Accent rules in Spanish grammar

Spanish stress rules: the basics

For Spanish words without an accent, there are set rules as to which syllable is stressed:

• words ending in -n, -s, or a vowel → stress on the penultimate syllable (palabra llana, see the table below for more info)

Examples:

calle street

personas people

• words ending in a consonant other than -n or -s → stress on the final syllable (palabra aguda, see the table below for more info)

Example:

ciudad city

However, some words do not follow these rules, in which case an accent is used to show which syllable is stressed:

Examples:

tráfico traffic

this word ends in a vowel, but the stress falls on the third to last syllable not the penultimate

semáforo traffic light

this words ends in a vowel, but the stress falls on the third to last syllable not the penultimate

Read on to learn about accent placement in Spanish.

Word stress categories in Spanish

We can categorise Spanish words into four stress categories: aguda, llana, esdrújula and sobreesdrújula:

*these words are usually verb forms with an attached object pronoun

Spanish vowel types

Spanish has the same five vowels as English: a, e, i, o, u

They are divided into two categories, open and closed:

• open vowels: a, e, o
• closed vowels: i, u

Vowels that appear next to one another in a word can belong to the same syllable or two separate ones. In the case that a stressed syllable contains two vowels, only one of them takes an accent.

Examples:

contaminación = con-ta-mi-na-ción pollution

the i and the o belong to the same syllable

grúa = grú-a crane

the u and the a belong to different syllables

The question is: how do we know whether the two vowels form one syllable or not? To answer that, we need to get into dipthongs, tripthongs and hiatus.

Dipthongs, tripthongs & hiatus

Dipthongs

two vowels = one syllable

A dipthong is when two consecutive vowels form just one syllable. A dipthong can comprise:

• open stressed vowel + closed unstressed vowel

  Examples:

  aplauso → a-plau-so applause

  bonsái → bon-sái bonsai

• closed unstressed vowel + open stressed vowel

  Examples:

  abuelo → a-bue-lo grandfather

  canción → can-ción song

• two closed vowels

  Examples:

  ciudad → ciu-dad city

  acuífero → a-cuí-fe-ro aquifier

Accent placement and dipthongs

If the accent rules dictate that we need an accent on the dipthong, we place it as such:

• closed vowel + open vowel (or vice versa) = accent on the open vowel

Examples:

después después

bonsái bonsai

• closed vowel + closed vowel = accent on the second vowel

Example:

acuífero aquifier

Tripthongs

3 vowels = one syllable

A tripthong is when three consecutive vowels form one syllable. Tripthongs can comprise:

• closed unstressed vowel + open stressed vowel + closed unstressed vowel

  Examples:

  miau meow

  copiáis you copy

Words that contain tripthongs follow the accent placement rules explained above.

Examples:

miau meow

one syllable word = no accent

cambiéis you change

palabra aguda ending in -s = accent on the final syllable

Hiatus

two vowels = two syllables

Hiatus (un hiato) is when two consecutive vowels belong to two separate syllables. A hiatus can comprise:

• two identical vowels

  Examples:

  microondas → mi-cro-on-das microwave

  albahaca → al-ba-ha-ca basil

• two open vowels

  Examples:

  teatro → te-a-tro theatre

  héroe → hé-ro-e hero

• closed stressed vowel + open unstressed vowel

  Examples:

  alegría → a-le-grí-a happiness

  río → rí-o river

• open unstressed vowel + closed stressed vowel

  Examples:

  baúl → ba-úl trunk

  reír → re-ír laugh

We have to consider the following regarding hiatus and accent placement:

• when the hiatus appears in the stressed syllable and comprises an open vowel (a, o, e) and a closed vowel (i, u), the accent is always placed on the closed vowel, despite what the accent rules above dictate

Example:

oído → o-í-do heard

cacatúa → ca-ca-tú-a cockatoo

without the hiatus, no accent would be required here as both words end in a vowel

Accent placement in Spanish compound words

Compound words are created by combining two or more words to create a new one. The accent placement rules depend on how the new compound word is written.

Compound words with a hyphen

Some Spanish compound nouns are separated by a hyphen (-).

Examples:

pasivo-agresivo passive aggressive

teórico-práctico in theory and in practice

In this case, each word retains its own stressed syllable and follows the standard accent placement rules.

Compound words without a hyphen

When the compound word is not written with a hyphen, only the second word is stressed and/or accented.

Examples:

decimoséptimo → décimo + séptimo seventeenth

baloncesto → balón + cesto basketball

Adverbs ending in -mente

Adverbs ending in -mente are formed based on adjectives. If this adjective has an accent, it is carried over into the adverb form.

Examples:

fácilmente → fácil + mente easily

tranquilamente → tranquil- + mente quietly

Loan words from other languages

Spanish also has many loan words; words that have been “borrowed” from other languages.

Some of these remain unchanged from their original language whereas others have been adapted to the Spanish language, often by means of an accent:

• non-adapted loan words are written in italics

  Examples:

  gourmet gourmet

  marketing marketing

• adapted loan words change their spelling and/or receive an accent

  Examples:

  bidet → bidé bidet

  chalet → chalé chalet