Stress and accent marks 
La acentuación

AGUDAS : Words stressed on the last syllable and ending in -n or -s or a vowel have a written accent on the vowel that is stressed:

                         mamá (mother), café (coffee), colibrí (hummingbird), 
                            menú (menu), habitación (room), autobús (bus)

The following examples don't have an accent because they don't end in a vowel, -n or -s:
               
            hablar (to speak), pastel (cake), feliz (happy), internet (net), pared (wall) 



GRAVES : Words stressed on the penultimate (next to last) syllable and ending in any consonant besides -n or -s or a vowel have a written accent on the vowel that is stressed:

         árbol (tree), césped (grass), líder (leader), móvil (mobile), álbum (album)

The following examples don't have an accent because they end in a vowel, -n or -s:

                         pregunta (question), tesis (thesis), hablan (they talk)



ESDRÚJULAS: Words stressed on the syllable before the penultimate have a written accent on the vowel that is stressed, regardless of the ending:

               médico (doctor), lágrima (tear), México (Mexico), teléfono (telephone)

Diphthongs diptongos

A diphthong is two vowel sounds joined in one syllable to form one phonetic sound. 

The combination is of one strong vowel and one weak vowel, or they are both weak. Strong vowels (a, e, o). Weak vowels (i, u).There are 14 possible combinations: 
ai, ei, oi, au, eu, ou, ia, ie, io, ua, ue, uo, iu, ui

 ai, ei, oi:           ai-re (air), vein-te (twenty), boi-na (beret)
 au, eu, ou:       cau-sa (cause), eu-ro (euro), es-ta-dou-ni-den-se (Northamerican)
 ia, ie, io:           pia-no (piano), mie-do (fear), Dios (God)
 ua, ue, uo:       a-gua (water), cuen-to (tale), an-ti-guo
 iu, ui:                ciu-dad (city), bui-tre (vulture)

Hiatus hiatos

A hiatus refers to two vowel sounds occurring in adjacent syllables.

They are three types of combinations:

  •  One strong vowel (a, e, o) and one stressed weak vowel (i, u) with an accent mark.
         ra-íz (root), re-ír (to laugh), ba-úl (chest), frí-o (cold), bú-ho (owl)

  •  Two similar vowels
         a-za-har (orange blossom), po-se-er (to own), zo-o (zoo)

  •  Two different strong vowels (a, e, o)
         po-e-ta (poet), te-a-tro (theater)

Diacritical mark - Acento diacrítico

Denotes a distinction between homonyms words but doesn't modify their sound.
Here you have the most common ones:
 aun (even) 
 el (the)
 mas (but)
 mi (my)
 se ( reflexive pronoun)
 si (if)
 solo (alone)
 te (pronoun you)
 tu (your)
 de (from, of)
 aún (still) 
 él (he)
 más (more)
 mí (me)
 sé (I know from saber)
 sí (yes)
 sólo (only)
 té (tea)
 tú (you)
 dé (formal command form of dar to give)
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