How do you know when to accent letters in Spanish words?

Question

Such as "State plural form of lápiz/estación/nación"
Like sometimes the plural form has an accent, but sometimes it doesn't. Is there are formal way to tell if it needs one?

Answer 1

I hope it helps. It took me a while, so pleace try to follow the explanation. There are many exceptions, that will make you feel miserable, but if you understand this, it will be a good start. Good luck.

Rule 1:
Words that are stressed in the last syllable, ending in a vowel; "n" or "s", always have an accent:

Alcalá, (vowel)
acción, natación, cajón, nación, estación (n)
jamás (s)

Rule 2:
Words that are stressed in the last but one syllable, ending in any consonant which is not "n" or "s" and which does not end in a vowel, ALWAYS have an accent.

Silla: Rule 2, stress on “si”, word ends in vowel (no accent)

Maceta: Rule 2, stress on “ce” word ends in vowel (no accent)

Trenes Rule 2, stress on “tre” word ends in “s” (no accent)

Orden Rule 2, stress on “or”, word ends in “n” (no accent)

Volumen Rule 2, stress on “lu”, word ends in “n” (no accent)

Crema Rule 2, stress on “cre”, word ends in vowel (no accent)

Canon Rule 2, stress on “ca” , word ends in “n” (no accent)

Examen Rule 2, stress on “xa”, word ends in “n” (no accent)

Salas Rule 2, stress on “sa”, word ends in “s” (no accent)

Estufa Rule 2, stress on “tu” , word ends in vowel (no accent)

Casas Rule 2, stress on “ca”, word ends in “s” (no accent)

Trenes Rule 2, stress on “tre”, word ends in “s” (no accent)

Volumen Rule 2, stress on “lu” , word ends in “n” (no accent)

Origen Rule 2, stress on “ri” , word ends in “n” (no accent)

lápiz Rule 2, stress on “lá”, word end in consonant other than "n", or "s", (or vowel) (ACCENT).

Cáliz Rule 2, stress on “cá”, word ends in consonant other than “n” or “s” (or vowel) (ACCENT)

Árbol Rule 2, stress on “ár”, word ends in consonant other than “n” or “s” (or vowel) (ACCENT)

Bolívar Rule 2, stress on “lí”, word ends in consonant other than “n” or “s” (or vowel) (ACCENT)

Cáncer Rule 2, stress on “can”, word ends in consonant other than “n” or “s” (or vowel) (ACCENT)

Hábil Rule 2, stress on “há”, word ends in consonant other than “n” or “s” (or vowel) (ACCENT)

Carácter Rule 2, stress on “rác”, word ends in consonant other than “n” or “s” (or vowel) (ACCENT)

Fénix Rule 2, stress on “fé”, word ends in consonant other than “n” or “s” (or vowel) (ACCENT)

álbum Rule 2, stress on “ál”, word ends in consonant other than “n” or “s” (or vowel) (ACCENT)

Césped Rule 2, stress on “cés”, word ends in consonant other than “n” or “s” (or vowel) (ACCENT)


Rule 3:

When the stress is on the last but two syllable (or over), it ALWAYS HAS AN ACCENT.

Example
Á-ba-co, Ó-pa-lo, Hé-ro-e, Í-do-lo, Dé-fi-cit, Tó-ma-te-lo, Éx-ta-sis, Pán-cre-as, o-cé-a-no.


Let’s see what happens with some words of our examples

Ac-ción, Rule one
Plural: ac-cio-nes: the stress is now in “cio” (last but one), so now the word falls on Rule 2. And since the word ends in “s”, IT DOES NOT HAVE AN ACCENT

Es-ta-ción: Rule one
Plural : es-ta-cio-nes (now the word has 4 syllables)
the syllable that is estressed is the last but one "cio", so it falls on Rule 2 , And since the word ends in “s”, IT DOES NOT HAVE AN ACCENT

the word es-ta-ción (Rule one)
became es-ta-cio-nes (rule two)

na-ta-ción, Rule one
plural na-ta-cio-nes: the stress is now in “cio” (last but one), and the word falls now on Rule 2. And since the word ends in “s”, IT DOES NOT HAVE AN ACCENT

cajón, Rule one
plural ca-jo-nes: the stress is now in “jo” (last but one), and the word falls now on Rule 2. And since the word ends in “s”, IT DOES NOT HAVE AN ACCENT

nación Rule one
plural na-cio-nes: the stress is now in “cio” (last but one), and the word falls now on Rule 2. And since the word ends in “s”, IT DOES NOT HAVE AN ACCENT

Silla: Rule 2
Plural si-llas, still Rule 2 (stressed on “si” ending in “s”)

Maceta: Rule 2,
Plural ma-ce-tas: still Rule 2 (stressed on “ce” ending in “s”)

Orden Rule 2
Plural ór-de-nes. The stress is now in the last but two Syllable (ór), Rule 3, so it shows an accent.

Volumen Rule 2
Plural: vo-lú-me-nes: the stress is in the last but two syllable (lú), Rule 3, always has an accent

Cre-ma Rule 2
Plural Cre-mas: still Rule 2 (stressed on “cre” ending in “s”)

Canon Rule 2
Plural Cá-no-nes Stress on Cá, but it is the last but two syllable now. Therefore it bears an accent (RUle 3)

Examen Rule 2
Plural e-xá-me-nes Rule 3

Origen Rule 2
Plural: o-rí-ge-nes Rule 3, Stress son “ri” always an accent

lápiz Rule 2
Plural Lá-pi-ces

the word lá-piz (rule two)
became lá-pi-ces (rule three) (the “z” becoming “c” is a different rule)

Cáliz Rule 2
Plural cá-li-ces stress on “cá”, Rule 3

Árbol Rule 2
Plural ár-bo-les: stress on the last but two syllable “ár” Rule 3, always accent

Bolívar Rule 2,
Plural bo-lí-va-res Rule 3

Cáncer Rule 2,
Plural Cánceres Rule 3

Hábil Rule 2, stress on “há”, word ends in consonant other than “n” or “s” (or vowel) (ACCENT)
Plural Há-bi-les Rule 3

Carácter Rule 2, stress on “rác”, word ends in consonant other than “n” or “s” (or vowel) (ACCENT)
Plural Ca-rac-te-res

This one is tricky, and I included it here, so you won’t ever forget.

The plural of ca-rác-ter is not ca-rác-te-res, (social-linguisticly speaking it would mean a low class speaker)
The plural of ca-rác-ter is ca-rac-te-res, with the stress on “te”. So it is still a word of Rule 2, and since it ends in s, it does not have an accent

álbum Rule 2
Plural ál-bu-mes Rule 3, always accent

Answer 2

Sure. There are rules. Divide the word in syllables. Example:
"Lápices" - Lá/pi/ces. It's important you know the correct pronunciation in Spanish.

If the pronunciation is harder on the first syllable (/lá/), the word has always accent. (We call them: palabras esdrújulas). If it's harder in the second one (/pi/ in this case) has accent if the word doesn't finish in: "n", "s" and vowel (we call them: palabras graves). If the harder tone is in the last syllable, it has accent only when it finish in "n", "s" and vowel (we call them: palabras agudas)

There are exceptions, of course. I still doesn't write about the one-syllable words or the words with more than three syllables, etc. But it's too large. Maybe a grammatical book would be useful to extend this subject.

Meanwhile, I hope this short explanation worked out.

Answer 3

We have a few basic rules for this but of course there are exceptions and you also need to know how the words are pronounced so you can know wheter to put a physical accent or not.

Here are the rules. You always put accents on words that:

1) End in N, S or a vowel when they're accentuated (verbally) in the last syllable

2) End in any other consonant when they're accentuated (verbally) in the syllable before the last one

3) In ALL cases when the word is accentuated (verbally) in the third-from-last syllable

In the examples you gave:

LÁPIZ - You apply rule # 2, as it ends with a Z and you pronounce LAH-piz.

ESTACIÓN - You apply rule # 1, as it ends with an N and you pronounce es-tah-SION (same case for NACIÓN)

HUÉSPEDES (guests) - You apply rule # 3, as it's stressed on the third-from-last syllable: WES-pe-des. This is the case for the plural of lápiz: LÁ-pi-ces

Since the plural for estación is es-ta-CIO-nes, and it ends with an S, you don't put a physical accent. Same case with nación --> na-CIO-nes

Hope that was clear.

Answer 4

Yes, study, study and STUDY !

Answer 5

Clasificación de las palabras
Las palabras agudas son aquellas en las que la fuerza de pronunciación se ejerce sobre la última sílaba.

con-ver-sar - pas-tor - o-ra-ción - com-pe-tir

Las palabras llanas son aquellas cuya fuerza de pronunciación se ejerce en la penúltima sílaba.

pro-tes-tan-te - li-bro - di-fí-cil - án-gel

Las palabras esdrújulas son aquellas cuya fuerza de pronunciación se ejerce en la antepenúltima sílaba.

prés-ta-mo - hi-pó-cri-ta - cré-di-to - lle-gá-ba-mos

Las palabras sobreesdrújulas son aquellas cuya fuerza de pronunciación se ejerce en la ante-antepenúltima sílaba. Por lo regular se trata de adverbios.

di-fí-cil-men-te - fá-cil-men-te - ob-via-men-te

Reglas básicas
Se acentúan todas palabras agudas que terminan en vocal, n o s.

tam-bién - ja-más - lec-ción - vol-ve-rás
Las palabras agudas que no terminan en vocal, n o s nunca se acentúan.

vir-tud - na-cio-nal - re-loj

Nunca se acentúan las palabras llanas que terminan en vocal, n o s.

me-dios - lla-na - re-ve-la

Las palabras llanas que terminan en otras letras siempre se acentúan.

di-fí-cil - cár-cel - au-to-mó-vil

Todas las palabras esdrújulas y sobresdrújulas siempre se acentúan.

ás-pe-ra - es-drú-jula - en-tréa-ga-se-lo

Tilde diacrítica (Next chapter. LOL : ) )

If you don't understand all this and need it in English, I can provide it. Just let me know, pls.

Answer 6

There are rules in Spanish language. Let me explain to you:
"Aguda" word= these words are accentuated when in the first syllable finishes with "n", "s", or a vowel, this is only accentuated in the first syllable. Examples: "avion", "Jose". (Sorry I couldn't write the accent, my laptop doesn't had the language set up)
"Llana" word= these words are accentuated in the second syllable when it's first syllable finishes with any consonant besides "n", "s" or without a vowel. Example: "lapiz"
"Esdrujula" word= Always its third syllable will be accentuated. Example: "esdrujula".

Examples: na-cion= aguda la-piz=llana es-dru-jula=esdrujula
2 1 2 1 3 2 1
*The numbers represent the number of syllables

Answer 7

If a words ends in a n,s or a vowel then the stress automatically falls on the second to last syllable. When you make a word plural it ends in a s, so the stress will fall there automatically eliminating the need for an accent.