
Accentuation is still one of the most arduous tasks in learning to write correctly, especially when there are words that they are written the same but have different meanings, and the only thing that makes the difference is, precisely, an accent.
This is what happens with words like cheer, cheer, and cheer. That is why in this oneHOWTO article we are going to see the differences of these three words and learn how to spell encouragement, encouragement or encouragement, depending on the context and what we want to say.
Main differences between animo, animate and animate
Before getting into the correct use of each of these three words, it is important to highlight the main difference between each of them:
- cheer up: first person singular present indicative of the verb animate.
- Cheer up: attitude, disposition, temper, intention, courage, energy.
- Cheer up: third person singular of the simple past perfect of the verb animate.
Next, we will go through each of these terms in detail to fully understand when it is appropriate to use each one of them. Take note!
Meaning of animo without accent
“Animo”, without accent, comes from the verb “animate” (In latin, animāre) and is written only to designate the first person of the present indicative of the verb animate.
In this case, the strong hit of the term o stressed vowel is in the “i”, pronouncing like this: “anímo”. This makes it a flat or serious word. However, Spanish grammar determines that plain words ending in “n”, “s” or vowel they do not have an accent.
Example of phrases with encouragement
- “I encourage you to”.
- “I always encourage those who need it.”
- “If I don’t cheer up, in the end I won’t do anything.”
- “Yoga is very good for your health. I encourage everyone to try it at least once.”
As we can see, “animo”, without accent, it’s only correct use it to talk about an action performed in the first person of the verb animate. Any other use given for “animo”, without an accent, would be incorrect.

Meaning of mood with tilde
When we speak of “encouragement”, with a tilde in the “a”, we refer to the term belonging to anĭmus from latin already ἄνεμος from the Greek, meaning “breath”.
Unlike “animo”, without accent, “mood” is not a verb conjugation, but an attitude, a psychic condition which can be both positive and negative, depending on the context and / or the user. Sometimes it can be synonym of “(to have) desire”.
Courage has stressed vowel in “a“, which makes it a word esdrújula, Thus, must have an accent.
Example of phrases with encouragement
- “See you in the mood to work today.”
- “Up that encourage!”.
- “Yesterday his spirits were very low. I hope he is better today.”
- “Traveling improves everyone’s spirits!”
As we can see, it is easy to know when to write “encouragement” with an accent on the “a”. In fact, it is the only term that has no relation to the verb “animate”. That is to say, this word is not an action, but, as we said, an attitude.

Meaning of animó
For its part, “animated”, with an accent on the “o”, also comes from the verb animate. Its conjugation, however, is this time in the past tense, specifically in the third person singular of the simple past perfect of the verb animate.
In this case, the tonic vowel of animó is in the “o”, which makes it a sharp word And, since the treble ending in “n”, “s” or vowel are accentuated, “animó” must necessarily have an accent on the “o”.
Example of phrases with animated
- “Yesterday I was very down and he encouraged me a lot.”
- “He encouraged me just by coming to see me.”
- “He knew he was in no mood for anything, so he came to see me and didn’t leave until he encouraged me.”
As we can see, it is easy to identify when to write “animated” with tilde in the “o”. Thus, it would be incorrect in this context to write “animo” or “animo”.

Other frequent doubts
Now that you know how to spell encouragement, encouragement or encouragement, you may also be interested in some of these other frequently asked questions related to accentuation in Spanish are:
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