Are you ready to conquer written accents in Spanish?

Learners of the Spanish language have a lot to deal with — new words, new grammar rules, and new sounds.  Once they get over the shock of all of this newness and begin to write in Spanish, they notice that some written vowels (a, e, i, o, u) have a little mark, technically known as the acute accent, above them. One example is the name of our nearest Spanish-speaking neighbor, México.

"Do  I really need to put those little marks?" and "Do you count off for missing accent marks?" are questions I heard often as a Spanish teacher.  "Yes," and "Yes," were my usual replies.  The accent mark is part of the correct spelling of a Spanish word.

This can be a complicated topic.  Let me try to break down accent use to a few easy steps.

1. Much as I hate to say this,  two pronunciation rules must be memorized (or preferably internalized) before the crucial decision about placing a written accent can be made.  And here they are:

Rule 1: Words ending in a vowel, n, or s are normally pronounced with the stress on the next to last syllable.  Like:  CAma, PLUma, LIbro, VERde, HAblan, muCHAchos.

Rule 2: Words ending in a consonant, except n or s, are normally pronounced with the stress on the last syllable.  Like:  coRRER, desiGUAL casualiDAD, obfusCAR, permisiviDAD, laBIAL

2. The good news is that these two rules will help you pronounce the majority of words in the Spanish language.  The bad news is that if a word, when pronounced correctly by a Spanish speaker, breaks one of the rules, you must write an accent mark over the vowel in the syllable that needs to be stressed.  And the accent mark is often crucial to the meaning of a word.  For example,  paPÁ  (dad) is not the same as PApa (pope).

Ready for some practice?  According to these rules, which words in the opening list would normally be pronounced with the stress on the next to the last syllable?  If you wrote 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10, then you are correct, because these words end in a vowel, n, or s.  Which words would normally be pronounced with the stress on the last syllable?  Yes, numbers 4 and 7, which end in consonants other than n or s.

Now, if you are still with me, here's the rub:  you must hear a word pronounced correctly to make a decision about the written accent. Put very simply, if a word is pronounced according to the rules, it does not need an accent.  However, if the pronunciation of a word breaks one of the two rules, a written accent tells you which syllable is stressed.

Take a look at No. 2, aqui.  Which syllable should be stressed according to Rule NO. 1?  Yes, the next to the last, in this case, the "a." But the second syllable is stressed when the word is pronounced correctly.  To let everyone know that the word for "here" is aQUI, not Aqui, the word is correctly written as aquí, with a written accent on the "i."

Are you ready to practice?  Here is the list of words above with the syllable capitalized that carries the stress when pronounced correctly.  See if you can determine which words break either Rule 1 or Rule 2 and need to carry a written accent on the vowel of the stressed syllable.

1.  apeLLIdo

2.  aQUI

3.  Arido

4.  DOcil

5.  DOGma

6.  dogMAtico

7.  efiCAZ

8.  ejecuTIvo

9.  duraCION

10. esTRES

By the way, I hope you are NOT feeling No. 10, "stress" over written accent placement.  After some practice, the process becomes fairly automatic.  Answers provided in next language blog, plus some additional observations about the fascinating world of written accents in Spanish. Please feel free to leave questions or comments.

PS:  I suppose you could look up every word in the dictionary to check to see if it carries a written accent, but that would seem to be even more tedious than the above-described method!.