Spanish accent marks help you pronounce words and tell similar-looking words apart. This beginner guide explains the main rules, shows everyday examples and gives you a short practice activity.
á · é · í · ó · ú
The written accent is called a tilde. It sits over a vowel. The syllable with that vowel is stressed, but many stressed syllables do not need a written accent.
The three main accent rules
For words of two or more syllables, first listen for the stressed syllable. Then check the ending. Bold letters below show the stressed part of each word.
Agudas
Stress on the last syllable.
Add an accent when the word ends in a vowel, or in n or s preceded by a vowel.
café · canción · inglés
No accent: hotel · español.
Llanas / graves
Stress on the second-to-last syllable.
Add an accent when the word ends in another consonant, in y, or in a consonant group.
árbol · fácil · bíceps
No accent: playa · pupusa.
Esdrújulas
Stress on the third-to-last syllable.
These words always have a written accent.
música · pájaro · teléfono
Words stressed even earlier also take an accent: dígamelo.
Reading shortcut: without an accent, words ending in a vowel, or in n or s after a vowel, normally stress the second-to-last syllable. Other endings normally take final stress. A final y counts as a consonant: estoy has no accent.
Two useful special cases: one-syllable words normally have no accent (fue, fui, dio, vio); adverbs ending in -mente keep the accent of the original adjective (fácil → fácilmente).
Reference: RAE: written accent rules.
Reference: FundéuRAE: special cases.
Small marks can change the meaning
Some short words use an accent to distinguish their grammatical role. This is called a tilde diacrítica. Learn each form in a short phrase, rather than as an isolated spelling.
| With an accent | Without an accent |
|---|---|
| tú = you | tu = your |
| él = he | el = the |
| mí = me (after a preposition) | mi = my |
| sí = yes | si = if |
| té = tea | te = you (object pronoun) |
| sé = I know; be! | se = a pronoun, as in se llama |
Tú tienes tu libro. — You have your book.
Él prepara el té. — He prepares the tea.
Reference: RAE: the distinguishing accent.
Question words: qué, cómo and cuándo
Use accents on qué, quién, cuál, cómo, cuándo, dónde and cuánto when they express a question or exclamation. Keep the accent in indirect questions too, even when there are no question marks.
- ¿Dónde está la escuela? — Where is the school?
- No sé cuándo empieza la clase. — I don’t know when the class starts.
- ¡Qué bonita es la playa! — What a beautiful beach!
Compare No sé cómo hacerlo (“I don’t know how to do it”) with Hazlo como quieras (“Do it however you want”). The function of the word matters; question marks alone do not determine its spelling.
Por qué means “why”: ¿Por qué estudias español?
Porque means “because”: Porque quiero hablar con la gente.
Reference: RAE: cómo.
Reference: RAE: porqué and por qué.
Why día, país and María need accents
When a stressed i or u sits beside a, e or o, the vowels form separate syllables. Put the accent on the stressed i or u, even if the usual ending rule would not require it. This vowel separation is called a hiato.
dí-a · pa-ís · Ma-rí-a · ba-úl · rí-o
Try saying the syllables slowly, then put the word back into a sentence. You will hear these patterns in everyday words for days, countries, names and places.
Reference: RAE: accents and vowel combinations.
Quick self-test: add the missing accents
Try these in a notebook or say your answers aloud. Not every highlighted word needs an accent. Then open the answers to see the reason for each choice.
- Un cafe, por favor.
- El arbol está cerca de la playa.
- Tu tienes tu libro.
- No sé donde está la escuela.
- Maria vive en El Zonte.
- Ayer fui a la playa.
- ¿Por que estudias español?
- Estudio español porque quiero viajar.
Show answers and explanations
- café: final stress, ending in a vowel.
- árbol: second-to-last stress, ending in l.
- Tú tienes tu libro: “you” versus “your”.
- dónde: an indirect question about a place.
- María: the stressed í forms a separate syllable from a.
- fui: no accent; it is a one-syllable word.
- Por qué: “why” in a question.
- porque: “because”, one word without an accent.
Ready for more? Our A2 activity practises accented question words and the difference between por qué and porque.
Remember accents when you type
Capital letters keep their accents too: Á, É, Í, Ó, Ú. Write CAFÉ with the same accent as café.
Keep this line handy when you need to copy a character:
á é í ó ú · Á É Í Ó Ú · ñ Ñ · ü Ü · ¿ ¡
Different signs, different jobs: ñ is a distinct Spanish letter. The two dots in ü tell you to pronounce the u in güe and güi, as in pingüino. They do not mark word stress.
Reference: FundéuRAE: accents on capital letters.
Reference: RAE: the dieresis in ü.