Salute, Jonathan!/Grammar (accent)
Accent (word stress)
The main rule to remember is that primary stress is on the vowel before the last consonant.
| Word | Last consonant | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| pensa | s | pénsa |
| pensar | r | pensár |
| ama | m | áma |
| amar | r | amár |
| amore | r | amóre |
The syllables bil, ic, im, and ul take the accent on the preceding syllable. In addition, the plural -s and the two syllables men and um at the end of words do not change the stress of the preceding part of the word.
| Word | Meaning | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| regul | rule | régul |
| maximum | maximum | máximum |
| amabil | lovely | amábil |
| narcotic | narcotic | narcótic |
| persones | people | persónes |
| rapidmen | rapidly | rapídmen |
Certain endings like -tá and -ería have a written accent, in which case this becomes the accent for the word. And some words have an accent of their own due to reasons such as internationality.
| Word | Normal stress | With ending | Stress without accent would have been... |
|---|---|---|---|
| amabil | amábil | amabilitá | amabilíta |
| vitre | vítre | vitrería | vitréria |
| café | cáfe |