“U” with an Accent
The letter u with a tilde serves a variety of purposes in Spanishsuch as marking word stress and distinguishing between types of words.
Ú and Word Stress
A written accent placed over a letter primarily serves as a pronunciation marker. It indicates which syllable to stress.
In words like crepúsculo(twilight)the accent is necessary because it tells us to pronounce the first u with greater emphasis.
Let’s take a look at the various types of words that use an u with a tilde:
Diphthongs and Hiatus
A diptongo(diphthong) is any combination of two vowels pronounced as one syllablefor example a strong + weak or weak + weak vowel combinationas in lengua(language)canción(song)or cuidar(to care for).
On the other handwhen a sequence of vowels is pronounced as two syllables in Spanishthat sequence is called an hiato(hiatus). A hiatus may be formed by a combination of an unstressed open vowel (aeo) + a stressed closed vowel (iu)as in reír(to laugh)oír(to hear)and transeúnte(passerby)or a combination of a stressed closed vowel + unstressed open vowelas in María(Mary) and frío(cold).
The reason that Raúland baúlhave a tilde over the u is that they contain an unstressed open vowel followed by a stressed closed vowel—that isa hiatus—and hiatus carry a tilde no matter what!
Ú and Word Types
A tilde over a vowel may mark the difference between certain possessive adjectives and subject pronouns.
The following examples demonstrate that when a tilde is addedthe possessive adjective tu(your) changes to the subject pronoun tú(you).
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Writing/Typing an Accent Over the U
The tilde over the u is written as a short diagonal linefrom the top right to the bottom left.
To type ú on your keyboardyou can copy and paste úuse the character code Alt + 0250or learn the keyboard shortcuts on your Mac or PC.
Take a look at how to type ú on your Mac or PC!
On a PC
There are several keyboard shortcuts you can use for Spanish letters and punctuation on your PC. Please note that these shortcuts sometimes only work on newer computers and may only work in Microsoft Office.
If you’re using Office for Windowsuse the following shortcut:
- For an úpress Ctrl + 'then the u.
On a Mac
To get the ú on a Machold down the Option/Alt key (⌥)and press the e key. Thenrelease both keys and press the u key.
If you write in Spanish oftenwe recommend going into your settings and adding the US International keyboard. This keyboard layout supports all major Western European languagesand it uses the right Alt key as a modifier for special characters.
Would you like to learn more about accents and word stress in Spanish? Check out these articles!
