How to type Spanish accents on any device

Typing á, ñ or ¿ takes one shortcut per device, and once it's in your fingers you'll never type around it again. Find your device below.

The nine characters you need

Spanish uses five accented vowels (á é í ó ú), the letter ñ, the ü found in words like pingüino and vergüenza, and the upside-down ¿ and ¡ that open questions and exclamations. Capitals keep their accents too: Ángela, Él.

Mac

The easiest method: press and hold a letter key until a small menu appears, then press the number under the version you want. For more speed, use these Option shortcuts on a US or Australian keyboard layout:

Windows

Option 1: the US International keyboard (best for regular typing)

Add it once in Settings: Time and language, then Language and region, then the options for your English language, then Add a keyboard and choose United States-International. Switch between keyboards with Windows key + Space. Then:

The one catch: the apostrophe now waits for the next key. To type a plain apostrophe or quote mark, press it and then Space.

Option 2: Alt codes (no settings needed)

Turn on Num Lock, hold Alt, type the four digits on the numeric keypad (the number row across the top won't work), then release Alt.

On a laptop without a numeric keypad, the US International keyboard or the Windows emoji and symbol panel (Windows key + period) is easier.

iPhone and iPad

Touch and hold a vowel or the n, then slide your finger to the accented letter. For ¿ and ¡, switch to the 123 keyboard and touch and hold ? or !. If you type in Spanish often, add a Spanish keyboard in Settings, then General, Keyboard, Keyboards, Add New Keyboard, and pick Spanish (Mexico). You get a dedicated ñ key and Spanish autocorrect, which adds many accents for you. Switch keyboards with the globe key.

Android

On Gboard and most Android keyboards, long-press a vowel or n to see the accented options. For ¿ and ¡, open the symbols keyboard (?123) and long-press ? or !. To get Spanish autocorrect, open Gboard settings, then Languages, then Add keyboard, and choose Spanish (Latin America or Mexico, depending on your version). With two languages turned on, Gboard can predict in both without switching.

Chromebook

Open Settings and find the keyboard input settings (under Device or System preferences, depending on your ChromeOS version), then add an input method: US International keyboard or a Spanish keyboard. Switch with Ctrl + Space. With US International, it works like Windows: ' then a vowel gives á, ~ (Shift + `) then n gives ñ, and Right Alt + ? gives ¿. If you prefer not to add a keyboard, many text fields accept Unicode entry: press Ctrl + Shift + U, type the code (00e1 for á, 00f1 for ñ, 00bf for ¿) and press Space or Enter.

When accents change the meaning

Leaving accents out is the most common spelling mistake learners make, and usually people still understand you. But in these pairs the accent is the only thing telling two different words apart:

Question words also take an accent when they ask something, directly or indirectly: ¿Qué quieres?, No sé dónde vive, ¿Cómo estás? But not when they connect a sentence: Creo que sí, Como no tenía hambre, no comí. For a short, practical walk-through of the rules, take the free accents course. Age questions are a classic place for the año slip: see ¿cuántos años tiene?

Common mistakes

• Using ´ or ' after the letter (a´) instead of a real á. It looks fine to you but breaks search, spell check and autocorrect.
• Skipping ¿ and ¡. Informal chats often do, but in anything you write carefully, open your questions with ¿.
• Writing n instead of ñ. Ano and año, pena and peña, cana (a gray hair) and caña (cane) are different words.
• Dropping accents on capitals. Spanish spelling keeps them: ÉXITO, Álvaro.
• Confusing habló and hablo. On hablar and every regular -ar verb, the accent is the difference between I speak now and he spoke yesterday.

If you've written something already, paste it into the free Spanish spell checker: it puts back missing accents and flags pairs like tu and tú. For grammar as well as spelling, use the grammar checker.

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