Why the tilde on last vowel when noun ends with an 'n'?

Question

tiburón

ladrón

tobogán

I mean the stress is already on the last vowel (right?) so what's the purpose of that tilde?

Answer 1

Words that end in a consonant other than 'n' or 's' should be stressed on the last syllable. Words that end in 'n', or 's' should be stressed on the penultimate (second to last) syllable.

This information was extracted frfom our Reference page dealing with stress and emphasis. The reference page is found here ----> Stress/Emphasis.

In the examples you referred to, in order to shift the stress to the last syllable, the tilde is required in order to relocate the emphasis.

Darn. I always thought that the stress was always on the last syllable unless the words ends with an 's' or a vowel. My bad. Thanks. - S1r_Wakka, Dec 13, 2010

Answer 2

By definition, a tilde is a diacritical mark (~) placed over the letter n in Spanish to indicate ...

That's the way the word is used in English but in Spanish the meaning is much more general. This from the RAE:

1. amb. Virgulilla o rasgo que se pone sobre algunas abreviaturas, el que lleva la ñ, y cualquier otro signo que sirva para distinguir una letra de otra o denotar su acentuación.

So the term includes "accent marks" and diereses and, I suppose, when speaking of really old texts (such as Cantar de Mio Cid) to what we call the "cedilla". Or, perhaps not, since the RAE does say "sobre algunas letras".

By the way, the "ñ" is neither more nor less nasal than the "n". This is distinct from the situation in Portuguese where the tilde is placed over the vowel to indicate that the vowel is nasalized (a property that it does not normally have).

Answer 3

Well actually the stress is most commonly on the penultimate syllable.

So my question is why is it lápiz and not lapiz ?

Because the z doesn't appear as often as the N, so in the end you write less accents. - lazarus1907, Dec 12, 2010

"Less" is singular. "Fewer" is plural - 005faa61, Dec 12, 2010

Answer 4

I mean the stress is already on the last vowel (right?) so what's the purpose of that tilde?

The purpose of the tilde is precisely to tell you that the accent is on the last syllable. If you write them without tilde, the accent will be assumed to be on the penultimate syllable instead, which is not the way natives stress the word:

tiburón (correct stress) - tiburon (incorrect stress)

ladrón (correct stress) - ladron (incorrect stress)

tobogán (correct stress) - tobogan (incorrect stress)

When it comes to writing accents, you could always argue that it is a pain, but when it comes to reading, it makes your life soooo much easier! You always know how to pronounce and stress words accurately.

Answer 5

What tilde? I don't see any tilde. By definition, a tilde is a diacritical mark (~) placed over the letter n in Spanish to indicate a palatal nasal sound or over a vowel in Portuguese to indicate nasalization.

So what are you referring to?

Seb

Most people here refer to ó á é as tildes here seb - ian-hill, Dec 12, 2010

Ok...again-another mistake!! It's not my day today.....:( - Seb79, Dec 12, 2010

It is not a nasalized N! The tongue has a completely different position from the N. It is a different consonant and it has to be learnt separetely. - lazarus1907, Dec 12, 2010