Italiano — Written accents
Italian uses two written accents: the grave (à, è, ì, ò, ù) and the acute (é, ó). They are obligatory on words stressed on the final vowel, such as città and però, and on a few one-syllable words like è and sì.
How it works
The grave accent marks an open vowel or a stressed final a/i/o/u (città, però, sì); the acute marks a closed e or o, mainly in perché and né. On oxytones — words stressed on the last syllable — the accent is compulsory: caffè, virtù, perché. It also separates one-syllable homographs, so è ("is") is distinct from e ("and").
Examples
| Word | Accent | Meaning / use |
|---|---|---|
| città | grave | "city" — noun stressed on the final a |
| perché | acuto | "why / because" — closed e, acute |
| però | grave | "but / however" — open o, grave |
| è | grave | "(he/she/it) is" — distinct from e ("and") |
| dà | grave | "(he/she/it) gives" — distinct from da ("from") |
| sì | grave | "yes" — distinct from si (reflexive/impersonal) |
| né | acuto | "neither / nor" — distinct from ne (partitive) |
| così | grave | "so / thus" — stressed final i |
Good to know
A frequent mistake is writing perchè with a grave: it is always perché, with an acute. In everyday typing the acute é and grave è are often confused, but the norm keeps perché, né and sé acute, while è, caffè and però stay grave. The accent is never a stress mark inside a word — it appears only on the final vowel or on a monosyllable.