Agudas

Agudas are a category of Spanish words whose primary stress falls on the last syllable. This classification is part of Spanish prosody, which also includes llana (or grave) words with stress on the second-to-last syllable and esdrújulas with stress on the third-to-last syllable. The aguda class is defined by the position of the stress rather than by fixed spelling.

Orthography and accentuation: In orthography, agudas carry a written accent only when they end in a vowel, or in the consonants n or s. For agudas that end in other consonants, no written accent is used, even though the stress is on the last syllable. Examples include café (ca-FÉ), canción (can-CIÓN), and jamás (ja-MÁS). Words such as ciudad (ciu-DAD) or pastel (pas-TEL) are agudas that do not carry a written acute accent because they end in consonants other than n or s.

Examples: Common agudas include café, canción, camión, jamás. Others without a written accent despite last-syllable stress include ciudad and papel (pa-pel). This illustrates that the presence of an accent mark in agudas depends on final-syllable ending rather than on the last-syllable stress alone.

Relation to other classes: Agudas contrast with graves/llanas, whose stress is on the penultimate syllable, and with esdrújulas, whose stress is on the antepenultimate syllable. Understanding these classes helps with correct pronunciation and with applying Spanish accentuation rules.

Use in dictionaries and language teaching: In dictionaries, the classification may be indicated to assist learners in placing emphasis and in guiding orthographic accentuation. The aguda category therefore serves both descriptive and instructional purposes in Spanish grammar.