The Accented I in Spanish
í is the acute accent on an i, U+00ED, and this page opens on it: the character large, with its codepoint, its HTML entity and the keystroke for macOS, Windows and Linux. Click it to copy, or read the sequence once and type it yourself from now on. The other eight Spanish characters are on the same page, the case control switches the whole page to Í, and the type-here field puts the accent on the last plain i in a word you type, so aqui becomes aquí.
Click a character to copy it. The keystroke under each key is for the platform you picked.
A key copies its character. With something in the field, the same click also puts the accent on the last plain a, e, i, o, u or n it finds, so cafe becomes café. When the accent belongs somewhere else in the word, as in mañana, copy the character and type it where it goes. Hold Alt and type the four digits on the numeric keypad with Num Lock on. The number row above the letters does not work. On a laptop with no keypad, switch the input to the United States international layout, where an apostrophe followed by the vowel gives the accent.
Worked examples
- aquí
- café
- mamá
- español
Every character, with its keystrokes
The same nine characters the keys carry, in the case the control above is set to. The Windows column needs the numeric keypad with Num Lock on, and the Linux column is the United States international layout with AltGr. Swipe the table sideways for the keystroke columns.
| Character | Name | Codepoint | macOS | Windows alt code | Linux, US international |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| á | a with acute | U+00E1á | Option+E, then A | Alt+0225 | AltGr+A |
| é | e with acute | U+00E9é | Option+E, then E | Alt+0233 | AltGr+E |
| í | i with acute | U+00EDí | Option+E, then I | Alt+0237 | AltGr+I |
| ó | o with acute | U+00F3ó | Option+E, then O | Alt+0243 | AltGr+O |
| ú | u with acute | U+00FAú | Option+E, then U | Alt+0250 | AltGr+U |
| ñ | n with tilde | U+00F1ñ | Option+N, then N | Alt+0241 | AltGr+N |
| ü | u with diaeresis | U+00FCü | Option+U, then U | Alt+0252 | AltGr+Y |
| ¿ | inverted question mark | U+00BF¿ | Option+Shift+? | Alt+0191 | AltGr+Shift+? |
| ¡ | inverted exclamation mark | U+00A1¡ | Option+1 | Alt+0161 | AltGr+1 |
Common questions
- How do I type í?
- On macOS, Option and E, let go, then I, and hold Shift on that I for Í. On Windows, hold Alt and type 0237 on the numeric keypad with Num Lock on, or 0205 for Í; the older Alt+161 also works in most programs. On a laptop with no keypad, the United States international layout gives í from an apostrophe followed by i. In Microsoft Word on Windows, Ctrl and the apostrophe, then I. On Linux with the United States international layout, AltGr and I, or AltGr and Shift and I for the capital. On a phone, press and hold the i key.
- When does Spanish write an accent on an i?
- In two kinds of word. The first is the ordinary stress rule: aquí, allí, así and difícil are stressed where the rule would not put it. The second is particular to í and ú: the accent splits the i from the vowel beside it into a syllable of its own, so día has two syllables, and so do río, frío, país and oír. It also tells sí, meaning yes, from si, meaning if, and mí, me, from mi, my.
- Why does í have no dot?
- The accent takes the place of the dot. í is one character, U+00ED, drawn without the dot of a plain i, and the capital Í never had a dot to lose. Typing an i and then a separate accent mark after it gives two codepoints that look alike but search and sort differently, which is the reason to copy the single character.
- Is anything uploaded?
- No. The character, its codepoint and the keystrokes are part of the page, so nothing is sent anywhere and there is no account. The only thing kept is the platform and the case you picked, in this browser.
Every key copies the standard Unicode codepoint for that character and nothing else, so what lands in your clipboard is exactly what you clicked. The keystrokes are the documented sequences for each platform.