When and Where Should I Place Accent Marks in Spanish Is that an accent mark or did someone just kill a fly on my paper?

3 BASIC RULES: Best to memorize these 1 – If a word ends in a vowel, or 'n' or 's', the stress is usually on the next to the last syllable. (penúltima sílaba) Grave (Llana)

Everybody has it and every word with more than one syllable has it. Stress: Everybody has it and every word with more than one syllable has it.

2. If a word ends in a consonant other than 'n' or 's', the stress is usually on the last syllable. (la última sílaba) Aguda

3. If the stress in a word doesn't follow rules 1 and 2, then the syllable that is stressed needs a written accent mark (or tilde) over the vowel.

-Stress- It is more than what happens when you don’t study for that important test In words with more that one syllable, only one syllable can be stressed. Y apenas ayer, cuando mi hermana Tacha acababa de cumplir doce años, supimos que la vaca que mi papá le regaló para el día de su santo se la había llevado el río.

diphthong = ONE SYLLABLE Diphthongs in Spanish Strong vowels: a, e, o – always form own syllable wherever they appear Weak vowels: u, i - only form own syllable when they are separate from other vowels. RULE: When a weak vowel is next to a strong vowel or another weak vowel, they AUTOMATICALLY form a diphthong = ONE SYLLABLE

EXAMPLES OF DIPHTHONGS san-da-lia lue-go tie-ne dio bien se-cre-ta-ria bib-lio-te-ca sie-te cien-cias pue-blo diez nue-ve gra-cias bue-no An-to-nio e-stu-dia-nte cua-der-no

Circle the stressed syllable on these words no - che ár - bol bi - go - te pe - rro ca - ba - llo co - ci - na fa - bu - lo - so lib - ro ac - ci - den - te fi - lo - so - fí - a es - ta - cio - nes hi - jos cés - ped hue - so sa - ra - pe

Circle the stressed syllable in these words: fri - jol can - tar hab - ló an - dén so - por - tar sen - tí ma - ra - tón re - loj ñan - dú baj - ó sar - tén pin - cel

Adverbs that end in “-mente”

List of homophonous monosyllables UNSTRESSED WORD STRESSED WORD el the ("el anillo") él he, him ("es él", "es para él") te yourself ("¿Cómo te llamas?") té tea si if sí yes, himself se himself, herself sé I know, be ("¡Sé bueno!") mas but ("quiero, mas no puedo") más more ("¿Quieres más?") que that ("más que nada") qué What? ("¿Qué piensas?") tu your ("tu libro") tú you ("¿Cómo estás tú?") mi my ("mi casa") mí me ("es para mí") de of dé give cuan So (tan) (uso arcaico) ("Mira el pelo cuan largo lo tengo") cuán how ("¡Cuán desgraciado soy! ") cual which ("Esta carta, la cual no tiene remitente, llegó ayer") cuál which ("¿Cuál es el mejor?) quien who ("Hay quien dice eso") quién who ("¿Quién es esa mujer?")

NEVER PUT AN ACCENT MARK ON A ONE-SYLLABLE WORD UNLESS YOU ARE AWARE OF THE CORRESPONDING HOMOPHONE THAT DOES NOT NEED AN ACCENT MARK.

To count as a homophonous monosyllabic pair, the two words must: Be just one syllable long Be spelled the same Belong to two distinct grammatical categories (i.e., nouns, verbs, pronouns, prepositions, etc.)

Changes made in 2010 Previous to 2010: Demonstrative pronouns carried a accents over their stressed syllable to distinguish them from demonstrative adjectives. These adjectives always precede nouns, the pronouns never do. EXAMPLES: ESTE, ESA, ESO, AQUEL

Another rule change made in 2010 The word sólo meant solamente - only, while solo meant alone (masculine singular). Today, neither word carries an accent mark. It is true that this allows for ambiguity (as in "Juan trabaja solo en la cocina"). However, the new rule reflects an ambiguity that exists in the spoken language and this seems proper.

Yet another rule change in 2010 The word o (meaning or) carried an accent mark only between numerals so that it was not confused with 0 (zero).         "Quiero cinco o seis dulces".  vs  "Quiero 5 ó 6 dulces".   Now, the rule is not to put an accent mark on "o". The Academy's stated reasoning is that since computer printed text has become so common, there is little chance that an "o" (letter) and a "0" number" will be confused. I have my doubts and I believe users will continue to put an accent on the word "ó", particularly when writing by hand.

Suggestions 1. Memorize the rules 2. Memorize verb endings 3. Memorize one syllable words that need accents 4. Read a lot in Spanish and pay attention to the placement of accent marks. 5. After writing in Spanish, proofread your writing before handing in 6. Practice, practice, practice 7. Relax and do your best

Some youtube videos these explain more and might help http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpoXih2Fbt0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdxbgn8ZLrg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywzGFZehsQ0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qntSk2_J6G0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpoXih2Fbt0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdxbgn8ZLrg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywzGFZehsQ0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qntSk2_J6G0