8.3 Accentuation, Spelling & Register
Key Takeaways
- Words ending in a vowel, n, or s are stressed on the second-to-last syllable; all others are stressed on the last syllable.
- A written accent marks any word that breaks those default rules: canción, árbol, teléfono.
- Diacritic accents distinguish identical spellings: tú and tu, él and el, sí and si, más and mas.
- Spanish has no capital letters on days, months, nationalities, or languages: lunes, marzo, español.
- Register is signalled by tú, usted, vos, and vosotros, and by verb endings rather than by separate polite words.
8.3 Accentuation, Spelling & Register
An accent mark in Spanish is not decoration. It changes stress, and sometimes meaning and even tense. A Part A option can be wrong for no reason other than a missing or misplaced accent, and hablo versus habló is the difference between I speak and he spoke.
1. The Two Default Stress Rules
| If the word ends in... | Default stress falls on... | Term | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| a vowel, -n, or -s | the second-to-last syllable | palabra llana / grave | ca-sa, jo-ven, li-bros, ha-blan |
| any other consonant | the last syllable | palabra aguda | pa-pel, ciu-dad, co-mer, fe-liz |
The written accent appears only when a word breaks its default.
| Word | Ends in | Default would stress | Actual stress | Accent needed? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| canción | n | can- | -ción | Yes |
| árbol | l | -bol | ár- | Yes |
| joven | n | jo- | jo- | No |
| jóvenes | s | -ve- | jó- | Yes |
| comer | r | -mer | -mer | No |
This explains the plural pattern from Chapter 2: canción -> canciones loses the accent, because the plural's stress now falls where the default rule puts it. Joven -> jóvenes gains one, because adding a syllable moved the stress three from the end.
Words Stressed Three or More Syllables from the End
Every palabra esdrújula carries a written accent, no exceptions: teléfono, música, rápido, gramática, práctica, América, artículo. This is why attaching pronouns to verbs forces an accent — da becomes dámelo, which is now esdrújula.
2. Diphthongs and Hiatus
A diphthong is a strong vowel (a, e, o) plus a weak one (i, u), or two weak ones — pronounced as one syllable: bai-le, cau-sa, ciu-dad.
An accent on the weak vowel breaks the diphthong into two syllables (hiatus):
| No accent (diphthong) | Accented (hiatus) |
|---|---|
| ha-cia (toward) | ha-cí-a (he was doing) |
| con-ti-nuo (continuous) | con-ti-nú-o (I continue) |
| se-cre-ta-ria (secretary) | se-cre-ta-rí-a (secretariat) |
This is why participles like leído, traído, and oído carry accents, and why imperfect endings -ía always do.
3. Diacritic Accents: Same Spelling, Different Word
| With accent | Meaning | Without accent | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| tú | you | tu | your |
| él | he | el | the |
| mí | me | mi | my |
| sí | yes; himself | si | if |
| sé | I know; be (command) | se | reflexive pronoun |
| dé | give (subjunctive) | de | of |
| más | more | mas | but (literary) |
| té | tea | te | you (object) |
| aún | still | aun | even |
| sólo (optional) | only | solo | alone |
Add to these all the interrogatives and exclamatives from Chapter 3 — qué, quién, cuándo, dónde, cómo, cuánto, cuál, por qué — which carry accents in direct and indirect questions.
4. Capitalization and Punctuation
Spanish capitalizes far less than English.
| Not capitalized in Spanish | Example |
|---|---|
| Days of the week | lunes, martes |
| Months | enero, febrero |
| Nationalities and languages | español, mexicano, francés |
| Religions and their adherents | católico, budismo |
| Titles before a name | el señor García, la doctora Ruiz |
| Most words in a book or film title | Cien años de soledad |
Punctuation differences:
- Inverted opening marks are obligatory: ¿...? and ¡...!
- Dialogue uses an em dash, not quotation marks: — ¿Vienes? — preguntó Ana.
- Decimals use a comma, thousands a period, in most varieties (see Chapter 2).
5. Spelling Patterns Worth Knowing
| Pattern | Rule | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| c / qu | c before a, o, u; qu before e, i | sacar -> saqué |
| g / gu | g before a, o, u; gu before e, i | llegar -> llegué |
| g / j | g is soft before e, i; j keeps the sound elsewhere | escoger -> escojo |
| z / c | z before a, o, u; c before e, i | empezar -> empecé; lápiz -> lápices |
| gu / gü | dieresis makes u sound | vergüenza, bilingüe, pingüino |
These are the same alternations that drive the orthographic verb changes in Chapters 5 and 6. They are not separate rules — they are one phonetic principle showing up in different places.
6. Register: Tú, Usted, Vos, Vosotros
Spanish encodes formality in the verb ending, not in separate polite words, which is why register mismatch is invisible to English speakers and lethal in rejoinders.
| Pronoun | Where | Formality | Present of hablar |
|---|---|---|---|
| tú | most of the Spanish-speaking world | informal singular | hablas |
| vos | Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Central America | informal singular | hablás |
| usted | everywhere | formal singular | habla |
| vosotros | Spain | informal plural | habláis |
| ustedes | Latin America (all plural); Spain (formal plural) | plural | hablan |
Recognizing Voseo
The vos forms are stressed on the final syllable and drop the diphthong: vos hablás, vos comés, vos vivís, vos tenés, vos sos (from ser). Its affirmative command is also final-stressed: hablá, comé, vení, decí. You are not expected to produce voseo, but you must recognize it when a Section II speaker from Buenos Aires uses it.
Register Markers to Listen For
| Informal | Formal |
|---|---|
| ¿Cómo estás? | ¿Cómo está usted? |
| te, tu, ti, contigo | le, su, usted, con usted |
| Oye / Mira | Oiga / Mire |
| ¿Puedes ayudarme? | ¿Podría usted ayudarme? |
| Vale / Dale | De acuerdo / Por supuesto |
| First name | señor / señora + surname |
A prompt containing le and su is formal; a response containing te or an informal command is therefore wrong regardless of how sensible its content is. This single filter eliminates roughly one distractor per rejoinder.
7. Worked Items
Item 1. Ayer el director ________ con todo el equipo antes de la votación. (A) hablo (B) habló (C) hablo´ (D) háblo
Reasoning: Ayer forces the preterite third person, which is stressed on the final syllable and therefore accented. Unaccented hablo is the present first person. (B).
Item 2. No sé ________ dejaste las llaves del coche. (A) donde (B) dónde (C) adonde (D) de donde
Reasoning: Indirect questions keep the written accent. (B).
Item 3. Señora Ruiz, ¿________ tan amable de firmar aquí? (A) eres (B) sería usted (C) serías (D) sos
Reasoning: The address Señora Ruiz sets a formal register, which requires usted forms. (B).
Why does 'canción' carry a written accent while its plural 'canciones' does not?
Which sentence uses accents correctly?
A Section II speaker says: "¿Vos tenés el informe listo?" What does this tell you?