Why no tilde on the preterit example

Question

The following description is noted on the web page describing preterit.

1. To Narrate Individual Events This is common in relating a story line where there are multiple actions presented.

Me levanté, me vestí, y salí para la fiesta. (I got up, got dressed, and left for the party.) Tú entraste, bebiste un vaso de agua, y comiste una hamburguesa. (You came in, drank a glass of water, and ate a hamburger.)

Why is there no tilde in the second sentence?

There is. On the very first word. - samdie, Oct 25, 2010

Answer 1

Welcome to the forum. In these examples (and with just a very few exceptions everywhere else) the tilde is used to show where to emphasize the word if it doesn't follow the standard rules. All the words in the second example follow the standard rules.

All words ending in a vowel, N, or S are stressed on the next to the last syllable. All other words are stressed on the last syllable. Unless there's a tilde.

Tú (meaning you) in the second example is one of the exceptions. The tilde is used to disguinsh it from tu (meaning your).

I've seen this reasonings or rules often, where you assume that words ending in a vowel.. are all stressed in the second to last syllable, and if not you need to put a tilde. In Spain it's taught the other way around (or at least I was) - bill1111, Oct 25, 2010

If you see that a word is "aguda", or stressed in the last syllable, you check if it ends in a vowel.. and if it does you put a tilde. It's essentially the same, but I find it simpler - bill1111, Oct 25, 2010