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Spanish Accent Marks

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Infographics of Spanish Accent Marks




What is a Spanish Written Accent Marks?

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Accents, some of the time known as 'tildes', show up at the top of specific letters in Spanish, and are written as a short diagonal line, from the upper right to the bottom left. They can just at any point show up over the five vowel letters (á, é, í, ó, ú), which means you won't ever see a Spanish word with an accent mark over a consonant.

Written accents include three fundamental functions within the language. The first is to separate words that would somehow or another be spelled identically, the second is to imply questions, while the third (and maybe most important) work is to help show which syllable of the word ought to be stressed, or emphasized, when spoken aloud.
  • Voy a celebrar mi cumpleaños =I will celerbrate my birthday









Spanish Accent Marks and Stress Rules

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There are two essential rules in Spanish that tell us where to put the stress of a word. Stress is significant, as it can now and then be the best way to distinguish two words. It's the contrast between "insult" (IN-sult), as in "I was unable to think of a good insult," and "insult" (in-SULT), as in “She’s going to insult me now, I simply know it."

It's just when these two rules are broken that we need to add an accent for emphasis. So we should continue ahead with the principles, will we?
  • ella es una chica inteligente =she is a smart girl









Question Words Used as Pronouns Do Not Have Accents in Spanish

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When these words are not used in a question or indirect question, however instead as a pronoun, there’s no accent mark. 

Below are three example sentences of this situation:
  • 1) El chico que dijo eso es mentiroso. =The boy who said that is a liar.

  • 2) Es el parque donde conocí a tu madre =It’s the park where I met your mother.

  • 3) No trabajo cuando estoy enferma. =I don’t work when I’m sick.









Accent and Words ending in a consonant (not n, s)

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For words that end on the whole different consonants (not n or s), the stress falls on the last syllable.
  • 1. comer (co-mer) =to eat

  • 2. la ciudad (ciu-dad)  =the city

  • 3. el profesor (pro-fe-sor) =the professor/teacher

  • 4. el animal (a-ni-mal) =the animal

  • 5. Madrid (Ma-drid) =Madrid

  • 2. si (if) and sí (yes) =If/Yes

  • 3. solo (alone) and sólo (only) =Alone/Only

  • 4. el (the) and él (he) =The/He

  • 5. mi (my) and mí (me) =My/Me









When to Add Spanish Accent Marks

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We add accent marks to Spanish words when the stress breaks both of those two two rules.
Example: 
los exámenes. The word finishes in an “s”, so as indicated by the first rule, the stress should fall on the next to last syllable: ex-am-en-es. But it doesn’t.
Instead, the word carry’s similar stress as its singular form, on what is now the third to last syllable, so we add an accent mark: exámenes (e-xa-me-nes).
That’s it!

  • . =.









Examples of words that break rule #1

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Below are some examples of Spanish words with accent marks that break rule #1. You’ll notice none of the stresses fall on the second to last syllable, as they commonly would.
  • 1. la canción (can-cion) =song

  • 2. también (tam-bien) =also

  • 3. los crímenes (cri-me-nes) =crimes

  • 4. jamás (ja-mas) =never

  • 5. inglés (in-gles) =English

  • 6. rápido (ra-pi-do) =fast

  • 7. está (es-ta) =is, third person singular of the verb estar – to be









Examples of words that break rule #2

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And these are examples of words that break the second rule. Following are words that end in a consonant (not “n” or “s”), however whose accent doesn’t fall on the last syllable.
  • 1. el árbol (ar-bol) =Tree

  • 2. la cárcel (car-cel) =Jail/prison

  • 3. el césped (ces-ped) =Grass

  • 4. débil (de-bil) =Weak

  • 5. la tienda =Shop/store

  • 6. la casa =Home/ House

  • 1. mas (but) and más (more) =But/More









Identical Spanish Accent Marks or Homonyms

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As expressed before, subsequent use of accent marks within the Spanish language is to assist people with recognizing words that have various meanings, however, which would somehow be spelled and pronounced identically. These words are known as 'homonyms' and these connections are said to be 'homonymous'.
Let’s take a look at some of the most basic homonymous words and look at how accents are used to separate them:
  • 1. el árbol (ar-bol) =Tree

  • 2. la cárcel (car-cel) =Jail/prison

  • 3. el césped (ces-ped) =Grass

  • 4. débil (de-bil) =Weak

  • 5. la tienda =Shop/store

  • 6. la casa =Home/ House

  • 1. mas (but) and más (more) =But/More









Indirect and embedded questions carry accents

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Whenever the word “cuánto” signifies “how much/many,” it carries an accent:

  • 1) No sé cuántos hay =I don’t know how many there are.

  • 4) Supongo que había olvidado cuántos había =I guess I'd forgotten how many there were.

  • 5) Aparentemente, esta era una de las tías favoritas de Alex ... ¿y cuántas otras? =Apparently, this was a favorite aunt for Alex... and how many others?









Accent of Spanish Word “cómo”

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The word “cómo” refers to “how,” it carries an accent – doesn’t matter where it falls in the sentence. (Without the accent, “como” signifies “like” or “as”.)
  • 1) No entiendo cómo lo hace =I don’t understand how he does it.

  • 2) ¿Cómo supiste que lo amabas? =How did you know you loved him?

  • 3) Todo lo que estaba haciendo era recordarle lo poderoso que era =All she was doing was reminding him how powerful he was.

  • 4) Entonces, ¿cómo se hacen estas cosas? =So how do these things get made?

  • 5) ¿Cuánto tiempo había vivido Morino en Estados Unidos? =How long had Morino lived in America?

  • 6) Así funciona la vida =That's how life works.









Accent Marks and Words ending in a vowel, n, or s.

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For words that end in a vowel, the letter n, or the letter s, the stress is on the close to last syllable.
  • 1. todo (to-do) =all/every

  • 2.inteligente (in-te-li-gen-te) =smart

  • 3. el examen (e-xa-men) =exam

  • 4. joven (jo-ven) =young

  • 5. lunes (lu-nes) =Monday

  • 6. los calcetines (cal-ce-ti-nes) =socks









Spanish Accent Word

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When “qué” means an interrogative “what,” it also carries an accent.
  • 1) No sé qué hacer =I don’t know what to do.

  • 2) ¿Qué diablos es esto? =What in the world is this?

  • 3) Nadie sabe lo que podría hacer la madre =No one knows what the mother might do.

  • 4) ¿Qué comió hoy? =What did she eat today?

  • 5) Eso es lo que dije =That's what I say.

  • 6) Examinemos nuestras cárceles y veamos cómo es. =Let us examine our prisons and see what it is like.









Final Words

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There are few rules to oversee which sorts of words are provided accents to separate them from their homonyms, so you should basically learn them as various vocabulary. It is additionally important that not all homonyms within the Spanish language are recognized by one another through the use of accents
Thus, to sum up, accent marks can assist you with pinpointing the area of stresses within words, comprehending which version of a homonym is being used or recognizing the presence of a question. They can, along these lines, be seen as a helpful guide for both pronunciation and comprehension purposes.
Well, now you have a deep understanding of Spanish accents!
  • Spanish Accent Marks =Marcas de acento español









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