1.1.4 - Accents and Symbols

Acentos y Símbolos 

Accents and Symbols 

 

  á  é  í  ó  ú  

 

Spanish often uses "acentos" (accents) or "tildes" over the vowels (á, é, í, ó, ú) in order to show which syllable is stressed. The accent marks in Spanish grammar are used to help you pronounce words correctly. Generally, stressed syllables have more emphasis and therefore are pronounced louder than unstressed syllables. The accent mark is drawn from the lower left to the upper right. 

 

Example: 

     María 

     periódico 

     día

     autobús 

 

Click below to listen to the pronunciation of each word. 

Accents Example

 

It is important to understand that accent marks are part of the word and should always be included. In Spanish, accent marks differentiate words from one another and therefore it is important to begin learning and memorizing which vocabulary words include accent marks. Since you will be typing in Spanish for this course, it is important that you are able to insert the various punctuation marks that are used in Spanish grammar.  

 

How to insert accent marks:  

Mac Users: 

Lowercase Letters

(In order to insert lowercase letters with accents, hold down the "Option" key and while holding it down type the letter "e"; then, release those keys and type the letter that you want the accent to appear above. The sequences are provided below.)

Opt + e, then a  =  á

Opt + e, then e  =  é

Opt + e, then i  =  í

Opt + e, then o  =  ó

Opt + e, then u  =  ú

 

(In order to insert uppercase letters with accents, hold down the "Option" key, while holding it down type the letter "e", then release both keys and then type the capitalized letter that you want the accent to appear above. The sequences are provided below.)

Uppercase Letters

Opt + e, then A  =  Á

Opt + e, then E  =  É

Opt + e, then I  =  Í

Opt + e, then O  =  Ó

Opt + e, then U  =  Ú

 

PC Users: 

(In order to insert the letter with an accent mark, hold down the "Alt" key while typing the 4 digit code listed below.)

 

Lowercase Letters

Alt + 0225 = á

Alt + 0233 = é

Alt + 0237 = í

Alt + 0243 = ó

Alt + 0250 = ú

 

Uppercase Letters 

Alt + 0193 = Á

Alt + 0201 = É

Alt + 0205 = Í

Alt + 0211 = Ó

Alt + 0218 = Ú

 

In addition to accent marks, Spanish also uses tildes (ñ) over the letter "n." The tilde indicates the sound ny, similar to the sound in the English word "canyon." 

Example: 

     piña (pineapple)

     leña (firewood)

     niño (boy) 

     niña (girl)

 

Click here to listen to the pronunciation of these vocabulary words. Listen closely to the sound that is produced from the tilde. 

Letter ñ Examples

 

How to insert an "ñ": 

Mac User

In order to insert an ñ hold down the "Option" key while holding it down type "n", then release both keys and type either "N" or "n" depending on you whether it should be uppercase or lowercase. The sequences are provided below.)

Hold down "Option" + "n", release both keys then type n =  ñ

Hold down "Option" + "n", release both keys then type N = Ñ

 

PC User 

Hold down "Alt" + 164 = ñ

Hold down "Alt" + 165 = Ñ

 

Now, on a blank Word document, take a few moments and practice typing the accent marks over the vowels as well as practice inserting a tilde over the letter "n." Once you feel comfortable typing the Spanish accents/symbols, begin your quiz.

 

Quiz: This quiz assesses your knowledge on the information presented in this lesson as well as some of the information presented in the previous lessons. You only have two attempts.