juntosSpanish Accents & Spelling: the little marks that keep tripping you
Four lessons on diacritic accents, common misspellings, stress rules and qué vs. que — backed by an AI tutor that grades your written Spanish accent by accent.
Accent marks in Spanish are not decoration. Some distinguish two otherwise identical words — sí (yes) and si (if), tú (you) and tu (your), él (he) and el (the), qué as a question word and que as "that". Others tell you which syllable to stress, which is why hablo (I speak) and habló (he spoke) are different tenses with different subjects. The rules for where the stress falls are among the most consistent in the language, and once you know them you can predict the accent on words you have never seen.
Learners drop accents because they seem optional — you are usually still understood — and because typing them is a nuisance. The cost shows up later: written Spanish that reads as careless, tenses that get misread, and a cluster of related spelling errors (b/v, h, ll/y, c/s/z) that Latin American pronunciation gives no clue about because the letters sound identical. A short set of rules and a habit of checking are all it takes, but the habit needs feedback.
Juntos gives that feedback on every message. The AI tutor scores your writing 0–100 and shows the corrected spelling, and sí vs. si, missing opening ¿ and spelling/accent are among the patterns detected automatically and tracked in your Error Bank. The four lessons here cover the diacritic pairs, the most common misspellings, the stress rules (agudas, graves, esdrújulas) and the question-word accents, and spaced-repetition reviews bring back exactly the words you keep getting wrong.
What's in this course
- Diacritic accents that change meaning — sí/si, tú/tu, él/el, más/mas
- Common misspellings — Words you've slipped on
- Where the stress falls — The 3 rules that explain every accent mark
- qué vs que, dónde vs donde — Question words and their plain twins
Each lesson below is the same material used inside the Juntos app, with two of its exercises to try. In the app every lesson has the full exercise set, and the AI tutor grades your conversation practice against what you have learned.
Lesson 1: Diacritic accents that change meaning
sí/si, tú/tu, él/el, más/mas
One mark, totally different word ✍️
Some tiny words change meaning entirely with an accent. These are worth memorising:
| with accent | without |
|---|---|
| sí = yes | si = if |
| tú = you | tu = your |
| él = he | el = the |
| más = more | mas = but (rare) |
| mí = me | mi = my |
| qué/cómo/dónde = question words | que/como/donde = that/as/where |
Try it
___, me gusta mucho. (= Yes, I like it a lot)
Yes, I like it a lot.
- Si
- Sí
Show answer
Sí — 'Yes' → sí (with accent).
¿De dónde eres ___? (= …are you?)
Where are you from?
- tu
- tú
Show answer
tú — 'You' (the pronoun) → tú with accent.
Lesson 2: Common misspellings
Words you've slipped on
Your personal spelling list 📝
Straight from your practice — lock these in:
| you wrote | correct |
|---|---|
| quesiera | quisiera (I would like) |
| despues | después (after) |
| aqui | aquí (here) |
| tambien | también (also) |
| llejos | lejos (far) |
| nobre | nombre (name) |
| parra | para (for) — 'parra' = grapevine! |
Tip: words ending in a stressed vowel (aquí, café, después) usually take an accent on that final vowel.
Try it
Correct the spelling: 'despues' →
after
Show answer
después — después — accent on the é.
Correct the spelling: 'aqui' →
here
Show answer
aquí — aquí — accent on the í.
Lesson 3: Where the stress falls
The 3 rules that explain every accent mark
Accents aren't random 🎯
Every Spanish word has one stressed syllable. The written accent only appears when the word breaks the default rules:
- Ends in vowel, n, s → stress the second-to-last syllable: ha-BLA-mos, JO-ven. No mark needed.
- Ends in any other consonant → stress the last: co-MER, ciu-DAD. No mark needed.
- Breaks the rule? → write the accent where the stress really is: ca-FÉ, ÁR-bol, MÉ-xi-co, des-PUÉS.
Try it
Why does 'café' carry an accent?
- Decoration from French
- Ends in a vowel but stressed on the LAST syllable — breaks the default
- All -é words get one
Show answer
Ends in a vowel but stressed on the LAST syllable — breaks the default — Vowel ending would default the stress to CA-fe; the accent flips it to ca-FÉ.
Which word is written correctly?
- arbol
- árbol
- arból
Show answer
árbol — AR-bol ends in a consonant (l) so default stress would be -BOL; it's actually ÁR-bol → accent.
Lesson 4: qué vs que, dónde vs donde
Question words and their plain twins
The interrogation mark 🕵️
Question/exclamation words wear the accent; their plain connector twins don't:
| with accent (asking!) | without (connecting) |
|---|---|
| ¿Qué quieres? What…? | Creo que sí. …that… |
| ¿Dónde está? Where…? | la ciudad donde vivo …where… |
| ¿Cómo te llamas? How…? | canta como un ángel …like… |
| ¿Cuándo vienes? When…? | cuando llegues, llámame …when… |
Try it
No sé ___ está mi mochila.
I don't know where my backpack is.
- donde
- dónde
Show answer
dónde — An indirect question (still asking where) → dónde.
Este es el café ___ trabajo.
This is the café where I work.
- donde
- dónde
Show answer
donde — Connector 'where' (no question) → donde, no accent.
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