La pronunciación

El sistema fonológico del español (The sound system of Spanish)

Las vocales

– A has the sound of ah as in father.– E has the sound of a as in late.– I has the sound of e as in beet.– O has the sound of o as in wrote.– U has the sound of oo as in boot.

Vowel Combinations

• A, E, O are strong vowels.• U and I are weak vowels.

• A combination of two strong vowels is pronounced as two syllables. – leer; maestro

• A combination of weak + strong is a dipthong (one syllable), with greater stress on the strong vowel.– baila; cierra

• A combination of weak + weak is a dipthong (one syllable), with the stress on the second vowel.– ruido

Los diptongos• ai;ay like i in side

– baile; hay• au like ou in sound

– causa• ei;ey like ey in they

– reina, rey• eu like may-you without y

– deuda• oi; oy like oy in boy

– oiga; soy• i or y before a vowel like y in yes

– bien ; apoyo• u before a vowel like w in well

– fuente; agua

Accented weak vowels

• When a weak vowel carries a written accent mark, the pronunciation is stressed on that vowel.– tío; baúl

NOTE: familia historia

biología geografía

La acentuación

• If a word ends in a vowel, n or s, the second to the last (penultimate) syllable is stressed. Such words are called palabras graves.– zapato, zapatos, divide, dividen

• If the word ends in a consonant other than n or s, the last syllable is stressed. Such words are called palabras agudas.– verdad, practicar

Breaking rules of accentuation

• If the word is pronounced contrary to those two rules, an accent mark is written over the vowel that must be stressed. These types of words are called palabras esdrújulas.– tendré; difícil

Note: crimen; crímenes

More about accent marks

• All interrogative words have an accent mark. For example:– ¿Qué? (What?)– ¿Cuándo ? (When?)– ¿ Dónde? (Where?)– ¿Quién ? (Who?)– ¿Adónde? (To where?)

• Accent marks are also used to distinguish between words that are spelled the same but that have different meanings. For example:– tú = you (friendly, singular)– tu = your– él = he– el = the (masculine, singluar)– sí = yes– si = if

Las consonantes

B and V• These two letters have the same value in

Spanish.

• At the start of a word or after m and n, they sound like the English b.– bomba; enviar; ambos

• In all other positions, they sound like a b without touching one’s lips together.– caber; severo

C• There are two different values for the letter C.

• C before a, o, u or a consonant sounds like k in keep.– caminar; contar; culebra; acto

• C before e, i sounds like th in thin or s in same (This is called seseo, and is used in Latin America and parts of Analusia, Spain.)

– cinco; hacer

• NOTE: Both sounds are heard in the following words: acción; sección (Not sh)

• Ch is no longer a letter in the alphabet, but it is pronounced like a single letter as in the word “church.”– chao; poncho

D• There are three different values, depending

upon the position and context.• At the start of a word and after l, n, the letter d

sounds like the English d.– dama; aldea, andar

• Between vowels and after consonants other than l, n, the sound of d is more relaxed, and sounds like the th in this.– pide, pardo

• As the last letter of a word, the d become further relaxed or altogether omitted.– usted; verdad

F

• F has the sound of f in for.– fama; informe

G• There are three different values depending

on position and context.• Before e or i g sounds like a Spanish j,

which makes the sound of ch in Bach.– general; gitano

• At the start of a word and after n, the sound is g like in get.– gloria; tengo

• In all other positions, the g sounds like g in get, only not as explosive.– haga; agosto

• gue, gui : The u is silent, except when marked by a diaeresis.– guerra; guitarra; pingüino; antigüedad

• gua: All letters are sounded.– guapo

H

• H is always silent!– hola (ola)– Hay (ay)– hermano (ermano)– bahía (baía)

J

• J at the beginning of a word or in the middle of a word has a strong gutteral sound, not found in English. It is like the ch in the word Bach.– jota; baraja

• J at the end of a word is silent.– reloj

K

• K is pronounced like the k in kick, but without the aspiration.– kilómetro

L• L is pronounced like the l in love.

– limón; fácil

LL• LL is no longer a letter in the alphabet, but it

is pronounced like lli in million or like the y in yes. In parts of Latin America and Spain, the ll is pronounced like j in juice. – calle; ella, millón

M

• The letter m is pronounced like the m in made.– madre; caminar

N

• N is pronounced like n in none, except before a written v.– nadie, pan

• When n comes before a written v, it sounds like m.– enviar ; sin valor

Ñ

• The letter ñ approximates the sound of ni in onion.– niño; ñandú

P

• P sound like the p in put, but without the aspiration. – papá

Q

• Q sounds like the k in kick, without the aspiration. It is always followed by a silent u.– que; quince

R

• R has a single trill, but is pronounced with a stronger trill (rr) at the start of a word (or after l, n, s).– coro; rápido

RR

• RR has a strong trill.– carro; irreal

S

• For the most part s sounds like the s in same.– casa, Isabel

• Before b, d, g, l, m, n the letter s is often pronounced like s in rose. (a soft z sound)– desde; mismo

T

• Like the t in tame, but without the aspiration.– tanto

W

• The letter w is found in “loan words” from other languages. It can be pronounced as a Spanish b/v, like an English v, or like an English w.– week end

X

• Between vowels, the letter x is usually pronounced like x in tax or like gs in eggs.– examen

• Before a consonant x is often pronounced like s in same. – extra

Y• The letter y is normally pronounced like the y in

yes.– Yo ; mayo; Loyola

• In emphatic speech, it is pronounced like the j in jam.

• In Chile and in Argentina, it is pronounced like the s in leisure.

Z

• The letter z is pronounced like th in thin, but like s in same in Latin America and in parts of Andalucía, Spain. (This is known as seseo.)– zapato; luz

A E I O UEl burro sabe más que tú.