Herramientas de la lengua
Acentos: Tipos de palabras y reglas
Why do you want to know this?
Once we know how to separate syllables we have to train our ears to listen to the syllable with the most emphasis because a set of rules based on that emphasis is going to determine if we place a written accent mark on that syllable.
1. What is emphasis
Perhaps you never thought of it but there is always one syllable in each word that has more emphasis than the others. We call that syllable “sílaba tónica.” If you have a hard time hearing it, slow down your pronunciation and voice the word several times elongating the vowel on only one syllable. Try to decide which sounds more like the word.
Ex. casa = ca-sa. Now try: caaaa-sa, and then ca-saaaa. Which sounds more like the word?
Do you still have a hard time hearing it? You can always go to a site like this one, but it is preferable to train your ear or you will be doing a lot of extra work!
¡Practiquemos!
¡Hola! A continuación tienes un ejercicio para practicar. Debes lograr al menos 80% ¡Suerte!
2. Classifying words according to their emphasis
Words in Spanish are classified by the “sílaba tónica.” Depending where is emphasis (last, second to last, or third to last syllable) that type of word has a name and a set of rules!
A. If the emphasis is in the last syllable = AGUDA
B. If the emphasis is in the second to last syllable = GRAVE
C. If the emphasis is in the third to last syllable = ESRDÚJULA
¡Practiquemos!
¡Hola! A continuación tienes un ejercicio para practicar. Debes lograr al menos 80% ¡Suerte!
3. Marking the written accent in the words: METHOD 1
With this method we mark the written accent based on pronunciation rules. There are two simple ones:
- Words that end on a vowel or an “n” or an “s” should have the emphasis in the second to last syllable, in other words, they should be “graves”
- You can see these words follow the rule: They end in a vowel, “n” or “s”and the emphasis is in the second to last
- GA-TA
- A-MI-GO
- NI-ÑOS
- You can see these words follow the rule: They end in a vowel, “n” or “s”and the emphasis is in the second to last
2. Words that end on a consonant (besides “n” or “s”) should have the emphasis in the last syllable, in other words, they should be “agudas”
- You can see these words follow the rule: They end in a consonant (not “n” or “s” and the emphasis is in the last syllable
- LI-BER-TAD
- RE-LOJ
- CAR-DE-NAL
- You can see these words follow the rule: They end in a consonant (not “n” or “s” and the emphasis is in the last syllable
OK, so, when the words don’t follow the rules, we mark them! Where? On the strong vowel of the syllable that actually carries the émphasis
See these examples:
- ÁN-GEL
This word ends in an “l” so the emphasis should be in the last syllable but when we say it, the emphasis is the second to last. It broke the rule! We must mark it!
- CAN-CIÓN
This word ends in an “N” so the emphasis should be in the second to last syllable but when we say it, the emphasis is the last. It broke the rule! We must mark it!
- MÉ-XI-CO
This word ends in an “O” so the emphasis should be in the second to last syllable but when we say it, the emphasis is the last. It broke the rule! We must mark it!
¡Practiquemos!
¡Hola! A continuación tienes un ejercicio para practicar. Debes lograr al menos 80% ¡Suerte!
4. Marking the written accent in the words: METHOD 2
There is a second method for figuring out if a word needs to be marked and it is based on three rules:
RULE 1
If the word has the emphasis in the last syllable, in other words, if it is an “aguda,” and it ends on a vowel, “n” or “s”, you mark it! See the examples on the second column.
RULE 2
If the word has the emphasis in the second to last syllable, in other words, if it is a “grave,” and it ends in a consonant, except, “n” or “s”, you mark it! See the examples on the second column.
RULE 3
If the word has the emphasis in the third or fourth to last syllable, in other words, if it is an “esdrújula,” or “sobresdrújula” you mark it EVERY TIME! See the examples:
SUMMARY:
¿Cuándo llevan acento las agudas?
SI TERMINAN EN VOCAL o N o S
¿Cuándo llevan acento las graves?
SI TERMINAN EN CONSONANTE (menos N o S)
¿Cuándo llevan acento las esdrújulas?
¡SIEMPRE!
¡Practiquemos!
¡Hola! A continuación tienes un ejercicios para practicar. Debes lograr al menos 80% ¡Suerte!
This unit “Los acentos – Tipos de palabras y reglas” was created by Alegría Ribadeneira by combining original material and pertinent sections from Spanish Grammar Manual by Enrique Yépez licensed CC BY-NC-SA.
