1) The Consonant Rule: If the word ends in any consonant other than n or s, stress the vowel in the last syllable. Example: amor, actor, motor, doctor, comer, estudiar 2) The Vowel Rule: If the word ends in a vowel (a,e,i,o,u) or the consonants n or s, stress the vowel in the 2nd last syllable. Example: amigo, joven, mesa, casas Note: any exceptions to these rules will be marked with a tilde. 3) The Tilde Rule: Tildes are used to mark the stress on words that do not follow the rules above. Example: música, Canadá, árbol, Bogotá, canción.