pronunciation.written-accents-basic
The tilde: when to write the accent
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).
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pronunciationA2stubdraftv0.1.0
Explanation
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.
Examples
The truck arrived on Wednesday.
Region: global
It was hot; we were heading toward the river.
Region: global