Very Brief Rules for Stress (Accents)

In Spanish, words are spelled just like they sound. In order to take advantage of this simple and nearly perfect system of spelling, one must first know the rules for stress - that is, how to know which syllable is pronounced the loudest.

1.     Words ending in a vowel, -n, or -s are stressed on the next to the last (penultimate) syllable:

nadana - dalimonadali - mo - na - dazapatosza - pa - tosmanzanasman – za - nas

comprocom - proestaes - taestases- tas

 

escuela

es – cue - la

2.     Words ending in any consonant except -n or -s are stressed on the last syllable:

doctor                          comer                           ciudaddoc - tor                       co – mer                       ciu - dad

3.     When rules #1 and #2 above are not followed, a written accent is used. The written accent could be thought of as a mark over the syllable that is “misbehaving”:

compró                                     estás                            lápizcom - pró                     es – tás                        lá - piz

4.     Written accents are also used to differentiate between words that are pronounced the same but have different meanings (el acento diacrítico):

si - ifsí - yesmi - mymí - meel - theél - hetu - yourtú - you

 

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