Cure for accent blindness

[vita32]

Is Spanish word accent blindness curable?I know I'm being silly here but I seem not to be able to grasp the concept that lots of Spanish words have accent marks.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Accents may seem gratuitous if you don't understand what they're for. Their function is to tell you how to pronounce words, and where they're stressed. Sometimes they're also there to mark the difference of meaning between words.


According to the syllable where they're stressed, Spanish has three kinds of words: agudas, graves/llanas, esdrújulas.


Palabras agudas: words that are stressed at the last syllable.
Palabras graves: words that are stressed at the second syllable, counting from the last one.
Palabras esdrújulas: words that are stressed at the third syllable, counting from the end of the word.


Written accent on palabras agudas: They end with n, s, or a vocal vowel.
-> nación, compás, hindú...
Palabras agudas without a written accent: they end with any consonant, except n or s.
-> calor, formal, cabaret...

Palabras graves with a written accent: they end with any consonant, except n or s.
-> árbol, nácar, álbum...
Palabras graves without a written accent: they end with n, s, or a vocal vowel.

-> examen, acentos, casa...

Palabras esdrújulas: They all bear a written accent.
-> brújula, atmósfera, pánico...


Here are also some threads where this has been explained:
http://forums.tomisimo.org/showthread.php?t=1450
http://forums.tomisimo.org/showthread.php?t=5939


...and a deeper and more formal explanation here: http://www.elcastellano.org/acentos.html

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

... words that are stressed on the last syllable

... end with n, s, or a vowel.

[Perikles]

In this respect, Spanish is very much easier than English, where you have very little idea where a stress is located. There seems to be very clear rules in Spanish, and very few in English.

For example - I bet you don't know where the stress is on the word arithmetic. You can't know out of context, because it depends whether the word is a noun or an adjective.

The written accent in Spanish makes it much easier (as long as you can differentiate between i and í )

[JPablo]

I agree with Perikles, just one point, though, "aritmética" has he "accent" or "tilde" over the "e". Like "ética" and "estética" and "la receta diurética" (but now I am going too far...)

[Perikles]

er- I don't actually see your point.

[vita32]

Thank you all for your helpful hints, especially to Angelica for giving me examples of the three types of Spanish accented words and the links

@Perikles, I have to admit that I'm pretty much blind in recognizing "i" and "í" at this point, but at least I know that I am and now I have to develop eyes to see them and know the difference(Oh, brother!!!)

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@Rusty: Of course!!
Thank you!!

[JosephThomas]

I found this thread rather valuable and interesting.

However i find English much easier personally.
Stress is pronounced by vowel placement, vowel consonant combination, and a general rule.

In this respect, Spanish is very much easier than English, where you have very little idea where a stress is located. There seems to be very clear rules in Spanish, and very few in English.

In Ar-ith-mah-tic or Ar-ith-meh-tic,
the A is not stressed because I cannot surpass a consonant to emphasize it. The I is not because there is no vowel emphasizing it or a rule applying to it. Again no stress on the E because of the I. The final I takes moderate stress because you must emphasize the C, Ic.

hope that helped.. and was truthful [¿(y es verdad)?]

Mucho Gracias

[Jessicake]

Originally Posted by vita32

Thank you all for your helpful hints, especially to Angelica for giving me examples of the three types of Spanish accented words and the links

@Perikles, I have to admit that I'm pretty much blind in recognizing "i" and "í" at this point, but at least I know that I am and now I have to develop eyes to see them and know the difference(Oh, brother!!!)

When I was in high school I got bad grades in Spanish because my atrocious handwriting didn't distinguish between i and í!