Spanish Accents

Common questions

How do I type Spanish accents on Windows?

Hold Alt and type the four digit code on the numeric keypad with Num Lock on: 0225 for á, 0233 for é, 0237 for í, 0243 for ó, 0250 for ú, 0241 for ñ, 0252 for ü, 0191 for ¿ and 0161 for ¡. The capitals have their own codes, 0193 for Á and 0209 for Ñ among them, and the table on this page switches to those when you set the case control to upper. The number row above the letters does not work for alt codes, so on a laptop with no keypad switch the input to the United States international layout, where an apostrophe followed by the vowel gives the accented letter. The older three digit codes, typed without the leading zero, also work in most programs: Alt+160 for á, 130 for é, 161 for í, 162 for ó, 163 for ú, 164 for ñ, 129 for ü, 168 for ¿ and 173 for ¡. On Windows 10 and 11 the Windows key and a full stop opens a panel whose symbols tab carries the accented Latin letters. You can also add Spanish as a keyboard layout in Settings: it gives ñ its own key and a dead accent key you press before the vowel, but several symbols move, which is why most English speakers prefer the United States international layout.

How do I type them on macOS and on Linux?

On macOS the accent is a dead key: Option and E, let go, then the vowel, which gives á, é, í, ó and ú. Option and N then N gives ñ, Option and U then U gives ü, Option and Shift and ? gives ¿, and Option and 1 gives ¡. Hold Shift on the final letter for the capital. Holding a vowel key down also opens the accent picker. On Linux the column here is the United States international layout with AltGr: AltGr and A for á, AltGr and N for ñ, AltGr and Y for ü, which is the one people expect to be U, and AltGr and 1 for ¡. With a Compose key set up, Compose then an apostrophe then the vowel does the same, and Ctrl and Shift and U followed by the codepoint works in most GTK applications.

How do I type them in Word, Google Docs or on a Chromebook?

In Microsoft Word on Windows, Ctrl and the apostrophe, let go, then the vowel gives á, é, í, ó or ú; Ctrl and Shift and the tilde key, then n, gives ñ; Ctrl and Shift and the colon key, then u, gives ü; and Ctrl and Alt and Shift with ? or ! gives ¿ or ¡. Word also turns a codepoint into its character: type 00e1 and press Alt and X. Google Docs has no accent shortcuts of its own, so use the keystroke for your computer from the table, or Insert, then Special characters, and search for the letter. On a Chromebook, add the US international keyboard in the keyboard input settings, where an apostrophe followed by the vowel gives the accent, or press Ctrl and Shift and U, type the four characters after U+ in the table and press Space.

When does a Spanish word take a written accent?

Spanish stresses a word that ends in a vowel, n or s on its second to last syllable (casa, joven, lunes) and any other word on its last (hablar, ciudad). The written accent goes on the stressed vowel whenever a word breaks that pattern: canción and café are stressed on the last syllable, árbol and fácil on the second to last. Every word stressed on the third to last syllable takes one: música, rápido, teléfono. Two more cases: an accent on í or ú splits it from the vowel beside it into a syllable of its own (día, país, baúl), and a short set of words carry one only to tell them from a twin, tú and tu, él and el, sí and si, más and mas, and qué, cómo, dónde and cuándo when they ask or exclaim. The mark never changes how the vowel sounds, only which syllable is stressed.

What are the Spanish accent marks called?

Spanish has three marks. The acute over a vowel is called a tilde, or acento ortográfico, so a Spanish speaker says a con tilde for á; it is the only stress mark Spanish writes, and the grave and circumflex never appear. The wave over ñ is the virgulilla, and ñ counts as a letter of its own. The two dots over ü are the diéresis, also called crema, and appear only in güe and güi. The two inverted marks, ¿ and ¡, are punctuation rather than accents, but they are the other characters an English keyboard lacks, which is why the page carries them.

Do capital letters keep their accents in Spanish?

Yes. The Real Academia Española is explicit that capitals carry the accent the word needs: Álvaro, ÉXITO, ÚLTIMA HORA. Leaving it off was a limitation of typewriters and old typesetting, never a rule. Set the case control to upper and every key, keystroke, codepoint and entity on the page switches to the capital. Caps Lock does not change an alt code, because each code is one fixed character: Alt+0225 always gives á, so use Alt+0193 for Á and Alt+0209 for Ñ.

Which common Spanish words have accents?

The question words when they ask or exclaim: qué, cómo, dónde, cuándo, cuánto, quién, cuál and por qué. Everyday words you meet early: también, después, aquí, allí, así, más, sí, tú, él, está, adiós, perdón, café, papá, mamá, sofá, lápiz, árbol, fácil, difícil, música, número, teléfono, rápido, último, página, canción, avión, corazón, inglés and francés. And the ñ words, which use a different letter rather than an accent: año, niño, mañana, español, señor and pequeño.

Which Spanish numbers, days and months have accents?

From one to thirty, five numbers do: dieciséis, veintidós, veintitrés, veintiséis and veintiún, the short form used before a masculine noun (veintiún años, while veintiuno on its own has none). Seis, dos and tres take none alone; joining them moves the stress to a last syllable ending in s, which the rule above marks. From thirty one to ninety nine the numbers are separate words, treinta y dos, so none takes an accent; past a hundred the same five come back inside larger numbers, ciento dieciséis, veintidós mil, and millón carries its own. Among the days, sábado and miércoles carry one, and none of the twelve months does.

When does Spanish put the two dots on the ü?

In güe and güi, where the diaeresis says the u is pronounced instead of silent: vergüenza, pingüino, bilingüe, agüero. Without the two dots the u in gue and gui is only there to keep the g hard, as in guerra and guitarra, and it is not said. The mark appears nowhere else in Spanish, which is why this page carries one diaeresis character and five acutes.

What are ¿ and ¡ for?

They open a question or an exclamation so a reader knows the intonation from the first word rather than the last: ¿Cómo estás? and ¡Qué bien! Both ends are written, the inverted mark at the start of the part that is the question, the ordinary mark at the end. In a sentence that is only partly a question, the opening mark goes where the question begins: Si no puedes venir, ¿me avisas?

Does clicking to copy work on a phone?

Yes. A tap copies the character through the browser's clipboard, the same as a click. If a browser refuses the clipboard, the page says so and you can select the character out of the table instead. On a phone you also have the keyboard's own route: press and hold the plain letter, a, e, i, o, u or n, and the accented forms appear above your finger.

Is anything uploaded?

No. The characters, the keystrokes and the table are part of the page, so there is nothing to send anywhere and no account to make, and once the page has loaded it works with no connection. The only thing kept is the platform and the case you picked, in this browser, so the page opens the way you left it.