the same have an accent to show their meaning or different grammatical function. 0naccented ad&ecti*es %i tu el de%onstrati*e ad&ecti*es este ese etc! %isc aun co%o %as si solo Accented pronouns %7 %e t9 you 6l he de%onstrati*e pronouns 6ste this one 6se that one etc! %isc a9n still yet c8%o how %5s %ore s7 yes s8lo only

%y your the

Notes$ The -uestion words such as -ue donde adonde cuando cual cuanto ha*e an accent when they are used for -uestions .either direct or indirect/ or excla%ations (ut no accent when they are used as relati*e pronouns!

this that

.ccent marks are in Spanish for two different purposes% to indicate where the stress or emphasis falls on a word when it is pronounced, and to help differentiate between identically spelled words. They are only used over vowels "5, 6, 7, 8, 9#, and are written as a short diagonal line, from upper right to lower left. .. The following rules regarding written accents assume you know on which syllable of a word the stress occurs. .n accent mark is normally -:T re9uired if% 0. The word ends in a vowel "a, e, i, o, u# or n or s and the stress falls on the next6to6the6last "or penultimate# syllable. xamples% Ca%ino : ;ca:3I:no, road, ends in a vowel, and the stress falls on the next6to6the last syllable< Ha(lan : ;HA:(lan, they speak, ends in an n and the stress falls on the next6to6the6last syllable< 3uchachas : ;%u:CHA:chas, girls, ends in an s and the stress falls on the next6to6the6last syllable<

e*en as li)e (ut if alone

0SE 12 W"ITTEN ACCENT 3A"4S IN SPANISH

*. The word ends in a consonant other than n or s and the stress falls on the last syllable. xamples% -uerer ciudad ;-ue:"E", to want, ends in an r and the stress falls on the last syllable< ;ciu:;A;, city, ends in a d and the stress falls on the last syllable<

=. . written accent mark IS re9uired if the situation is not as given in the above two rules, that is, when% 0. The word ends in a vowel "a, e, i, o, u# or n or s and the stress falls on the last syllable. xamples% ca%in8 canci8n *er5s ;ca:%i:N<, he/she walked ends in a vowel, and the stress falls on the last syllable< ;can:CI<N, song, ends in an n and the stress falls on the last syllable< ;*e:"=S, you will see, ends in an s and the stress falls on the last syllable<

*. The word ends in a consonant other than n or s and the stress falls on the next6to6last syllable. xamles% %5rtir c5rcel ;3=":tir, martyr, ends in an r and the stress falls on the next6to6the6last syllable< ;C=":cel, jail, ends in an l and the stress falls on the next6to6the6last syllable<

>. The stress falls on any vowel more than two syllables from the end of the word. xamples% prop8sito ;pro:P<:si:to, purpose, is stressed on the third6from6the6last syllable< d5ndo%elo ;;=N:do:%e:lo, giving it to me, is stressed on the fourth6from6the last syllable< ?. The stress falls on a weak vowel "i or u# which comes immediately before or after a strong vowel "a, e o#. xamples% d7a ;;>:a, day$ the stress falls on an i which is immediately followed by an a< act9o ;ac:T?:o, I act$ the stress falls on a u which is immediately followed by an o< @. Note% Anless accented, the letters i and u become semi6consonants when the come in contact with other vowels. Thus, without written accents, the above words would be pronounced ;@A "one syllable# and AC:tuo "two syllables#. To su% up the a(o*e rules$ Boes the word end in a e i o u n, or s+
A.

If the answer is CyesD and it is not stressed on the next:to:the:last sylla(le, a written accent is re9uired. If the answer is CnoD and it is not stressed on the last sylla(le, a written accent is re9uired.

.ccent marks are re9uired on some words to differentiate them from otherwise identically spelled ones. There are three groups of these word pairs$ in all cases the more emphatic word of the pair carries the written accent mark 0. Aad8nde? Ac8%o? Acu5l? Acu5ndo? xclamation and 9uestion words are written with a written accent mark$ the corresponding relative pronouns or connecting words are not% (to) where? how? which? when? adonde co%o cual cuando (to) where as, like, because which, as when

Acu5nto.s/? how much, how many? cuanto.s/ as much, as many Ad8nde? where? donde where A-u6? what, how? -ue which, that A-ui6n.es/? who, whom? -uien who, whom *. xamples% EAd8nde *as? Where are you going? ACu5nto cuesta? How much does it cost? BCu6 interesanteD How interesting No s6 c8%o se lla%a! I don!t know what his/her name is" (indirect #uestion) Cuando *engan ire%os al par-ue! When they come, we!ll go to the park" ;igo -ue no es *erdad! I say that it isn!t true" Ea %u&er de -uien ha(las es la &efa! $he woman you!re talking about is the boss" >. Several pairs of monosyllabic "one6syllable# words are similarly distinguished by the presence or absence of accent marks. The word that is more emphatic receives the written accent. d6 6l %5s %7 s6 s7 t6 t9 give "sub7unctive of dar# he, him more, most me I know "sa(er#, be "ser# yes, indeed tea you de el %as %i se si te tu o%, %rom the but my himsel%, hersel%, etc. i%, whether you, yoursel% your

?. The demonstrative pronouns "6ste, 6se, and a-u6l, this one, that one# generally carry a written accent mark, while the demonstrative ad7ectives "este, ese, and a-uel, this, that# never do. -ote also that the neuter pronouns esto, eso, and a-uello "this thing, this matter, this business# never take an accent mark since there is no corresponding ad7ective form.

6ste 6se a-u6l este ese a-uel F.

6sta 6sa a-u6lla esta esa a-uella xamples%

6stos 6sos a-u6llos estos esos a-uellos

6stas 6sas a-u6llas estas esas a-uellas

this one, these that one, those that one, those this, these that, those that, those

No %e gusta esta (lusaF prefiero 6sa! Eso es estraGo! G. Special cases.

I don!t like this blouse& I pre%er that one" $hat!s strange"

H. !hen an adverb is formed by adding :%ente to the feminine form of an ad7ective, the accent mark is retained, if the ad7ective form has one. xamples% f5cil r5pido easy #uick f5cil%ente r5pida%ente easily #uickly

I. S8lo vs. solo% S8lo "with an accent# solo "without an accent mark# J. Por -u6 vs. por-ue%

= sola%ente only "an adverb# = alone "an ad7ective#. = why "9uestion word# = because.

Por -u6 "two words, with an accent mark# por-ue "one word, no accent mark#