When does a Spanish word need a written accent?
Every Spanish word of more than one syllable has one stressed syllable, and the rules say when the spelling has to show it. Most words end in a vowel, -n or -s and are stressed on the second-to-last syllable — casa, joven, libros — so they need nothing, and neither do words stressed on the last syllable that end in another consonant: reloj, papel, ciudad. The accent marks the words that break those habits: café and canción, árbol and lápiz, and every word stressed earlier, like música.
A word of one syllable takes no accent by these rules: fue, fui, dio, vio, ti, mes. The few that do are the pairs in the third chart.
| Stress on | Written accent | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| The last syllable | When it ends in a vowel, -n or -s | café, canción, compás |
| The second-to-last | When it ends in any other consonant | árbol, fácil, lápiz |
| Any earlier syllable | Always | música, rápido, dímelo |
Why do día and país have an accent?
Spanish counts a weak vowel (i or u) next to a strong one (a, e, o) as one syllable: bien, gracias, cuidado. When the stress falls on the weak vowel itself, the two split into separate syllables, and the accent shows it — always, whatever the three rules say: día, país, río, baúl, reír, oír. Día ends in a vowel and is stressed on the second-to-last syllable, and it still takes one.
When the stress is on a strong vowel, the accent goes on that one: después, adiós, náutico. Two weak vowels together count as one syllable, so construido and destruido take none — they are stressed on the second-to-last syllable and end in a vowel.
The split is why every -er and -ir verb takes an accent in the imperfect — comía, vivía — and why hacía (made) and hacia (toward) are different words.
| Vowels | Written accent | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| i or u stressed, next to a, e or o | Always, on the i or u | día, país, río, baúl, oír |
| i or u unstressed, next to a, e or o | One syllable: the three rules decide | bien, gracias, después |
| i and u together | One syllable: the three rules decide | ciudad, construido, cuídate |
Which Spanish words change meaning with an accent?
A one-syllable word takes no accent — except these eight pairs, where the accent tells a stressed word from an unstressed one spelled the same way: tú vienes (you come) but tu casa (your house); para mí (for me) but mi casa (my house); sí, quiero (yes, I want to) but si quieres (if you want).
The list is closed. Fue, fui, dio, vio and ti never take an accent: fue and fui belong to both ir and ser, and di to both decir and dar, but every one of them is stressed, so there is nothing for an accent to tell apart. The plural of té keeps its accent: tés.
| With an accent | Without one |
|---|---|
| tú — you | tu — your |
| él — he, him | el — the |
| mí — me (para mí) | mi — my |
| sí — yes; himself, herself | si — if |
| té — tea | te — you, yourself |
| sé — I know; be (ser) | se — the pronoun |
| dé — give (dar) | de — of, from |
| más — more | mas — but (literary) |
Do question words have an accent in Spanish?
Qué, cuál, quién, cómo, dónde, cuándo and cuánto take an accent when they ask or exclaim — and also inside a sentence that reports a question: no sé qué quieres, dime dónde vives, pregúntale quién es. Without a question, the same words join two parts of a sentence and take none: dice que viene, la casa donde vivo, cuando llegue.
The accent stays even without question marks: cuánto me alegro de verte, qué hacer en caso de incendio. Porque vs por qué has the four ways to write why and because, and qué vs cuál the two question words English says with one.
| Asking or exclaiming | Joining two parts |
|---|---|
| ¿Qué quieres? No sé qué quieres. | Dice que viene. |
| ¿Dónde vives? Dime dónde vives. | La casa donde vivo. |
| ¿Cuándo llega? No sé cuándo llega. | Cuando llegue, te llamo. |
| ¿Cómo estás? ¡Cómo llueve! | Hazlo como quieras. |
| ¿Quién es? Pregúntale quién es. | La chica con quien hablé. |
Do solo and este have an accent?
No. Solo is written without an accent whether it means only or alone, and so are the demonstratives este, ese and aquel, with esta, esos and the rest: solo quiero un café, me gusta este, esa es mi casa. The accent's job is to tell a stressed word from an unstressed one spelled the same way, and these are stressed in every use — so the academies no longer call for one.
They allow it only where the writer sees a real risk of two readings — estaré sólo un mes (only a month) against estaré solo un mes (alone) — and never require it. Esto, eso and aquello never take one.
How do plurals and added endings change the accent?
The stress stays on the same syllable when a word grows, and the rules are applied again to the new word. Examen and joven gain an accent in the plural because the stress is now third from the end; canción and inglés lose theirs because the plural ends in -s and is stressed second from the end.
A verb with pronouns joined to it counts as one word: dime needs no accent, dímelo does; cuenta becomes cuéntame. An adverb in -mente keeps its adjective's accent and adds none: fácilmente, rápidamente, but cordialmente.
Capitals take the accent like any other letter: Ángel, África, ÉXITO. Only the letters of an acronym go without.
| Word | Becomes | Why |
|---|---|---|
| examen | exámenes | Third-to-last: always |
| joven | jóvenes | Third-to-last: always |
| canción | canciones | Second-to-last, ends in -s |
| inglés | ingleses | Second-to-last, ends in -s |
| dime | dímelo | Third-to-last: always |
| fácil | fácilmente | Keeps the adjective's accent |
Why do English speakers get Spanish accents wrong?
English never marks stress in its spelling, so the accent looks optional. It is part of the spelling, and some words mean something else without it: papá (dad) and papa (the pope), está (is) and esta (this), habló (he spoke) and hablo (I speak), inglés (English) and ingles (groins).
Our mistake corpus tags grammar points, not spelling, so there is no first-party rate for accents on this page — the quiz below is the measure.
What comes after accent marks?
Porque vs por qué puts the question-word rule to work on why and because, and qué vs cuál sorts the two question words English says with one. Ya vs todavía has the accent that turns aún (still) into aun (even). The verb pages lean on these rules in every chart — the imperfect (comía, jugábamos) and Spanish commands (dímelo, siéntate). The free Spanish level test places you on the A1–C2 scale in five minutes.