Spanish Pronunciation
Vowels English Example Spanish Example
a mama, yacht cama, masa, Ana(long a sound)
e ten, desk tele, mete, nene(short a sound)
i trio, chic, elite sí, mitin, di(English e sound)
o obey solo, moto, oso
y(alone) many, penny y(English e sound)
Common Diphthongs
ai/ay ice bailáis, iay
ei/ey vein veinte, ley, rey
oi/oy oil, joy oigo, soy, doy
au cow, how auto, aula, ausente
Consonants
b & v bat(first position and after m/n) bamba, vamos, vemos
un beso, enviar
between vowels evitar, iba, uva
Note: B, P & V sound the same
c (before a, o, u) cat(but without breath of air) casa, cosa, cuna
(before e, i) cent(Latin America) celos, cinco, cesto
th sound (Spain)
ch check chico, ocho, lucha
d do(first position/after n) donde, aldea, anda
th(between vowels only) ida, oda, anda
f fame fama, fe, foto
g(before a, o, u) gas, go, gun gala, goma, gustar
(before e, i) hot(hard h sound) gesto, Gil, gime
h silent as in hour, honest hasta, hora, hola
j(before all vowels) hot(hard h sound) jota, ojo, jefe
k kit(foreign words only) kiosko
l similar to English lento, ala, ola
ll million or yes(English y) llama, ella, olla
hard Eng. j sound
m similar to English mi, más
n similar to English no, nota
ñ onion, union uña, año, niño
p similar to Eng w/o air pan, peso, sopa
qu(used only before similar to English k que, quien, queso
e, i) but w/o air
r softly rolled r aroma, era, ira
rr hard rolled r arroz, Rosa, horror
(words that begin/end
with r are rolled)
s sim to Eng but not sin, son, esa
always identical
t sim to Eng but harder tu, te, ti, tos
w not used
x sim to Eng but not except, excelente, extra
identical
z s sound zona, zeta, zapato
th sound(Spain)
Common Semi-Consonants
i (before a, e, o) yes bien, tienes, hielo
u (before a, e, i, o) was, went, wind agua, bueno, cuota
y (before a, e, o, u) yarn, yolk ya, yo, yeso, Yunque
hard Eng. j sound
Rules for Pronunciation
1) Spanish speakers normally emphasize the last syllable of a word unless it ends in a n or s (por ejemplo...... alrededor, papel, actriz
2)When a word ends in n or s, the next to last syllable is emphasized(por ejemplo.... resumen, examen
*Words that don't follow these rules will have a written accent mark to show where the emphasis is suppose to be(por ejemplo..... lámpara, lápiz, detrás, reunión)
*Accents are used for interrogative words(¿Quién?, ¿Qué?, ¿Cuándo?, ¿Dónde?, ¿Por qué?, ¿Cuál?, ect.....)
*Accents are used to break up diphthongs or semi-consonants when
needed(por ejemplo...... país, policía, aún)
*Using the accent also very important because it can change the translation of a word, especially when they are spelled the same(por ejemplo.... él/el, inglés/ingles, ésta/está/esta).
