1. ACENTOS - Diéresis - Tilde -

2. Rules of Stress In Spanish, words are spelled just like they sound. In order to take advantage of this simple and nearly perfect system of spelling, one must first know the rules for stress - that is, how to know which syllable is pronounced the loudest.

3. Acentos Acentos are only written above vowels not on consonants. ¿Cuál? ¿Qué? Sí Acción Números

4. nada na - da limonada li - mo - na - da zapatos za - pa - tos origen o - ri - gen compro com - pro esta es - ta estas es- tas REGLA NÚMERO 1. Words ending in a vowel, -n, or - s are stressed on the next to the last (penultimate) syllable:

5. doctor doc - tor ciudad ciu - dad comer co - mer REGLA NÚMERO 2. Words ending in any consonant except -n or -s are stressed on the last syllable:

6. compró com - pró está es - tá estás es - tás REGLA NÚMERO 3. When rules #1 and #2 above are not followed, a written accent is used:

7. si - if sí - yes mi - my mí - me el - the él - he tu - your tú - you REGLA NÚMERO 4. Written accents are also used to differentiate between words that are pronounced the same but have different meanings:

8. La Diéresis - Ü In order to obtain this W sound in front of a soft vowel, the Ü comes into play. The two dots over the U are called a dieresis and indicate that two adjacent vowels both need to be pronounced as a diphthong: Ejemplo: Vergüenza Lingüística Pingüino Note: In Spanish, the diéresis is only found on the U, and it can only precede an E or I.

9. Diphthong Diphthong - Two vowels pronounced as a single syllable. When this happens, the unstressed weak vowel has a special sound: the letter I sounds like Y (as in yet) and U sounds like W (as in will). Ejemplo: Vergüenza Lingüística Pingüinos Note: In Spanish, the diéresis is only found on the U, and it can only precede an E or I.

10. TILDE Tilde is a swirly line above the “ñ”. In Spanish it is only used above the (eñe). Ejemplos: Año Niño Niña extraño

11. Ejemplos Zión Acción Participación Dirección Situación Notificación Mulitiplicación

12. Rules Don't think of these rules as burdensome. Rather, view them as your friends. They allow you to pronounce any Spanish word correctly.