How to type Spanish accents on your computer, cell phone, or tablet.
Here are some that you might come across: á, é, í, ó, ú, ü, ñ, ¿, ¡
If you are a Spanish student taking notes on your laptop or finishing a report om your computer, you will definitely find yourself needing these Spanish accents. Teachers and professors can be very nitpicky about this – in my experience, a missed accent, upside-down question mark, or tilde on a term paper can dock you a few points! Even if you’re just writing casually to a friend, it’s best practice to get in the habit of using accents properly. Most Spanish speakers will be able to determine what you’re trying to say, but it is considered amateurish.
Additionally, it can lead to some dramatic (and possibly hilarious) communication errors. For example, año is a very commonly used Spanish word that means year. You would use it to express your age (tengo __ años, or I am __ years of age), talk about duration, or how long ago something happened. But if you leave off the “accented” N, or Ñ (This is actually called a tilde, not an accent), you can get into trouble. Ano means anus.
Don’t take the chance of making a communication error like this and misrepresenting yourself, whether it’s in informal writing to a friend, or an important school or business paper. Learn how to type all of the Spanish accents on your computer – we’ve made it easy. Below you will find the shortcuts for whatever type of computer, laptop, or mobile device you are using.
It’s easy to type Spanish accents on a Mac, PC, or smartphone with these shortcuts – and it’s sure to be impressive to your readers, whoever your audience is.
How to type Spanish accents on a newer Mac
| Newer Mac | |
|---|---|
| á | press&hold a, select from menu |
| é | press&hold e, select from menu |
| í | press&hold i, select from menu |
| ó | press&hold o, select from menu |
| ú | press&hold u, select from menu |
| ü | press&hold u, select from menu |
| ñ | press&hold alt/option, press n, once ˜ appears. Let go and press again |
| ¿ | press&hold alt/option + shift, press ? |
| ¡ | press&hold alt/option + shift, press ! |
How to type Spanish accents on Windows
| Windows (U.S. international keyboard installed) | |
|---|---|
| á | type ‘ followed by a |
| é | type ‘ followed by e |
| í | type ‘ followed by i |
| ó | type ‘ followed by o |
| ú | type ‘ followed by u |
| ü | type ” followed by u |
| ñ | type ~ followed by n |
| ¿ | type alt followed by ? |
| ¡ | type alt followed by ! |
How to type Spanish accents on MS Office
| Microsoft Office | |
|---|---|
| á | Press Ctrl and ´, then type a |
| é | Press Ctrl and ´, then type e |
| í | Press Ctrl and ´, then type i |
| ó | Press Ctrl and ´, then type o |
| ú | Press Ctrl and ´, then type u |
| ü | Press Ctrl and ", then type u |
| ñ | Press Ctrl and ´, then type n |
| ¿ | Press Alt and Ctrl and ? |
| ¡ | Press Alt and Ctrl and Shift and ! |
How to type Spanish accents on an older Mac
| Older Mac | |
|---|---|
| á | alt/option and ´, then type a |
| é | alt/option and ´, then type e |
| í | alt/option and ´, then type i |
| ó | alt/option and ´, then type o |
| ú | alt/option and ´, then type u |
| ü | alt/option and ´, then type u |
| ñ | alt/option and ´, then type n |
How to type Spanish accents on other keyboards
| Other keyboards | |
|---|---|
| á | Press Alt and 0225 |
| é | Press Alt and 0233 |
| í | Press Alt and 0237 |
| ó | Press Alt and 0243 |
| ú | Press Alt and 0250 |
| ü | Press Alt and 0252 |
| ñ | Press Alt and 0241 |
| ¿ | Press Alt and 0191 |
| ¡ | Press Alt and 0161 |
How to type Spanish accents on cell phones and mobile devices
Try typing out these sample sentences as an example:
“¡No aprobé mis exámenes de inglés! ¿Usted me podría ayudar?”
It may be helpful to bookmark this webpage or print on this table as a sort of cheat sheet for use later on. If any of these Spanish accent shortcuts don’t work, you can always copy and paste from the internet as a fallback. Make sure to ‘copy as plain text’ so that it doesn’t show up as a different font than the rest of your paper!
But, please also please let us know – we’re always trying to keep our web resources up to date for the convenience of our readers.
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