Capital and small letters
The start of a sentence and proper names are capitalized, for example Ana, Madrid, España. Ordinary Spanish nounsnounsA word that names a person, thing, place, or idea, such as house or sun., however, are not capitalized the way German nounsnounsA word that names a person, thing, place, or idea, such as house or sun. are: la casa, el trabajo.
Languages and nationalities, as well as weekdays and months, are written with a small letter in Spanish: español, alemán, lunes, agosto.
Accents and word stress
Spanish uses the acute accent ´ on the vowelsvowelsA sound like a, e, i, o, or u, and the letter used to write it. á, é, í, ó, ú. Among other things, a written accent shows which syllable of a word is stressed.
Without a written accent, a simple basic rule applies: if a word ends in a vowelvowelA sound like a, e, i, o, or u, and the letter used to write it., n, or s, the second-to-last syllable is usually stressed (casa, hablan). If it ends in another consonantconsonantA sound other than a, e, i, o, or u, and the letter used to write it., the last syllable is usually stressed (hablar, feliz).
A written accent shows that a word breaks this basic rule: música, inglés, también.
When the accent changes the meaning
For some short words, the accent also distinguishes meaning or grammatical function: sí (yes) / si (if), qué (what, in questions) / que (that), tú (you) / tu (your). You do not need to actively use these examples yet at A1 level; they simply illustrate the principle.
Extra knowledge: the diaeresis ü
In the combinations güe and güi, a ü with two dots shows that the u is pronounced, for example in pingüino (penguin) or vergüenza (shame).
Examples
- Ana vive en Madrid.
- Hablo español y alemán.
- Es muy fácil.
- Es muy difícil.