Reading and Pronunciation

The stress should be marked with ` (la tilde) if the reading rule is not followed, in particular:

• If the word ends with a vowel, –n, –s, and the stress is on the last syllable:

  hablé
  avión
  francés

  The nouns ending with –n, usually have an accent mark:

  jarrón, estación,…

• If the word ends with a consonant (except –n, –s), and the stress is on the penultimate syllable:

  mástil
  álbum

• Always when the stress is on the antepenultimate syllable:

  Pacífico
  pánico

• To break a diphthong:

  María [Ma-`ri-a]
  continúo [con-ti-`nu-o]

• Question words in questions and exclamations always bear an accent mark:

  ¿Dónde estás? – Where are you?

¡OJO! Accent mark can appear or, on the contrary, disappear in plural forms:

joven – jóvenes
inglés – ingleses
francés – franceses