Where the stress falls
Every Spanish word of two or more syllables has one stressed syllable, and the spelling always tells you which one. There are just two basic rules; when a word breaks them, it gets a written accent mark (tilde): á, é, í, ó, ú.
The accent mark only shows the stress. It never changes the sound of the vowel.
Natural stress
| The word ends in | Stress | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| a vowel, -n or -s | second-to-last syllable | casa, hablan, libros |
| any other consonant | last syllable | ciudad, hablar, español |
| breaks the rule | the vowel with the accent mark | café, canción, árbol, música |
Reading the accent mark
- café ends in a vowel, so without the mark the stress would fall on ca.
- canción ends in -n; the mark puts the stress on ción.
- árbol ends in -l, so without the mark the stress would fall on bol.
- Stress on the third-to-last syllable always needs a mark: música, teléfono.
A mark on i or u next to another vowel splits them into two syllables: día, país. The mark stays on capital letters too: Álvaro.
The same rules explain why the mark comes and goes in the plural: canción → canciones, examen → exámenes.
Same spelling, different word
| With the mark | Meaning | Without | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| tú | you | tu | your |
| él | he | el | the (masculine) |
| sí | yes | si | if |
| mí | me (after a preposition: para mí) | mi | my |
| té | tea | te | you, yourself (object) |
| sé | I know | se | himself, herself, themselves (reflexive) |
| más | more | mas | but (literary, rare) |
Question words
Question and exclamation words always carry a mark: qué, quién, cómo, dónde, cuándo, cuánto, cuál, por qué. The mark stays in indirect questions too: No sé dónde vive.
Without the mark, similar words link parts of a sentence: que (that), como (as, like), donde (where), porque (because).
Examples
- ¿Tú tienes tu libro?Do you have your book?
- Él es el profesor.He is the teacher.
- —¿Vienes? —Sí, si tengo tiempo.—Are you coming? —Yes, if I have time.
- Este regalo es para mí.This present is for me.
- ¿Quieres un té?Would you like some tea?
- No sé dónde está el banco.I don't know where the bank is.
- —¿Por qué estudias español? —Porque me gusta.—Why are you studying Spanish? —Because I like it.
Common mistakes
- Wrong:
Mi papa trabaja en un banco.Right: ✓ Mi papá trabaja en un banco.papá is “dad”; papa is “potato” in Latin America, and el Papa is the Pope. - Wrong:
¿Donde vives?Right: ✓ ¿Dónde vives?Question words always take the accent mark. - Wrong:
Es para mi.Right: ✓ Es para mí.After a preposition it is mí (me); mi without the mark means “my”. - Wrong:
Hablo ingles.Right: ✓ Hablo inglés.The word ends in -s but is stressed on the last syllable, so it needs the mark. The plural ingleses does not.