Introduction

The Accent

The accent’s purpose is to point out to the reader which syllable should be stressed while reading.

Marking

The Spanish accent is marked by an apostrophe (‘) placed above the syllable to be accentuated.

The Importance of the Accent

The accent marks the correct syllable pronunciation of a word, but its importance is also in verb conjugation and grammar structuring. For example, many Spanish verbs are conjugated from Present Simple to Past Simple simply by adding an accent to one of the syllables.

In the verb ‘To drink’ (Tomar): I drink (Tomo) He drank (Tomó)
The accent in this example switches a first-person singular (I) conjugated verb in present tense to a third-person singular (he) past tense form. At this stage there is no need to familiarize ourselves with these forms, given here solely for clarification purposes.

Examples

In examples 3 and 4, there is no difference in the enunciation. Rather the accent serves to differentiate between the different meanings of the words, and to form two different words.