How to Use Spanish Accent Marks and Other Diacritics

Are accent marks optional?

That’s a common question among beginner Spanish learners, especially for those whose native language doesn’t require accents or other diacritics. Spanish diacritical marks aren’t just a nice-to-have—they’re required, as they directly affect the pronunciation and meaning of Spanish words.

Take the Spanish word papa. It means “potato.” But if you add an accent to the second a so it reads papá, it now means “dad.” Plus, you’ll add emphasis on the second a when pronouncing it to change how it sounds.

As you dive deeper into Spanish, these accent marks will start to feel more familiar—and far less daunting. In this post, we’ll take a look at how accents and other diacritical marks function, which letters take them on, and how to type them on any keyboard.

Want to learn Spanish basics even faster? Rosetta Stone uses Dynamic Immersion to help you master Spanish every step of the way, so you can rely on fun, engaging lessons and audio—no tedious memorization required. We even have an Alphabet feature to help you master accent and diacritical marks in real time. Learn more about Dynamic Immersion here, or sign up for your first lesson today!

The three types of Spanish diacritics

Not all diacritics are made the same! Let’s take a look at each type.

Diaeresis

The diaeresis (diéresis in Spanish) is a special type of diacritic used over the letter U in Spanish. It looks like two dots above the U, like this:

A diaeresis can only appear above the u in words that have güe or güi, in which case the syllable is pronounced like a gw. This diaeresis indicates that the pronunciation breaks two key Spanish pronunciation rules:

According to Spanish grammar rules, when gu comes before a strong vowel (a, o), then both vowels are pronounced. When combined with a g, u makes an English w sound, as in guapo (handsome).
When gu comes before a weak vowel (e or i), the u is silent. Guerra (war) is an example.

It’s rare that a word ignores the two rules above, so in turn, it’s rare to see a Spanish word with a diaeresis. Still, there are a couple you may encounter! We’ve listed several words in the table below.

Spanish	English
la vergüenza	the shame
la lingüística	the linguistics
averigüé	I found out
el pingüino	the penguin
bilingüe	bilingual
la antigüedad	the antiquity

Tilde

While the word tilde in Spanish is used to refer to acute accent marks, or sometimes diacritics in general, in English it refers to the squiggly line above the letter ñ.

The letter ñ is the 15th letter of the Spanish alphabet, and it originated in Spain nearly a thousand years ago. It has since become a cultural icon that represents the Spanish language around the world. After all, there’s no español without the ñ.

Many Spanish learners misunderstand the tilde and think it can be added to any letter. Not so! You’ll only find the tilde on the letter n. It represents a distinct sound in Spanish, similar to the ny in “canyon” or the ni sound in “onion.” Ñ is found in over 15,000 words. Check out a short list of commonly used words below!

Spanish	English
España	Spain
soñar	to dream
el compañero	the partner
la migraña	the migraine
el dueño	the owner
la señora	the woman

Acute Accents

An acute accent mark is often simply called an accent (accento) or an accent mark. It only appears over a vowel, and it’s a short diagonal line written from the lower left to the upper right as in:

á, é, í, ó, or ú

Other languages may have accents that extend from the upper left to the lower right, like à or è. You won’t find these in Spanish—which is great news. Spanish keeps it simple!

Spanish	English
el águila	the eagle
el té	the tea
la cafetería	the cafeteria
el halcón	the falcon
único	unique

Why are accent marks important in Spanish?

The Spanish accent mark is a small diagonal line that appears over a vowel. It can serve several purposes. Let’s take a look at each below.

Marking irregular word stress

Word stress is the emphasis we place on a particular syllable of a word when we say it. Spanish has standard rules about word stress, and an accent mark is necessary when a word doesn’t follow the rules. The accent mark doesn’t change the sound of the vowel itself. Instead, it affects which syllable is stressed when the word is spoken.

For example, teléfono (telephone) has an accent on the second e. According to Spanish rules about word stress, the word stress should fall on the first o. The written accent mark is needed because the word breaks the rule and the stress falls on the second e.

Spanish word	Pronunciation
*teléfono*	te-LE-fo-no
*telefono* (incorrect, without accent mark)	te-le-FO-no

Distinguishing between homonyms

Homonyms are words that are spelled the same but have different meanings. Like English, Spanish has quite a few homonyms. Accent marks are used to distinguish between some homonyms. For instance, si (if) and sí (yes) are differentiated by the accent mark.

Marking question words

Question words and relative pronouns are like homonyms, and we use Spanish accent marks to differentiate them in writing. For example, qué (what) in a question requires an accent mark, and que (that) in a statement does not.

Breaking diphthongs

In Spanish, a, e, and o are considered strong vowels. I and u, on the other hand, are considered weak vowels. When a weak vowel appears next to another vowel, they combine to make a single sound that we call a diphthong.

Below are a few common diphthongs in Spanish. You’ll notice that each word contains i or u next to another vowel.

Spanish	English
la familia	the family
el aire	the air
siete	seven
el labio	the lip

Sometimes a Spanish diphthong is broken, and the two vowels are pronounced separately. In that case, the word requires an accent mark over the weak vowel. Examples include la biología (biology), el río (the river), and el país (the country).

>> Demystify Spanish with Rosetta Stone’s Dynamic Immersion

Understanding Spanish pronunciation

Spanish is a phonetic language, which makes pronunciation easier than a phonetically inconsistent one, like English or French. You can look at a word in a phonetic language and know exactly how it sounds, letter by letter. Accent marks emphasize pronunciation—and also add a layer of complexity to it.

If you’re new to Spanish, you may benefit from tools that can help you make those connections between letter sounds and pronunciation faster. Rosetta Stone’s Alphabet feature, pictured below, is a useful shortcut, combining a full glossary of letters, words, and audio that you can replay as needed!

[Alphabet screenshot]

>>Want to know how to master any alphabet? Click here.

What letters take accent marks in Spanish?

In Spanish, accent marks can be used over any of the five vowels: a, e, i, o, or u.

For example:

á, as in la música (the music)
é, as in él (he)
í, as in el día (the day)
ó, as in el cajón (the drawer)
ú, as in último (last)

Both lowercase and uppercase vowels take an accent mark.

el día EL DÍA

él Él

Note that Spanish accents can ONLY be used over vowels! You will never see a consonant with an accent mark.

Rules for using acute accent marks in Spanish

Spanish accent rules are straightforward—you won’t need to jump through too many hoops to determine when and where an accent mark is needed. Making that determination largely factors around the last letter of a word, but it can also involve the length of a word (and its resulting pronunciation). In some cases, they’re also used to differentiate homonyms.

One fun tidbit to note: A Spanish word will never have more than one accent mark!

Spanish stress rules

First, we’ll dive into two key stress or emphasis rules that—when broken—would require you to add an accent mark to a certain vowel.

#1: If a word ends with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u), an n, or an s, the stress falls on the second-to-last syllable.

This is known as a palabra grave (deep word) in Spanish. Examples are casa (house), joven (young), and calles (streets).

If the word does not follow this rule, it needs an accent mark on the vowel of the stressed syllable. An example of this is inglés (English), where the accent shows that the stress falls on the last syllable.

#2: If a word ends with a consonant other than n or s, the stress falls on the last syllable.

This is known as a palabra aguda (oxytone word) in Spanish. Examples are papel (paper) and amor (love).

If a word does not follow this rule, it needs an accent mark on the vowel of the stressed syllable. An example of this is cáncer, where the accent shows that the stress falls on the first syllable.

Spanish accent mark rules

Now that we understand stress rules, let’s take a look at other instances where accent marks are necessary.

#3: If the stress falls on the third-to-last syllable or earlier, the word needs an accent mark.

These words are called esdrújulas and sobresdrújulas in Spanish, and they always carry an accent mark, regardless of their last letter. Examples are música (music), público (public), and llévatelo (take it with you).

#4: Accent marks are often used to differentiate homonyms.

Homonyms are words that have the same spelling but different meanings. They occur in many languages. For example, in English “palm” can be a body part or a tree, and a “bat” can be a flying animal or a piece of equipment you use in baseball.

In Spanish, some examples of homonyms are si (if) and sí (yes), te (you, as an object pronoun) and té (tea), and el (the) and él (he).

Note: In the past, this Spanish grammar rule was often applied to demonstrative pronouns like este (this one) and esa (that one) to distinguish them from demonstrative adjectives with the same spelling. The Real Academia Española revised Spanish grammar rules in 2010 and announced that demonstrative pronouns should no longer carry accent marks. You may come across older books, articles, or other written materials that use the accent mark, but it’s no longer considered grammatically correct.

Common homonyms using Spanish accent marks

There are hundreds of Spanish homonyms, and not all of them use accent marks. We’ve compiled some of the most common homonyms that use Spanish accents.

Unaccented Spanish homonym	Accented Spanish homonym
el (the)	él (he)
te (you)	el té (the tea)
mas (but)	más (more)
tu (your)	tú (you)
se (oneself)	sé (I know)

These rules provide a foundation for understanding why Spanish accent marks appear when they do. It’s best to learn to spell new vocabulary words with their accent marks, instead of memorizing these rules. Remember: accent marks are required, so treat them as such when you learn a new word!

>> Ready to learn more basic Spanish words? Check these out!

How to type Spanish accent marks and other diacritics

By now you probably understand how important Spanish diacritical marks are, but they can be a nuisance to hunt down on your computer. Unless you know how to find them, of course. Let’s take a look at how to type Spanish accent marks and other diacritics on any keyboard, or feel free to jump into our guide on typing accent marks in any language.

How to type Spanish accent marks and other diacritics on any computer

Copy and pasting accent marks works, but it’s tedious and certainly slow. There are a few methods that are easier and will work with any computer.

If you’re just typing a few paragraphs, you can use an online keyboard. There are several available online in various languages, and it’s as simple as clicking on the accented letter when you need it.

Both Google Docs and Microsoft Word have similar onscreen keyboards available for special characters.

Microsoft Word: Go to Insert > Advanced Symbol. A popup window will appear with special characters. Choose the font you’re using from the drop-down menu, and click on the accented letter when you need to insert it into your document.
Google Docs: The process is very similar. Go to Insert > Special characters. Choose “Latin” as your language, and all the accented letters you need for Spanish will appear in the box.

However, the fastest way to type Spanish accents on a computer is to use keyboard shortcuts. It may take a little practice to get used to these shortcuts, but they will become second nature with regular use. In the meantime, you can keep a list of the shortcuts near your computer for easy reference.

Keep reading to find out how to use keyboard shortcuts on a Mac or PC.

How to type Spanish accent marks and other diacritics on a Mac

Here are the steps to type each special character using keyboard shortcuts that work in most programs on a Mac. Plus, bonus tips on how to type common Spanish punctuation!

Acute accents (á, é, í, ó, ú): Press Option + the letter at the same time, then release both keys and type the vowel you want to accent. To get a capital vowel, press Option + Shift + the letter. For á, press Option + a. For Á, press Option + Shift + a.
The tilde (ñ): Press Option + n at the same time, then release both keys and type n again.
The diaeresis (ü): Press Option + U together, then release both keys and type u.
Inverted question mark (¿): Press Option + Shift + ? simultaneously.
Inverted exclamation mark (¡): Press Option + 1 at the same time.

How to type Spanish accent marks and other diacritics on a PC

The easiest way to type Spanish accents on a PC is to use the US International Keyboard. Here’s how to add it to your computer.

Add the US International Keyboard to Windows 11:

Go to Settings > Time & Language > Language & Region.
Look for Preferred Languages and click on English (United States). Then click the three dots on the right and choose Language options.
Look for the Keyboards section. If you’ve never opened this before, it’ll probably only contain a single keyboard icon labeled US / QWERTY. That’s the keyboard design you’re using currently. Click on “Add a keyboard” to the right of Installed Keyboards.
A pop-up menu will appear. Scroll to “United States-International / QWERTY” and click on it.
From now on, you have the choice of using either the standard US keyboard or the US International Keyboard. You can see which one is active in the lower-right side of your taskbar near the date. It will either read ENG / US or ENG / INTL. Click on that (or just tap Windows key + space bar) and a pop-up menu will let you choose a different keyboard.

Now that you have the US International keyboard installed, let’s talk about ways to add Spanish accents and punctuation marks!

Acute accents (á, é, í, ó, ú): Press the right-hand Alt key and the appropriate letter at the same time. For example, right-Alt + a will result in á. Right-Alt + Shift + a will result in Á.
The tilde (ñ): Press the ~ symbol and then the n key at the same time.
The diaeresis (ü): Press right-Alt + y for ü or right-Alt + Shift + y for Ü.
Inverted question mark (¿): Press right-Alt + /.
Inverted exclamation mark (¡): Press right-Alt + 1.

Master Spanish pronunciation with Rosetta Stone

Not too difficult, right? When you learn how to correctly use Spanish accent marks, you’ll improve your pronunciation, comprehension, and overall fluency in Spanish. Other Spanish speakers will understand you better, too.

Speech and pronunciation are the foundation of practical language skills, and Rosetta Stone’s TruAccent speech recognition engine can help you master Spanish pronunciation by providing immediate feedback on every word you pronounce. Best of all, it’s embedded into every Rosetta Stone lesson, so you can fine-tune your accent from your first lesson.

Start learning today!

Written by Laura Skidmore