Written accent marks (tildes) in Spanish serve two primary purposes: they tell you which syllable to stress when pronouncing a word, and they distinguish between words that are spelled similarly but have different meanings.
1. The Natural Rules of Pronunciation
Most Spanish words do not need an accent mark because they follow natural pronunciation patterns:
- Words ending in a vowel, -n, or -s are naturally stressed on the second-to-last syllable (e.g., ca-sa, li-bro, jo-ven).
- Words ending in any other consonant are naturally stressed on the last syllable (e.g., ha-blar, pa-pel, fe-liz).
2. When Do We Write an Accent?
If a word breaks these natural rules, a written accent mark (á, é, í, ó, ú) is placed on the stressed vowel to indicate the change (e.g., can-ción, fá-cil, te-lé-fo-no).
3. Distinguishing Meaning (Diacritical Accents)
Sometimes an accent is used solely to distinguish homophones:
- si (if) vs. sí (yes)
- el (the) vs. él (he)
- tu (your) vs. tú (you)
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