Stress on Spanish words

The rule for stress in Spanish is that if a word ends in a vowel or the letters n or s, the stress will fall on the second last syllable. Examples: 'trabajo', 'Barcelona'.  

If a word ends in any consonant apart from n or s, the stress will fall on the last syllable.

For example: 'usted', 'Madrid'. 

An accent (like a French acute) will be used if the word does not follow this rule.

For example: 'matemáticas', 'Málaga'. 

An accent mark will also be written over interrogative words, but does not affect the way in which they are pronounced.

For example:

• ¿qué? - what?
• ¿cómo? - how?
• ¿dónde? - where?

An accent mark is used to distinguish a small number of words which have the same pronounciation but a different meaning. For example: