Motifluent
Language Transfer Spanish notes

Lesson 67

Why Written Accents Appear

Language Transfer Complete Spanish is by Mihalis Eleftheriou. Listen to the original audio first; use these notes for revision.

Spanish accent rules are logical and systematic:

  1. Words ending in a vowel, n, or s → stress naturally falls on the second-to-last syllable. No written accent needed: hablo, hablan, hablas, importante, diferente.

  2. Words ending in any other consonant → stress naturally falls on the last syllable. No written accent needed: hablar, comer, vivir, encontrar.

  3. Written accent marks (á, é, í, ó, ú) appear ONLY when the word breaks these rules.

Why vowel/n/s? Because all verb forms end in these: hablo (vowel), hablan (n), hablas (s), hablamos (s).

Examples: habló needs an accent because it ends in a vowel but the stress is on the LAST syllable (breaking rule 1). Fácil needs an accent because it ends in a consonant (l) but the stress is on the FIRST syllable (breaking rule 2).

Question words always have accents: qué, cómo, dónde, cuándo, cuánto, por qué.

Sí (yes) has an accent to distinguish it from si (if). Sé (I know) has an accent to distinguish from se. Mí (me, after preposition) from mi (my). Tú (you subject) from tu (your).

¿ and ¡ open questions and exclamations.