There are two Spanish equivalents of the word "here" in Spanish: aquí and acá. So, is there a difference between them? Let's find out!

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Aquí

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

On the other hand, the Dictionary of the Spanish language defines acá as "at" or "to this place or nearby." Let's look at another example from Mexico and one from 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

Did you pick up on any difference? As you may have noted, the official definition for acá could entail a larger scope or distance from the speaker. That said, there are a few things to keep in mind regarding this nuance: 

1. Certain regions, like Mexico, seem to observe this slight difference between the words aquí and acá more than others, which view the terms as completely interchangeable. 

 

2. Even in regions that consider the terms to be slightly different, it is often diffcult to determine the exact scope that defines each one, and individual use varies widely. 

 

3. Some regions use one term or another almost exclusively. For example, in Spain, aquí is almost always used to say "here," whereas it would be rare to hear it in Argentina, where acá is prevalent.

That's all for today. We hope that this lesson has brought to light how the Spanish words aquí and acá can be different... or exactly the same, depending upon the country, context, or person. Don't forget to leave us your suggestions and comments!

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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: 

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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 to newsletter@yabla.com.