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1 Accentuation
Accentuation – acentuación – refers to the stress or relative emphasis in pronunciation that is given to a syllable in a word. In Spanish, like in any other language, all words have a stressed syllable – sílaba tónica. With one type of exception, in Spanish words carry just one stress, which is fixed, that is, it does not change depending on the place or function of the word in the sentence. Any syllable of the word can carry stress: the final syllable (reloj, colchón), the penultimate syllable (biblioteca, automóvil), the antepenultimate syllable (océano, teléfono) and the fourth-to-last syllable (llévatelo, dígamelo).
1.1 General written accentuation rules in Spanish
In the written language in Spanish there are general rules governing accentuation, so that it is obvious how a word should be stressed just by looking at it.
The basic general accentuation rules in Spanish are:
- All words ending in a vowel are stressed on the penultimate (last but one) syllable: libro, ventana, arrecife.
- All words ending in the consonants -n or -s are also stressed on the penultimate syllable: comen, hablas, campos, resumen, carcajadas.
- All words ending in any other consonant are stressed on the final syllable: bistec, universidad, reloj, unilateral, avestruz.
If words don’t follow the rules above they will have a written accent called acento ortográfico or tilde, to indicate the syllable where the stress falls.
The following examples show words that end in a vowel, -n or -s but are not stressed on the penultimate syllable, and which therefore have a written accent on the stressed syllable:
colchón, cántaros, Panamá, inglés, lámpara, terminó, teléfono.
Similarly, the following words ending in a consonant (other than -n or -s) are not stressed on the last syllable, and therefore also have a written accent:
lápiz, césped, déficit, árbol, álbum, Óscar, cráter.
Double stress: adverbs ending in -mente
Adverbs that end in -mente have two stresses. They are formed from adjectives or adverbs and the ending -mente (corresponding to -ly in English). One of the stresses is placed on the adjectival or adverbial part of the word, and the second on the first syllable of -mente: generalmente, paradójicamente, repetidamente, fácilmente. Whether they have a written accent depends on the general rules explained above.
☞ For further information about adverbs ending in -mente go to Unit 10.
1.2 Diacritic accent (tilde diacritica)
Sometimes accents are used to distinguish words that sound the same but have different meanings or grammatical functions. This type of accent is called a diacritic accent.
Diacritic accent with monosyllables
In the case of words of one syllable (monosílabos) the written accent is used with the word that carries more emphasis because of its meaning. Examples include: él/el, mí/ mi, tú/tu, sí/si, sé/se, té/te, dé/de.
- él (personal pronoun): Él es el hermano de Miguel. (He is Miguel's brother.) el (definite article): El libro es interesante. (The book is interesting.)
- mi (personal pronoun): La carta es para mi. (The letter is for me.) mi (possessive adjective): Mi madre se llama Inés. (My mother's name is Inés.)
- tú (personal pronoun): Yo estoy bien, Jy tú? (I am fine, and you?) tu (possessive adjective): Me gusta tu casa. (I like your house.)
- si (adverb): St, quiero café. (Yes, I want some coffee.) si (conjunction): Voy al parque si no llueve. (I will go to the park if it doesn't rain.)
- sé (first person singular of verb saber): ¡No sé nada! (I don...
