Rocket Languages

Spanish Accents

Learn Spanish Accents

Understanding where to put the emphasis in a word can be as difficult as sounding out the word itself. Fortunately, Spanish makes it easy for you. When a word is stressed on an irregular syllable, an accent mark will appear above the stressed vowel.

Accent marks look like this:

á    é    í    ó    ú

Pay attention to accent marks! Two words might be spelled exactly the same, but the presence of an accent mark can completely change their meaning. For example, esta means “this” while está means “is.” Llamo means “I call” while llamó means “He, she, or you called.” Accent marks are also used to distinguish how a word is used: for example, dónde and donde both mean “where,” but the first is used to ask a question while the second is used in statements. So no matter what you do, don’t forget the accent!


Where Does the Stress Go?

Rule 1.

Most Spanish words that end in n, s, or a vowel are stressed on the penultimate (or next-to-the-last) syllable. Listen to the examples below, repeat each word in the gap that follows, and note where the stress falls. The stressed vowel sound is underlined to help you.

camisa, blusa, chaqueta, pantalones, hablo, como, llamo

Some words that end in n, s, or a vowel are stressed on the last syllable instead. These words must carry an accent mark to warn the speaker. Listen to these examples and repeat them aloud.

televisión, conversacn, pais, inglés, alemán, mamá, papa, comió, escribió

Rule 2.

Words that do NOT end in n, s, or a vowel are usually stressed on the last syllable. This includes most verbs in their infinitive forms. For example…

comer, hablar, escribir, estar, seguridad, español, actor, doctor

When these words are not stressed on the last syllable, an accent mark is placed over the stressed vowel. For example…

lápiz, árbol, fútbol, vóleibol

 


This is just the tip of the iceberg! There's so much more in the Rocket Spanish Premium Edition. If you are really serious about learning to speak Spanish, then you should check out this page right now...

Visit: www.rocketlanguages.com/spanish/premium


Amy Waterman

About The Editor:
Amy Waterman became fluent in Spanish while living and working in the Andes Mountain region of Ecuador. Her extensive experience in Spanish learning systems led her to formulate the concept behind the Interactive Audio component of Rocket Spanish.

Mauricio Evlampieff

About The Author:
Mauricio Evlampieff, originally from Chile, is a native Spanish speaker who is passionate about his country’s culture, language and heritage. He is also author of the popular RocketSpanish.com. He is best known for his enthusiasm and insights into the language of his homeland, and has shared this love of the Spanish language and culture with students the world over.

His Rocket Spanish Premium Edition product contains a complete interactive audio course designed to get you speaking conversational Spanish in the quickest time possible. You’ll receive four e-books crammed with grammar lessons, useful words and phrases, vocabulary, exercises, and more! It doesn’t end there. You’ll also receive the Rocket Spanish MegaVocab and MegaAudio software games, which you can modify to suit the vocabulary that YOU need to learn. Together, this dynamic and comprehensive Rocket Spanish package will completely transform how you think about learning another language. Learn more at: http://www.rocketspanish.com/premium.

Before You Go On...
Sign up to your FREE 6-Day Spanish Course! ($37 Value)
You'll learn AMAZING information that you can start using right away, including:

Six Day Course• How to take part in a REAL Spanish conversation
• How to say hello and introduce yourself in Spanish
• How to get the perfect cup of coffee in Spanish
• How to ask for help
• How to explain exactly how much Spanish you know,and much, much more.

Fill in the fields here to receive your free 6 Part Course.

Your Name:
Your Email Address:
 
You'll receive your first lesson within 5 minutes!

This is a private mailing list and will never be sold or given away for any reason. You can also unsubscribe at any time if you ever want to.

Please make sure your preferences are set such that you can receive all emails from the following email address before subscribing:

news@rocketspanish.com

Here's a sample of what my subscribers are saying…….

"This is the best free thing that I've ever found on the internet. period. thank you so much, i've learned lots already!"
-- Ryan Newell (USA)

"I can't for the life of me understand why you are giving this away for free?!"
-- Sarah Welder (USA)

"wow, i am very impressed with your free course. you really do go the whole hog, thankyou!!"
-- Ian Knight (UK)

"I really like your Spanish courses and I have learnt a lot of Spanish. I am looking forward to your next course. Thank you very much, I really appreciate this information."
-- Thrica

"hola. this is the best thing I've done, taking your spanish lesson thank you very much for giving me this opportunity to learn a secound language.I'm from the caribbean and travel a lot to spanish countries,eg puerto rico, venezuler.this is a great help .thanks again. ha sido un gusto."
-- Petra