Accent placement

StuartC1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Accent placement

Hola,

Where there is a double vowel, such as leer, is the accent always placed on the second of the two vowels, ie leérmelo, etc?

Gracias,

Asked 4 years ago
InmaKwiziq team member

Hola Stuart

It depends on the actual word, for example:

1. "Ella quiere leérmelo." (She wants to read it to me)

2. ¡Léemelo! (read it to me!)

The tonic syllable is different in the first and the second sentence. The syllable with the highest stress in 1. is the second one: le -ér-me-lo, therefore the written accent is on the second e; while the syllable with the highest stress in 2. is the first one: lé -e -me-lo, therefore the written accent is on the first e.

The infinitives are always stressed on the last syllable with -ar, -er or -ir. This is still the case when an infinitive has pronouns attached to it. 

The second case is an imperative with pronouns attached to it to. It also keeps the same intonation as if it was just the imperative "lee".

I hope this helped.

Saludos

Inma

Accent placement

Hola,

Where there is a double vowel, such as leer, is the accent always placed on the second of the two vowels, ie leérmelo, etc?

Gracias,

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your Spanish level for FREE

Test your Spanish to the CEFR standard

Find your Spanish level
Thinking...