LinguaEvery word has one loud syllable
Spanish stress is regular: two rules place it in almost every word, and when a word breaks the rules, the spelling tells you so with a written accent, the tilde (á é í ó ú). So you never have to guess where the stress goes – it is either in the default place or marked.
| Word ends in | Stress falls on | Words |
|---|---|---|
| a vowel, n or s | the second-to-last syllable | ca-SA, ha-BLAN, a-MI-gos |
| any other consonant | the last syllable | ho-TEL, es-pa-ÑOL, ciu-DAD |
| anything, with a tilde | the marked vowel | ca-FÉ, ÁR-bol, MÚ-si-ca |
The tilde is the exception marker
Café ends in a vowel, so the rule would stress the first syllable – but the word is ca-FÉ, so it wears a tilde. Árbol ends in a consonant, so the rule expects ar-BOL – but it is ÁR-bol, so it wears one too. No tilde means the rule holds; a tilde means the word is an exception and shows you where.
Question words always carry it
| Question word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ¿qué? | what? |
| ¿dónde? | where? |
| ¿cómo? | how? |
| ¿quién? | who? |
| ¿cuándo? | when? |
The tilde also splits word pairs that are spelled alike: sí (yes) against si (if), qué in a question against que in the middle of a sentence. Spanish also opens a question with ¿ and an exclamation with ¡, so you know the tone before you reach the end.
¿Dónde está el café?Where is the café?
El árbol es muy alto.The tree is very tall.
Words in this lesson
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| el café | coffee; café | Un café, por favor. A coffee, please. |
| el árbol | tree | El árbol está en el parque. The tree is in the park. |
| la canción | song | Me gusta esta canción. I like this song. |
| la música | music | La música es de España. The music is from Spain. |
| el teléfono | telephone | Mi teléfono es nuevo. My phone is new. |
| el lápiz | pencil | El lápiz es amarillo. The pencil is yellow. |
| el número | number | Mi número es el siete. My number is seven. |
| ¿qué? | what? | ¿Qué canción es? What song is it? |
| ¿dónde? | where? | ¿Dónde vives? Where do you live? |
| ¿cómo? | how? | ¿Cómo se escribe? How is it spelled? |
Exercises
This lesson has 10 exercises in the app:
- multiple choice: 3
- match the pairs: 1
- fill the gap: 2
- build the sentence: 1
- translate the sentence: 2
- listen and type: 1
Try the first one
Which syllable of the word amigos is stressed?
The answer, the other exercises, the audio and your progress are in the app – free at A0 and A1.