How To Accent Words In Spanish Correctly

Spanish is one of the richest languages, both for its variety of words and for the way it is represented. And precisely all this variety and richness is what makes it difficult for many people to learn Spanish. For example, when do you have to accent a word? And how are words accented correctly in Spanish?

Is stressing words in Spanish correctly difficult?

It really is not, but it requires some effort and dedication on your part. If you want to know how to do it, it is important that you do not forget that Spanish has a series of accentuation rules that must be followed to the letter in order to properly accentuate your words and pronounce them correctly. In addition, we must also take into account that not all words that are accented have a tilde, so we must not forget the tildes, or graphic accents, to write correctly in Spanish and that our spelling is impeccable.

Since we want to make you a true expert in Spanish, and we want to help you so that you don’t make any spelling mistakes again because you don’t know the grammar of our language, we want to take advantage of this space to give you the necessary guidelines with which to learn how to accent words in Spanish correctly. Let’s get started!

What do you need to accentuate words in Spanish correctly?

To accentuate words in Spanish correctly we are going to need:

Have knowledge of Spanish grammar
Read this post carefully
Pen and notebook
Take notes and notes to review them throughout the day

Instructions to correctly stress words in Spanish

Step by step to accent words in Spanish:

Spanish is characterized by being one of the few languages that represents its graphic accentuation with a single sign, the tilde. Other languages, for example French, have different accents for each type of accent.
The words are divided into three types according to their accentuation, the acute, the flat and the esdrújulas. A word will be acute, flat or esdrújula depending on where its tonic syllable is placed.
The tonic syllable is that syllable of the word that is pronounced with more intensity than the rest. The rest of the syllables are known as unstressed.
The syllables are each of the phonological divisions into which a word is divided. The groups of syllables can be composed of a single vowel, but never a single consonant. Thus, for example, the syllables of the word pumpkin are ca-la-ba-za and those of ágora would be á-go-ra.
Let’s go back to the accentuation of words according to whether they are acute, flat or esdrújula words, to explain the difference between these concepts.
1. Sharp words. We consider acute words to be those non-monosyllable words whose tonic syllable, that is, the one that carries the accent of intensity, is located on its last syllable. These words also have an accent when they end in “n”, in “s” or in a vowel. For example, in the following cases: hostage, reverse or opened. There are certain exceptions that, despite ending in consonants other than “n” or “s”, are accentuated. This is the case of words like Raúl, trunk, corn, root… In these cases the accentuation is explained as a consequence of the breakdown of the diphthong.
2. Flat or serious words are those whose tonic syllable is the penultimate. They always carry a tilde, except for the cases in which they end in “n”, “s” or a vowel. Among the examples of the plains are the following words: Rodríguez, Pérez, leísmo…
3. Esdrújula words are those whose tonic syllable is the penultimate syllable and are stressed, like sobresdrújulas, in all cases. The only exceptions are adverbs derived from a noun ending in “mente”. As examples we can put the same word esdrújula, jails,.. Sobresdrújulas are considered to be those whose tonic syllable is the one before the penultimate syllable. As examples we can give some of the following: warmly, docilely…

Exceptional cases to know if a word has a graphic accent or not

There are certain exceptional cases in which words do not include a phonic accent, despite having to do so according to established punctuation rules. Others, in which you must carry it even if you initially break the rules. Let’s get to know these cases a little better.

Monosyllables do not usually have an accent, such as fue, dios, vio…, although there are specific cases in which it is necessary to add it in order to differentiate them from another word that is spelled the same. In these cases we speak of the diacritic accent. For example, you can see it clearly with the words Tea (infusion) and I give you a kiss (personal pronoun).
There are other words that, according to the norm, should not be accentuated, but that do include a tilde in their spelling. This is the case, for example, of the exclamatory and interrogative pronouns used to ask questions or within exclamations. For example. What time is it?, or Who’s there?
Adverbs that end in -mente are characterized by maintaining the tilde that has the word with which it is composed. For example, easywould be composed as easily.
Compound words are not accented, unless they are separated from each other by a hyphen. For example, physical-nuclearwould be accentuated while likewise it would not.
Hiatus and diphthongs. Many times the orthographic accent is a way of representing the division between syllables of a word that is not clear, for example in the case of two contiguous vowels, one of them tonic. If they are part of the same syllable it is a diphthong. However, if these vowels are part of different syllables, it is called a hiatus. To make it easier, you can follow these rules.
1. When there are two contiguous strong vowels (a,e,o), a diphthong is never formed.
2. When there are two contiguous weak vowels, such as i and u, a diphthong is always formed.
3. When a strong and a weak vowel are joined in any order, they may or may not form a diphthong. If it is not formed and the weak vowel is tonic, an accent is added even if it contradicts the grammatical rules.

Tips to accentuate words in Spanish correctly

One last piece of advice about accents in Spanish:

As you will have seen, the words that are stressed in Spanish are a bit complex at first glance, but once you know the punctuation rules and the spelling rules, everything is much easier.

If you want to correctly learn how to stress words in Spanish, the best thing you can do is read a lot and pay attention to the texts. Reading allows us to retain new expressions, expand our vocabulary and see with our own eyes examples of all these rules. The more we read, the more natural everything will become.

If, in addition to reading, you dedicate some time a day to writing, all the doubts you may have about the spelling of the words that are stressed will dissipate in a very short time. Not only will you be able to write better, but you will be able to bring very well-written texts to life and develop your imagination. If you regularly practice both reading and writing, it may be that in a very short time you will be encouraged to write your first book, be it fiction or non-fiction. Can you imagine being able to share family recipes with all your friends or create horror stories that will entertain the little ones in the house during rainy days or in winter?