La tílde

Written accents (tildes) 

Overview - text from SpanishDict - do some online practice here

What are all those little "accents" for? Tildes (written accent marks) let the reader know where to place the intonation when a rule is broken. Without the tilde, we would just have to guess like we do in English:
I love that record vs. He loves to record music.

When to Use an Accent

There are lots of heteronyms like record in English and the rules for pronunciation are a little vague. But not in Spanish! Knowing the four categories of words makes positioning the tilde super easy. There are only 2 rules if you already know your word stress rules.

1. Esdrújulas and sobresdrújulas always have a tilde on the syllable with the most stress.
2. Agudas and graves have a tilde when they violate the intonation rules (see below)

Basic Intonation Rules

1. If the stress is on the last syllable (aguda) and the word ends in vowel, n, or s, it must have a tilde.

• Panamá
• ratón
• cortés

2. If the stress is on the penultimate syllable (grave) and the word ends in a consonant other than n or s, it must have a tilde

• árbol
• azúcar
• ángel

Expanded Intonation Rules

If you do not know what agudas, graves, etc. are, the rules for using tildes, you can read our article on word stress, or continue reading below.

1. Words that end in a vowel, an -n, or an -s will be stressed on the second to last (penultimate) syllable and will not have a tilde.

• ga’-to
• ca’-sa
• za-pa’-tos
• o-ri’-gen

2. Words that end in a consonant other than -n or -s will be stressed on the last syllable and will not have a tilde.

• doc-tor’
• ciu-dad’
• a-zul’
• ha-blar’

If a word violates either of these two rules, it will need a tilde to show the reader where to pronounce the word.

• fácil - This word ends in a consonant (so it would be stressed on the last syllable, but it is stressed on the penultimate syllable, so it needs a tilde.)
• está - This word ends in a vowel (so it would be stressed on the penultimate syllable, but it is stressed on the last vowel, so it needs a tilde.)

Also, if a word is stressed on any syllable other than the last or 2nd to last, it will always require a tilde.

• América - This word ends in a vowel (so it would be stressed on the penultimate syllable, but it is stressed on the 3rd to last (ante-penultimate) syllable, so it needs a tilde.)
• Mándamelo - This word ends in a vowel (so it would be stressed on the penultimate syllable, but it is stressed on the 4th to last (ante-penultimate) syllable, so it needs a tilde.

Exceptions

Now, if you´ve ever taken a language course before, you know there are always (dreaded word) exceptions to the rules. Spanish has fewer exceptions than a lot of languages. These are all here because the tilde differentiates two words that are spelled and pronounced the same way, but mean different things. It´s all obvious in context, but when writing things out, it's nice to have the extra little signal up there.

Possessive adjectives	Personal pronouns
mi (my)	mí (me)
tu (your)	tú (you)

Examples:

• Mi amor me dio la rosa a mí. (My love gave me a rose.)
• Tienes un gato. Es tu gato. (You have a cat. It is your cat.)

Interrogatives/Question Words

All interrogative (question) words have a written accent to signal that someone is asking a question and not just making a statement.

¿Cómo?	How/What?
¿Cuál(es)?	Which (ones)?
¿Cuándo?	When?
¿Cuánto(s)/a(s)?	How much/many?
¿Dónde?	Where?
¿Qué?	What?
¿Quién?	Who/whom?
¿Por qué?	Why?

There are also several other words that "just have" accents to differentiate them other similar words. The tilde makes a big difference when written, but in speech, although they share the same sounds, the one with the tilde is pronounced with more stress.

él (he)	el (the)	Él le gusta el queso. (He likes the cheese.)
té (tea)	te (you - direct object)	Te recomiendo que bebas el té. (I recommend that you drink the tea.)
sí (yes)	si (if)	Sí, quiero ir al cafe si tienen la pizza. (Yes, I want to go to the cafe if they have pizza.)
más (more)	mas (but)	Quiero más chocolate, mas es mala idea. (I want more chocolate, but it´s a bad idea.)
aún (still, yet)	aun (even)	Aun después de una cita buena, aún él no me ha llamado. (Even after a good date, he still has not called me.)
cómo (how/what)	como (like, as)	¿Cómo se llama él? ¿Es alto como Pablo? (What is his name? Is he tall like Pablo?)
sólo (only)	solo (alone)	Iré sólo si tú vas también; no quiero ir solo. (I will go only if you go; I don't want to go alone.)