When you attach a pronoun to an affirmative command, a strange thing happens to the word: the sound of the stress stays put, but the position of the stress moves further from the end. Spanish handles this by adding a written accent mark. Once you understand the underlying rule, the accents become predictable instead of mysterious.
The Spanish stress rules in one paragraph
Spanish stresses a word on one of three places:
- Words ending in a vowel, n, or s are naturally stressed on the second-to-last syllable.
- Words ending in any other consonant are naturally stressed on the last syllable.
- Any word that breaks those rules gets a written accent on the syllable that is actually stressed.
That is the entire system. Attached pronouns trigger written accents precisely because they push the natural stress into a position it would not normally occupy.
The simple case: habla → háblame
Look at habla ("speak"). It ends in a vowel, it has two syllables, and the stress falls on the first one: ha-bla. No accent needed — that's the default.
Now attach me: há-bla-me. The spoken stress is still on ha. But now that syllable is the third from the end, and Spanish never stresses that far back without a written mark. So you write háblame.
Habla más despacio.
Speak more slowly.
Háblame en español.
Speak to me in Spanish.
Two pronouns almost always need an accent
Adding a second pronoun pushes the stress one more syllable back, and by that point you are certain to need a written accent.
Dímelo otra vez, por favor.
Tell it to me again, please.
Break it down: di has one syllable, dí-me has two (stress on dí), and dí-me-lo has three. The stress is still on di, but it is now the third syllable from the end — firmly in "needs accent" territory.
One-syllable commands: no accent yet
One-syllable commands like da, ve, ten, sal, pon, and haz do not take an accent when you attach just one pronoun, because there is no competing stress to worry about.
| Command |
|
|
|---|---|---|
| da | dame | dámelo |
| ven | venme (rare) | — |
| pon | ponlo | póntelo |
| haz | hazlo | házmelo |
| di | dime | dímelo |
Notice the pattern: one attached pronoun leaves the word without an accent, but two attached pronouns push the stress far enough back to require one.
Two-syllable and longer commands: often need an accent
For commands of two or more syllables, even one attached pronoun is usually enough to trigger an accent.
Cómelo todo, por favor.
Eat it all, please.
Lávate las manos.
Wash your hands.
Siéntense, por favor.
Sit down (you all), please.
Come, lava, sienten — all fine without accents on their own. But cómelo, lávate, and siéntense all need the mark to show that the original stress has stayed where it was.
Negative commands: no new accents needed
Remember that negative commands put the pronouns in front of the verb rather than attaching them. That means no stress shifting, and no new written accents to worry about.
No me lo digas.
Don't tell it to me.
The verb digas already follows the normal rules by itself, and the pronouns out front do not affect its written form. See pronouns with negative commands for more on this pattern.
Putting it all together
The short version of this whole chapter: attached pronouns steal syllables, and written accents restore the original stress. Once you internalize the stress rules, every single command accent follows automatically — there is nothing to memorize. For the full picture of how pronouns attach in the first place, see pronouns with affirmative commands.
Related Topics
- Pronouns with Affirmative CommandsB1 — How object and reflexive pronouns attach to the end of affirmative commands, and when a written accent is required.
- Pronouns with Negative CommandsB1 — Why object and reflexive pronouns come before the verb in negative commands, and how that contrasts with affirmative forms.
- Nosotros Commands (Let's)B1 — Make Let's... suggestions with the present subjunctive nosotros form or with vamos a.