Does the sun affect our tides?

Our tides are pulled by gravity from both the moon and the sun. We get the spring tides, the highest high tides of the month, when the sun and moon pull from the same direction. As the moon moves around its orbit, the sun and moon tug from opposite directions, canceling out some of their joint pull. Then we get the neap tides, the lowest high tides of the month.

Gravity diminishes with distance and the sun is some 400 times farther from us than the moon, which is why its tidal pull is only half that of the little moon. Our tides vary through the month because the orbiting moon pulls first with and then against the tidal pull from the sun.