1. Accent Rules & Punctuation

2. PUNCTUATION In Spanish, upside down punctuation marks such as ¿ & ¡ are placed at the beginning of a phrase to signal a question or an exclamation Ej: ¿Cómo estás? Ej: ¡Qué fantástico!

3. NATURAL ACCENT In every word, there is a specific syllable that is naturally stressed. Rule#1: If a word ends in a vowel (AEIOU) or the letters N or S, the naturally stressed syllable is next to last. Ej: Camino (road)  caMIno Ej: Muchachas (girls)  muCHAchas Ej: Hablan (they speak)  HAblan

4. Natural Accent Continued… Rule#2: If the word ends in a consonant other than N or S, then the naturally stressed syllable is the last syllable. Ej: color (color)  coLOR Ej: ciudad (city)  ciuDAD Ej: querer (to want)  queRER

5. El Acento Escrito Accent marks in Spanish are used for 2 purposes: 1  To indicate where the stress or emphasis falls on a word when it is pronounced. sábado miércoles 2  To differentiate between identically spelled words. Ej: está vs. ésta OR papa vs. papá

6. El Acento Escrito Accent marks are only used over vowels  A E I O U An accent mark is needed when the word does not follow the rules for naturally stressed syllables. Ej: canción (ends in an N, but the stress is on the last syllable.) Ej: Cárcel (ends in a consonant, but the stress is on the next to last syllable.)

7. TILDE Ñ  the wavy line over the ñ is called a tilde. The ñ is pronounced with an “ny” sound similar to the word canyon. Ej: baño Ej: español Ej: señorita

8. Tu Responsabilidad Putting accent marks over the vowels is part of spelling the word correctly. When learning new words, memorize where the accent marks are!

9. Práctica Re-write the following phrases placing the accent marks & punctuation in the appropriate places. 1. Como estas 2. Que hora es 3. Cuando es tu cumpleanos 4. El es un companero de clase

10. Las Respuestas 1. ¿Cómo estás? 2. ¿Qué hora es? 3. ¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños? 4. Él es un compañero de clase.