Accentuation — Distinguishing Accents

Accentuation — Distinguishing Accents

Certain words bear the written accent in order to distinguish them from other words otherwise spelled alike and pronounced alike, but having an entirely different meaning.

el	the	él	he
mas	but	más	more
mi	my	mí	me (object of a prep.)
si	if	sí	yes
solo	alone, single	sólo	only
te	you (pronoun)	té	tea
tu	your (possessive adj.)	tú	you (subject pronoun)

Note: Ti (you, object of a preposition) is never accented since it cannot be confused with any other word.

The written accent is used to distinguish the interrogative or exclamatory mode from the relative use of pronouns and adverbs.

cuando	when	¿cuándo?	When?
como	like, as, how	¿cómo?	How?
que	that, which	¿qué?	What?
quien	who	¿quién?	who?