# The tilde: when to write the accent

> id: pronunciation.written-accents-basic · category: pronunciation · depth: standard · levels: A2 · review: internally_reviewed

**Summary.** Write it whenever the stress breaks the default rules: agudas in vowel/n/s (café, según), llanas in other consonants (árbol, lápiz), all esdrújulas (teléfono, sábado), and hiatus (día).

Four cases: (1) final-stress + vowel/n/s ending → tilde: habló, jamás; (2) penultimate-stress + consonant ending → tilde: fácil, azúcar; (3) antepenultimate stress always → tilde: rápido, miércoles; (4) stressed weak vowel in hiatus → tilde: país, oído.

Plurals can add or drop it as syllables shift: examen → exámenes, nación → naciones. The tilde is meaning-bearing, not decoration: esta/está, papa/papá, hacia/hacía.

The tilde appears in exactly four cases: final-stress words ending in vowel/n/s (habló, jamás), penultimate-stress words ending in another consonant (fácil, azúcar), every antepenultimate-stress word (rápido, miércoles), and a stressed weak vowel in hiatus (país, oído). Plurals shift it as syllables change (examen → exámenes, nación → naciones); it carries meaning, never decoration.

## Examples
- El miércoles llegó el camión. — The truck arrived on Wednesday.
- Hacía calor; íbamos hacia el río. — It was hot; we were heading toward the river.
- El miércoles habló rápido sobre el país. — On Wednesday he spoke quickly about the country.

Related: pronunciation.stress-rules, pronunciation.written-accents-diacritical, pronunciation.hiatus

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