Stress and Accents

Description: Learn how to pronunce words in Spanish with stress and accents. Which syllable is stressed? When is an accent used on a word?

Summary of stress and accent rules
Words that end in a vowel, N or S The stress in words that end in a vowel or the consonants N or S naturally falls on the second to the last syllable. Examples: Word ending in vowel: casa (house) Word ending in N: hablan (speak) Word ending in S: libros (books) Words that end in a consonant other than N or S The stress in words that end a consonant other than N or S naturally falls on the last syllable. Examples: hotel (hotel) jugar (to play) Words with accents If a word doesn't follow the two pronunciation rules above, an accent above the vowel indicates the stressed syllable. Examples: condición (condition) artículo (article)

Summary of stress and accent rules

Words that end in a vowel, N or S
The stress in words that end in a vowel or the consonants N or S naturally falls on the second to the last syllable.

Examples:
Word ending in vowel: casa (house)
Word ending in N: hablan (speak)
Word ending in S: libros (books)

Words that end in a consonant other than N or S
The stress in words that end a consonant other than N or S naturally falls on the last syllable.

Examples:
hotel (hotel)
jugar (to play)

Words with accents
If a word doesn't follow the two pronunciation rules above, an accent above the vowel indicates the stressed syllable.

Examples:
condición (condition)
artículo (article)

Key Points

Some words have an accent to differentiate them from another word that is spelled the same. For example, question words have an accent to differentiate them from the relative pronoun (¿Quién? vs. quien).
Some homonyms have accents to differentiate them from other words (el vs. él)

Practice

Click on the syllable of the word that you think should be stressed based on the rules that you learned in this lesson. Then click "Listen" to hear the pronunciation of the word. Listen for which syllable sounds stronger (stressed).

More Practice

Review the rules and do practice exercises with stress and accents on the Stress and Accents lesson on our sister site, simplifiedspanish.com.

The Spanish Minute lessons:
The Basics Vocabulary Grammar

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