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Is the tick on Que necessary ?

 

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  #1  
Old October 11, 2015, 07:19 AM
vaibhavchhabra800 vaibhavchhabra800 is offline
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Exclamation Is the tick on Que necessary ?

Does the tick (like the tick on Que dia es hou?what day is it today ?) has to be there always on que (on e)and dia(on i) and if i dont put that tick will the meaning of the word change ?
OR can we skip the tick sometimes?
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  #2  
Old October 11, 2015, 08:56 AM
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Julvenzor Julvenzor is offline
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Hi Waibhavchhabra800,

In Spanish and other languages, accents aren't gratuitous. The meaning may change if a word (conjunction in this case) carries accent or not. In order to write correctly, you have to use accents whenever they are necessary by the orthography.

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Last edited by Julvenzor; October 11, 2015 at 02:12 PM. Reason: Thanks to pjt33.
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Old October 11, 2015, 09:04 AM
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AngelicaDeAlquezar AngelicaDeAlquezar is offline
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I agree with Julvenzor. Written accents are not ornaments; there are precise rules to use them. They determine how a word is pronounced and what it means.

By the way, your sentence must be "¿Qué día es hoy?" Opening question marks (and exclamation marks) are also always necessary.
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Old October 11, 2015, 01:20 PM
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pjt33 pjt33 is offline
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Yes and no. It depends on what your aim is.

If your sole aim is to be understood then you can leave off many accents and punctuation marks. Human languages have lots of redundancy, and we're good at figuring out the intent. Whilst I may joke with certain friends about the groin courses I see advertised (cursos de ingles instead of cursos de inglés), there are few situations where the presence or absence of an accent creates a genuine ambiguity, and in SMS / online chat it's rare for people to use them.

However, if you want to communicate in a formal register, if you want to take any exams, or if you're writing something in a context where lots of people will read it (and hence it's incumbent on you to make a small effort in order to save lots of readers from having to make a small effort to fill in the gaps), you should try to use accents in accordance with accepted standards. It's a lot easier to learn to use a language formally and then to relax and go down a register once you're competent than to learn to use it informally and then learn additional rules when you need to go up a register.

One final note, since the broad underlying topic here is pedantry: the use or non-use of accents is not grammar. It is orthography. The grammar of Spanish remains the same even if you write it in a different script: it is independent of spelling and punctuation.
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Old October 11, 2015, 02:10 PM
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Julvenzor Julvenzor is offline
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I agree with pjt33. I accept the correction. We are talking about orthography.
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