Accent rules
Accent rules
In general, words follow these rules for knowing when to place a written accent. *Note you must know how a word is pronounced in order to apply the rules when writing.
- First–A word that ends in a vowel, n, or s will have a natural accent on the penultimate syllable (e.g. perros, palabra, orden, farmacia, casa, aviones, corazones, estudiante, comen…)
- Second–A word that ends in a consonant (except n or s) will have a natural accent on the last syllable (e.g. universidad, general, hablar, trabajar, azul, feliz, arroz…)
- Third–A word that does not follow rules 1 or 2 will have a written accent. (e.g. lección, corazón, sofá, lápiz, rápido, órdenes…)
Exceptions to the rules:
Question words–qué, quién, cómo, cuándo, dónde…
Monosyllable words with non-accented counterparts–él/el, sí/si, mí/mi, té/te, sé/se, dé/de, tú/tu…
Broken diphthongs. Diphthongs are two vowels together that make one sound or syllable. This happens in Spanish when any strong vowel (a, e, o) combines with a weak vowel (i, u) in any order such as: tiene, reina, farmacia, europeo, suave, que… Adding a written accent makes the weak vowel strong and creates its own syllable.
Examples of broken diphthongs–leído, joyería, búho, prohíbe, río…
