Spanish stress is predictable. Three rules tell you which syllable is loud in almost any word you read.
The three rules
- Ends in a vowel, n or s: stress the second-to-last syllable. casa (KAH-sah), hablan, zapatos, tortilla.
- Ends in any other consonant: stress the last syllable. hablar (ah-BLAHR), ciudad, español, feliz, reloj.
- Has a written accent: stress that syllable, no matter what. café, inglés, teléfono, México, árbol, lápiz.
The accent mark exists exactly for the words that break rules 1 and 2. That's why lápiz needs one (it ends in z but stresses the first syllable) and feliz doesn't.
Accents that tell words apart
Some short words carry an accent only to separate two meanings. The sound is the same, but the accented one is usually stressed in the sentence:
- si (if) and sí (yes)
- el (the) and él (he)
- tu (your) and tú (you)
- mas (but) and más (more)
- que (that) and qué (what?), as in ¿qué tal?
Accents that split vowels
An accent on í or ú keeps it in its own syllable: día, María, país, Raúl. See the vowels guide for more.
Stress mistakes English speakers make
Many Spanish place names are said with English stress in the US. In Spanish, Nevada is neh-BAH-dah, Colorado is koh-loh-RAH-doh, and Chile is CHEE-leh. Names too: Guadalupe stresses LOO, and Ignacio stresses NAH.
Check any word
Type any word on the homepage and switch on Show details. It shows the stressed syllable and which of the three rules applies.