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The Alphabet - Pronunciation Tips - Basic Vocabulary

Pronunciation

The gender of letters is feminine. Example: la "a" (the letter 'a'), la "eme" (the letter 'm').

 

El Alfabeto/ The Alphabet

The Spanish language employs the Roman alphabet, to which the symbols ch, ll and ñ, have been added. The tilde (~) placed over the n (ñ) indicates the pronunciation ny, as in the English word canyon. The acute accent (´) is used to make clear which syllable of a word is to be stressed when the regular rules of stress are not followed. The acute accent is also employed to distinguish between homonyms, as in sé (“I know”) and se (“self”).

 

Letter/letra Name/nombre Pronunciation Example/ejemplo A a ah Andrés B  be larga o be alta beh Beatriz C  ce ceh Carlos CH che cheh Pancho D de deh Darío E e eh Elena F efe ehfeh Francisco G ge heh Gustavo H (always silent) ache ahcheh Hugo I i eeh Irma J jota hohtah Juan K ka kah Karina L ele ehleh Luis LL elle eyeh Guillermo M eme ehmeh Marta N ene ehneh Nora Ñ eñe ehyneh niño O o oh Oscar P pe peh Pablo Q cu koo Quito R  ere ehreh Rosa S ese ehseh Susana T te teh Tito U u oo Úrsula V  ve corta beh Vicente W doble ve o doble u dohbleh oo Walter X equis eh kees Xavier Y  ye yeh Yolanda Z zeta seh tah Zulma

Pronouncing Vowels Properly

Vowel	Sound	Example/ejemplo	Pronunciation
a	ah		ahr tees tah
	eh		eh leh bah dohr
	eeh		ees lah
	oh		oh hoh
	ooh		ooh noh

Click the above words to hear the pronunciation

In Spanish there are 5 distinct vowels, and each one has only one constant, clear, and brief sound. In every syllable, each vowel must be pronounced. Furthermore, vowels fall into 2 categories: strong and weak .

Vowel	Category	English Word	Examples
a	strong	like in father
e	strong	like in eight
i	weak	like in teeth
o	strong	like in no without the glide
u	weak	like in tooth
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Review 

Pronouncing Consonants Properly

Letter	Sound	Example	Pronunciation
B	Same as English	baby	beh beh
C	Soft c (s) before e and i Hard c (k) elsewhere	center	sehn troh
CH	che	check	cheh keh
D	de	lady	dah mah
F	efe	fiesta	fee yehs tah
G	Soft h before e and i Hard g elsewhere	general	heh neh rahl
H	silent	hispanic	ees pah noh
J	jota	Julio(name)	hoo lee yoh
K	ka	kilo	kee loh
L	ele	free	leeh breh
LL	elle	call	yah mah
M	eme	mother	mah mah
N	ene	necessary	neh seh sah ree oh
Ñ	ny	child masc.	neeh nyoh
P	pe	father	pah pah
Q	cu	Quito	kee toh
R	r (slightly rolled)	book	leeh broh
	rr (r rolled two or three times)	car	kah rroh
S	ese	sauce	sahl sah
T	te	bull	toh roh
V	Less explosive English b	vigor	beeh gohr
X	English ks (sinks)	exact	ehk sahk toh
Y	ye	yoga	yoh gah
Z	zeta	shoe	sehtah
Click the above words to hear the pronunciation

Pronunciation Tips/ Consejos para la pronunciación

1. THE LETTERS B & V In Spanish, B and V are pronounced alike. There is NOT much differentiation, and they are pronounced like the English b. EXAMPLES                mouth  cow                    2. THE LETTER C The letter C before the vowels a, o, and u, has a k sound, but before e and i has an s sound. EXAMPLES K sound S sound   house (kah sa)    sky (seeh yeh loh)   to eat  (koh mer) (name)(seh lee yah)  snake (kuh leh brah)     3. THE LETTER G The letter G before the vowels a, o, u, ue and ui has the English hard g sound, such as in government, but before e and i, G has an exaggerated English h sound. EXAMPLES G sound H (exaggerated) sound   cat   people war  (u is silent)   guitar    (u is silent)   rubber    sunflower   worm NOTE: If the ü is before the e and i, the vowel u is also pronounced. EXAMPLES   stork   penguin  4. THE LETTER R a. The letter R sounds similar to the English dd or r sound, such as in ladder or rose, when the R is in the middle of a word, but NOT after the letters n, l, and s. EXAMPLES          but                gold   b. The R and double RR are pronounced with a very strong trill in the following cases: 1) When words start in R, such as in:    / Rose            / frog        2) When R comes after the letters n, l, or s, such as in:  / around, / Israel 3) Whenever R is doubled in a word, such as in:  / dog   / earth / earthquake NOTE that Spanish words do NOT start with or end with RR.       5. THE LETTERS LL & Y. The letter Y sounds like the Spanish vowel i when Y stands alone or at the end of a word. EXAMPLES today salt and pepper         NOTE: The pronunciation of LL & Y varies greatly throughout the Spanish-speaking countries; however, the majority pronounces them similar to the English sound in the word yes or million. EXAMPLES rain clown In countries such as Argentina, Uruguay, and parts of Chile, both LL & Y are pronounced as sh, as in shop.

 

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Review

S sound			K sound
sa	za		ca
se	ze