The Tilde as a Stress Mark
On a nasal vowel the tilde already shows the stress, so no acute accent is added.
How It Works
An oral vowel gets an acute accent when it is stressed before the last vowel. A nasal vowel does not. The tilde is enough. In neʼĩra “not yet”, the tilde on ĩ shows the stress. Never write an acute accent on top of a tilde.
- porã “good”: the tilde is on the stressed vowel.
- mokõi “two” and koʼẽrõ “tomorrow”: the tilde is the only mark.
- osẽta “he or she will go out”: the ending -ta has no stress, and the tilde on ẽ marks the stress on the root.
The tilde never disappears. It belongs to the vowel, so a nasal vowel keeps it even when the stress is elsewhere. In mitãkariaʼy “youngster”, the stress is on the last syllable, ʼy, and mitã still has its tilde.
Examples (5)
- porã
good, beautiful
The tilde marks the stressed vowel.
- osẽta
he or she will go out
The tilde on ẽ marks the stress, and -ta leaves it on the root.
- neʼĩra
not yet
The tilde on ĩ marks the stress.
- mokõi
two
The tilde on õ is the only mark.
- koʼẽrõ
tomorrow
Both nasal vowels keep their tildes, and no accent is added.
How It Connects
Learn This First
On a nasal vowel the tilde does the job of the acute, so learners need both the acute accent and the nasal vowels.
Related Patterns
Practice The Tilde as a Stress Mark in Bubblegum
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