Accent marks in words like feliz, cuando, cuanto, Madrid

I thought I knew that accents are used to indicate when a syllable is not accented in the normal manner, which is the second to last syllable, except for words ending in ‘r', and maybe some others. But “feliz” does not have an accent - maybe I forgot that words ending in ‘z’ are like words ending in ‘r’. But why cuando and cuanto? I don't get why the ‘a’ is accented in these words. And I guess “Madrid” is not accented out of tradition and history.

Hi Rick-bk

I have no idea. But all I can say is that at least in Spanish the accent marks all face the same way. In French so many different ones and I seem to never get them straight. 

I use Seedlang. It is a paid site and they are very pedantic and you can't get away without typing the correct accent. If typed incorrect you repeat it until you do it correctly. This has made me pay more attention to these accents. German is fully developed, but they are still working on more content for Spanish and French. Use this site extensively for revision. 

You can choose how often a word is repeated. So some I do over and over until they stick. 

One gets a 2 week trial and one can cancel after that. 

You may want to check it out.

Still Rocket is one of the best

Maxie

Agree, all question words are accented to differentiate 

¿Cuánto costa la manzana?(How much is the Apple?)

from

Come cuanto quieras. (Eat as much as you want.).

Thanks, it makes sense now.

¡Hola a todos!

Just jumping in to clarify the mystery around the lack of accent on feliz “happy” and Madrid: Feliz and Madrid are what's known as palabras agudas - that is, words in which the emphasis sits on the final syllable. Words like these don't receive an accent in Spanish unless they end in the letters -n, -s, or a vowel (e.g. corazón “heart,” harás “(you) will make / do,” mamá “mom”). 

As for the rest of your question about words like cuando “when” and cuanto “how much,” Rick-bK, Al22 and Scott_C are on exactly the right track: the general rule is that question words take accents when they're in a question (or an exclamation) and don't take accents when they're not. This doesn't change their pronunciation at all - it just makes them look different depending on how they're used. If you'd like some practice with question words and their accent rules, you may want to take a look at Lesson 3.5: “Asking Questions.” 

Saludos,

Liss