Did you know there are two ways to say "here" in Spanish? The words aquí and acá both translate as "here" in English, but are they really the same? Let's take a look!

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Aquí | The Most Common Word for "Here" in Spanish

The Royal Spanish Academy's initial definitions for the word aquí in Spanish are "at" or "to this place." Let's hear a couple of examples from Mexico and Spain:

No, gracias. Tengo unas galletas aquí.

No, thank you. I have some cookies here.

Caption 13, Conversaciones en el parque Cap. 2: Cafe y bocadillos

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Hoy estamos aquí en la costa de Málaga.

Today we're here on the coast of Malaga.

Caption 2, Amaya Cata de vinos

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Acá | Another Way to Say "Here" in Spanish

The Dictionary of the Spanish Language defines acá as "at" or "to this place or nearby." Here are two examples, from Mexico and Argentina:​

y eso es lo que trato de hacer mayormente acá en Alemania,

and that's what I try to do mostly here in Germany

Caption 9, Hispanoamericanos en Berlín Karla y el pozole - Part 1

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Acá es donde trabaja el alcalde de Buenos Aires.

Here is where the mayor of Buenos Aires works.

Caption 10, Yabla en Buenos Aires Plaza Mayo - Part 2

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Aquí vs. Acá | What's the Difference?

As you may have noticed, the official definition of acá suggests a slightly broader or less precise sense of location. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

1. Some places, like Mexico, observe a subtle distinction between aquí and acá, while others treat the two words as completely interchangeable. 

 

2. Even where a difference exists, the exact scope of each word is hard to pin down, and individual usage varies widely.

 

3. Some regions favor one word almost exclusively. In Spain, aquí is the go-to word for "here," while in Argentina, acá is far more common.

The Takeaway | Aquí and Acá in Spanish

Whether you say aquí or acá, you'll be understood across the Spanish-speaking world! The choice often comes down to where you are — or where the person you're talking to is from. We hope this clears things up. Feel free to reach out with your questions and comments — we'd love to hear from you!

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Let’s talk about accentuation and pronunciation. Today, we’ll discuss the so-called palabras esdrújulas (proparoxytone words). That’s a weird name, isn’t? Before we talk about palabras esdrújulas, we need to remember something important.

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As we previously mentioned, all words in Spanish are stressed on one syllable. Depending on where that stress falls, words are divided into the following groups:

Palabras agudas (oxytone words) | accent on the last syllable

Palabras graves (paroxytone words) | accent on the second-to-last syllable

Palabras esdrújulas (proparoxytone words) | accent on the third-to-last syllable

Palabras sobresdrújulas (over-proparoxytone words) | accent on any syllable before the third-to-last syllable

Let’s get into palabras esdrújulas with the following example:

Palabras como micrófono, pirámide.

Words like "micrófono," [microphone], "pirámide" [pyramid].

Caption 44, Carlos explica - Acentuación Cap. 4: Clasificación de las palabras según el acento

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The word micrófono has four syllables (mi | cró | fo | no) and the stress goes on the third-to-last syllable “cró.” Similarly, the word pirámide has four syllables (pi | rá | mi | de) and the stress also goes on the third-to-last syllable “rá.”

If you noticed it, the two proparoxytone words that we just mentioned bear a graphic accent (tilde) on their stressed syllables. And that’s exactly the beauty of the palabras esdrújulas. Unlike palabras agudas and palabras graves, which follow complex rules regarding the use of the graphic accent, the esdrújulas ALWAYS need to have a graphic accent. Let’s see more examples:

También nos dedicamos a música clásica.

Also, we do classical music.

Caption 13, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana - Paty

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...ya construimos la cámara para grabar la película.

...we already built the camera to film the movie.

Caption 16, Guillermina y Candelario - Una película de terror

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Yo realmente prefiero no dar mi número de mi tarjeta de crédito por teléfono.

I really prefer not to give my credit card number on the phone.

Caption 50, Cleer y Lida - Reservando una habitación

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As you can see from the examples above, there are lots of palabras esdrújulas in the Spanish language and some of them are quite common. Before we go, one last curious thing to remember:

The word esdrújula is also an esdrújula word!

That's it for now. If you feel like practicing a little bit more, take one of our videos and try to find all the proparoxytone words in it. And of course, don’t forget to send your feedback and suggestions.

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