Guided Notes: Stress and Written
Accent / Los Acentos
Mrs. O. Pacheco
Spanish II
SPANISH ACCENTS SUMMARY
• Every word has a stressed syllable (sílaba tónica). For example, the word
español stresses the last syllable.
• Word endings and written accents (tildes) provide a predictable guide to
stress syllables in Spanish, allowing you to read any word correctly.
• 1. An accent mark indicates stress on a syllable other than the next-to-last
for words ending in accents: está, estás, están, médico
• 2. An accent mark indicates stress on a syllable other than the last one for
words ending in any consonant other than –n or -s: fácil, lápiz, carácter
• 3. An accent marks stress on a weak vowel (i, u) followed or preceded by a
strong vowel (a, e, o): mío, grúa, sonríe
• 4. Pronouns such as cómo, dónde, qué, quién, cuándo, cuál have accents
when used as question and exclamation words, even in indirect questions:
¿Dónde vives? . ¡Cómo habla! No sabe qué decir (indirect question)
• 5. Only a few one-syllable syllable words have accents to signal different
meanings.
Cont.
Words that do not follow the above
rules carry a written accent to show
which syllable is stressed:
café (does not follow rule 1: it ends
in a vowel but stresses the last
syllable)
exámenes (neither the last nor the
second to-last syllable is stressed)
árbol (does not follow rule 2: it
does not end in a vowel , -n or -s,
but still stresses the second to-last
syllable)
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dé give
él he/him
más more
mí me
sé I know
sí yes
té tea
tú you
de of, from
el the
mas but
mi my
se pronoun
si if
te you
tu your
PRÁCTICA A. Las siguientes palabras no necesitan tilde.
Escoge la sílaba tónica (stressed) según las reglas 1 y 2.
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e · li · mi · nar
gra · cias
fies · ta
pa · cien · cia
ciu · dad
ra · cial
cue · llo
i · de · a
co · ci · na
va · ríos
al · co · hol
ai · re
fre · cuen · te
suer · te
so · cie · dad
eu · ro · pe · os
PRÁCTICA B. According to the basic rules, thus, you
need two criteria to decide whether a word needs a
tilde or not: a) its ending, b) which syllable is stressed.
• The word región needs a
tilde because
a) it ends with "n" but
b) the penultimate syllable
is not stressed.
• The word regiones does not
need a tilde because
a) it ends with "s" and
b) the penultimate syllable
is stressed.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
Ca · na · da
ca · rac · ter
fi · nal
i · ma · gen
i · ma · ge · nes
mi · ni · mo
Pa · na · ma
po · e · ma
po · e · ti · co
tam · bien
tran · si · cion
tran · si · cio · nes
B. OTHER USES OF THE WRITTEN ACCENT /
OTROS USOS DE LA TILDE
3. The written accent also indicates
stress on a weak vowel (i, u) that
is followed or preceded by a
strong vowel (a, e, o):
dí·a, Ma·rí·a, Ra·úl, o·í·do, a·hí,
ra·íz, mí·o, dú·o, ge·o·gra·fí·a
BUT: democracia (the weak vowel
"i" is not stressed, therefore rule
1 applies)
4. A written accent is not used for
one-syllable words (fe, ti, tres,
Dios), except to distinguish
between certain words that are
otherwise spelled identically,
such as:
give
(comma
nd)
he/him
more
me
I know
yes
tea
you
dé
él
más
mí
sé
sí
té
tú
vs.
de
el
mas
mi
se
si
te
tu
of, from
the
but
my
reflexive
/imperso
nal
pronoun
if
you
(object
pronoun
)
your
Cont.
C. Another common group of such pairs are words
like que, which need a written accent when used
as a part of a question or indirect question.
¿Qué dices? What ...?
¿cómo llego? how ...?
Sabe dónde estoy. He knows
where I am.
Digo que hace calor I say
that...
como quieras as...
Estoy donde te dije. I am
where I told you.
¿Qué dices? What ...?
¿cómo llego? how ...?
Sabe dónde estoy. He knows
where I am.
Digo que
hace
¿Qué
calor I dices? W
say
hat ...?
that... ¿cómo
como
llego? ho
quieras w ...?
as...
Sabe
Estoy
dónde
donde te estoy. He
dije. I knows
am
where I
where I am.
told you.
PRÁCTICA C. Check A, B, or C next to each word,
according to the reason why they carry an accent.
WORDS
Así
Día
También
Carácter
Pájaro
Economía
Después
Aún
Raíz
Cárcel
A B C
PRÁCTICA D. Listen to each word to hear where the
stress is & circle the stressed syllable of each word.
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A · me · ri · ca
a · me · ri · ca · no
ca · rac · ter
¿co · mo?
co · mo
de · mo · cra · cia
fe · liz
Mas
pa · is
tam · bien
tran · si · cio · nes
Tu
America
American
character
how
as
democracy
happy
more
country
also
transitions
you
PRÁCTICA E. Decide whether the italic words
need accents or not.
1.
Creo que tu hermano habla mas que tu. ¡Que problema!
(I think your brother speaks more than you do. What a problem!)
2.El abuelo dice quede niño else divertía mas que nosotros ahora.
(The grandfather says that as a child he used to have more fun than us now.)
3.Mi vida si mejorará si tengo fe en mi mismo.
(My life will indeed get better if I have faith in myself.)
4. No quiero estar mas con el, mas el si quiere estar conmigo. No se que
hacer.
(I don't want to be with him anymore, but he does want to be with me. I don't
know what to do.)