Tildes in Spanish

Tildes in Spanish, also known as orthographic accents, are diacritical marks that indicate where the prosodic accent (that is, the syllable that is pronounced with greater force) falls in a word. Here is an overview of the accentuation rules in Spanish:

1. Agudas words: These are words whose stressed syllable is the last one. They carry a tilde if they end in a vowel, n or s. Examples: razón, camión, cantó.

2. Llanas or graves words: These are words whose stressed syllable is the penultimate one. They carry a tilde if they end in any consonant except n or s. Examples: cáncer, lápiz, árbol.

3. Esdrújulas and sobresdrújulas words: These are words whose stressed syllable is the antepenultimate one or earlier. They always carry a tilde, regardless of the letter they end with. Examples: esdrújulo, cómetelo.

4. Diacritical tilde: It is used to differentiate words that are written in the same way but have different meanings. Examples: tú (personal pronoun) and tu (possessive adjective), sé (verb to be or to know) and se (reflexive pronoun).

5. Diphthongs, triphthongs and hiatuses: Diphthongs and triphthongs are two or three vowels that are pronounced in the same syllable and are not separated by a tilde (unless there is a diacritical tilde). In hiatuses, two vowels that would normally form a diphthong are pronounced in separate syllables, often marked by a tilde on the weak vowel (i, u). Examples: poeta (hiatus), huevo (diphthong).

Please note that these are general rules and there may be exceptions. Additionally, the rules may vary slightly among different dialects of Spanish.

## Stressed words with tilde

Stressed words are those that have the stressed syllable in the last place. They are orthographically accented if they end in a vowel, n or s. Examples:

1. Canción: it has a tilde because the stressed syllable is the last one (-ción) and it ends in n.

2. Jesús: it has a tilde because the stressed syllable is the last one (-sús) and it ends in s.

3. Razón: it has a tilde because the stressed syllable is the last one (-zón) and it ends in n.

## Stressed words without tilde

Stressed words that end in a consonant other than n or s do not carry a tilde. Examples:

1. Papel: it does not have a tilde because although the stressed syllable is the last one (-pel), it ends in l, which is neither n nor s.

2. Reloj: it does not have a tilde because although the stressed syllable is the last one (-loj), it ends in j, which is neither n nor s.

3. Comer: it does not have a tilde because although the stressed syllable is the last one (-mer), it ends in r, which is neither n nor s.

## Flat words with tilde

Flat or grave words are those that have the stressed syllable in the penultimate place. They are orthographically accented only if they end in a consonant other than n or s. Examples:

1. Árbol: it has a tilde because the stressed syllable is the penultimate one (-ár-) and it ends in l