Understanding The Rules of Accentuation in the Spanish Language

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UnderstandingThe Rules of Accentuationin
theSpanish Language

• By
• Eduardo Alejandro Polón
• Sandy Spring Friends School

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Understanding The Rules of Accentuation in the
Spanish Language

• All words are accented (have a stress) !
• But not all words are visually accented () !!

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Understanding The Rules of Accentuation in the
Spanish Language

• Question
• So, if all words are accented (stressed), then
  how does one determine whether a particular word
  takes a tilde () or not?
• Tip
• The diacritical mark () in Spanish is often
  somewhat erroneously referred to as el acento.
• It is more accurately called el tilde or la
  virgulilla.

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Understanding The Rules of Accentuation in the
Spanish Language

• Answer
• First classify the word.
• Tip
• In the majority of cases determining whether a
  particular word requires a tilde, or not, is a
  two step process.

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Understanding The Rules of Accentuation in the
Spanish Language

• STEP 1
• WORD CLASSIFICATION
• All words in Spanish can essentially be
  classified in 1 of 4 ways
• Aguda
• Grave (a.k.a. Llana)
• Esdrújula
• Sobresdrújula

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Understanding The Rules of Accentuation in the
Spanish Language

• STEP 1
• WORD CLASSIFICATION
• Aguda
• Any word whose accent (stress) falls on the last
  syllable.
• i.e., comer, información
• Note that not all words classified as agudas take
  a tilde (accent mark)
• Tip
• Roughly 35 of the words in the Spanish language
  can be classified as agudas.
• Behind graves, agudas are the next most popular
  classification.

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Understanding The Rules of Accentuation in the
Spanish Language

• STEP 1
• WORD CLASSIFICATION
• Grave (a.k.a. Llana)
• Any word whose accent (stress) falls on the
  penultimate (second from last) syllable.
• i.e., dulce, árbol
• Note that, like agudas, not all words classified
  as graves take a tilde (accent mark)
• Tip
• Roughly 55 of the words in the Spanish language
  can be classified as graves.
• Graves are the most popular classification.

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Understanding The Rules of Accentuation in the
Spanish Language

• STEP 1
• WORD CLASSIFICATION
• Esdrújula
• Any word whose accent (stress) falls on the
  antepenultimate
• (third from last) syllable.
• i.e., clásico, íntimo
• Note that, unlike agudas and graves, all words
  classified as esdrújula take a tilde (accent
  mark)
• Tip
• Roughly 9 of the words in the Spanish language
  can be classified as esdrújula.

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Understanding The Rules of Accentuation in the
Spanish Language

• STEP 1
• WORD CLASSIFICATION
• Sobresdrújula
• Any word whose accent (stress) falls before the
  antepenultimate
• (third from last) syllable.
• i.e., simbólicamente, públicamente
• Note that, like esdrújulas, all words classified
  as sobresdrújula take a tilde (accent mark)
• Tip
• Roughly only 1 of the words in the Spanish
  language can be classified as sobresdrújula.
• The few sobresdrújulas that exist tend to be
  adverbs (ending in mente), but not all adverbs!

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Understanding The Rules of Accentuation in the
Spanish Language

• Question
• Once the classification of a word has been
  established
• (Step 1), what is the second, and final, step in
  determining whether a visual accent (a tilde) is,
  or is not, required?
• Tip
• Tildes appear only over vowels.

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Understanding The Rules of Accentuation in the
Spanish Language

• STEP 2
• Once determined that a particular words
  classification is
• Aguda
• If it ends in n, s or a vowel then a tilde is
  placed over the last syllable.
• i.e., algodón, Panamá, cortés
• Otherwise, no tilde is required.
• i.e., logical, tomar, caracol

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Understanding The Rules of Accentuation in the
Spanish Language

• STEP 2
• Once determined that a particular words
  classification is
• Esdrújula
• All esdrújulas take a tilde placed over the
  antepenultimate syllable.
• i.e., simbólico, anímico, águila
• Tip
• Esdrújulas are easy since they all take tildes.

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Understanding The Rules of Accentuation in the
Spanish Language

• STEP 2
• Once determined that a particular words
  classification is
• Grave
• If it DOES NOT end in n, s or a vowel then a
  tilde is placed over the penultimate syllable.
• i.e., árbol, azúcar, ángel
• Otherwise, no tilde is required.
• i.e., , camino, polen, telecomunicaciones

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Understanding The Rules of Accentuation in the
Spanish Language

• STEP 2
• Once determined that a particular words
  classification is
• Sobresdrújula
• All sobresdrújulas take a tilde placed over the
  stressed syllable before the antepenultimate
  position.
• i.e., simbólicamente, fácilmente, rápidamente
• Tip
• If an esdrújula can be converted to an adverb
  (-mente) then that new word is now sobresdrújula
  and keeps its original tilde. Otherwise the word
  gets reclassified (see below).
• i.e., simplemente, lentamente, justamente

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Understanding The Rules of Accentuation in the
Spanish Language

• OTHER CHARACTERS SEEN IN SPANISH
• ñ
• The ñ is an actual letter in the Spanish
  alphabet.
• Some confusion between Spanish and English exists
  because in English the diacritical mark is
  also called a tilde.
• In Spanish, the is actually part of the
  letter (ñ) and helps to distinguish it from the
  n, in the same way essentially that the line
  through the letter Q helps distinguish it from
  the letter O.
• i.e., año, señor, español
• Tip
• Technically, Spanish only contributes one visual
  accent mark to its own language, the
  aforementioned tilde ().

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Understanding The Rules of Accentuation in the
Spanish Language

• OTHER CHARACTERS SEEN IN SPANISH
• ü
• The German ü (umlaut) has been borrowed by the
  Spanish language.
• It is used infrequently but, when required,
  always follows the letter g and precedes the
  vowels e or i.
• i.e., vergüenza, lingüístico, pingüino
• vs.
• i.e., guerra, guitarra, espagueti

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Understanding The Rules of Accentuation in the
Spanish Language

• EXCEPTIONS TO THE RULES
• Breaking Diphthongs
• A diphthong (diptongo) is two adjacent vowels
  that together make one sound.
• i.e., fauna, guapo, mutuo
• A diphthong can be broken into two distinct
  syllables with the use of a tilde (). When this
  occurs, breaking the diphthong with a tilde takes
  precedence over the original rule.
• i.e., comía, tío, grúa
• Tip
• Notice that in all three cases directly above, in
  order to break the diphthong for pronunciation
  sake, the words each take tildes even though they
  are classified as graves and end in a vowel.

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Understanding The Rules of Accentuation in the
Spanish Language

• EXCEPTIONS TO THE RULES
• Dealing With Monosyllabic Words
• By sheer definition, all monosyllabic words are
  classified, rightfully so, as agudas since they
  only have one syllable.
• i.e., yo, me, voy, fui
• No tildes are required (anymore) on monosyllabic
  words ending in n, s, or a vowel, provided there
  is not a conflict with a preexisting word.
• i.e., él vs. el, tú vs. tu, sí vs. si, mí vs. mi,
  etc.
• Tip
• This is a relatively recent rule established by
  La Academia Real. Prior to this change,
  monosyllabic words ending in n, s or a vowel did
  indeed follow the traditional rule for agudas.