Use of Accents:  Rule 1

In words of two or more syllables, an accent is used over the stressed vowel if the stress of the word is irregular; i.e., if the word is an exception to Spanish stress rules.

How this works:  The two Spanish stress rules, with exceptions:

• If a word ends in a vowel, n or s, stress falls on next-to-last syllable:
  • ha-blo, but ha-bló
  • re-ci-ben, but cu-pón
  • in-gle-ses, but in-glés
• If a word ends in any other letter, stress falls on last syllable:
  • us-ted, but cés-ped
  • es-pañ-ol, but ár-bol
  • re-ci-bir, but Cé-sar

Illustrations of Rule 1→

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