Spanish pronunciation is rather easy. There are of course certain phonemes that can be harder like for example, the pronunciation of the “double r”. Despite that, Spanish pronunciation is very regular and the spelling is completely faithful to it, you write as you speak and you speak as you write. But let’s go step by step.
The first thing we’ll see are the vowels. Spanish has only 5 vowels. Only five, believe it. We don’t distinguish between short vowels and long vowels either so you can pronounce a vowel as long as you want to.
The vowels are: A E I O U
A as in but.
E as in desk.
I as in free.
O as in pod.
U as in room.
Here are some examples.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvw_pYurmmE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlCxYmZHkoo
letter a :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zZwaCABOFo
letter i:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K2hOOwxOsQ&feature=related
letter o:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQkgrRf0lng&feature=related
It’s extremely important to learn the vowels in Spanish well, as in any other language.
If you want to hear something funny about it, listen to this song. It’s hip hop song in which the rapper only use words that contain certain vowels. He start singing with the letter a, then he use only the vowel o, and finally, the most difficult part, words that only contain the vowel e. And it makes sense! Though I think that you won’t understand anything XD.
Nach- Efectos vocales
And what about the consonants? You already know them. There’s only one letter that will be new to you.
B (be) as in book
C (ce) as in cast (before a, o, u) or as in think (before e, i) e.g. Casa /ˈkasa/ ; Cena /ˈθena/
D (de) as in dodo
F (efe) as in for
G (ge) as in god (before a, o, u) or as in ham (before e, i)
H (hache) has no sound, IS SILENT e.g. Ahora is pronounced Aora
J (jota) as in ham... nevertheless, in some parts of Spain, it is pronounced a bit different.
K (ka) as in cat
L (ele) as in lagoon
M (eme) as in mother
N (ene) as in niece
Ñ (eñe) as in canyon, but not exactly… it’s better to hear it, so visit the following link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNAW-kwqIaw
If you don’t have this letter in your keyboard use nn or simply n, you’ll be understandable in any case. But if you can, try to download a software to use this letter. Anyway, if you want to type this letter the easy way try this:
Hold down ALT + type 164 (on the numeric keypad, to the right of the keyboard) = ñ
Hold down ALT + type 165 (on the numeric keypad, to the right of the keyboard) = Ñ
It is an important letter that appears in not many words but in some important ones such us España, español, niño, paño, caña, leña, …
You’are learning Spanish! = ¡Estás aprendiendo español!
P (pe) as in pit
Q (ku) , that is only used the following way: QUE as in Kebab ; QUI as in Kitten
There’s no QA, QE, QI, QO, QU, QUA, QUO or QUU. You can only use QUE or QUI
R (ere / erre) , sacred letter. Remember this, the english r and the spanish r ARE NOT the same. If it goes at the beginning of the word or if it is doubled in the middle of another one, it has a characteristic sound and most foreigners struggle with it during a long time. How could I shortly explain it to you in words? Well, it sounds as if you roll your tongue against your hard palate (at the front part of it). But, obviously, the best thing to you is to hear it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXAy8nMkHng
Learn how to pronounce it well because you’ll come across with it almost every time (e.g. rata, ratón, rosa, amarrar, carro, barro, perro, rojo, río, real, guerra…) so practice, practice, practice!
When the letter r is stuck in the middle or in the end of a word, it is pronounced softer e.g. moro, cara, loro, amor, beber, tener, comer, caro…
S (ese) as in sir
T (te) as in tuck
V (uve / ve *) as in back… though it is supposed it sounds slightly different
W (uve doble / doble ve *) as in water (this letter is only used with foreign words)
X (equis) as in taxi
Y (I griega / ye *) as in yacht ( Y IS NOT A VOWEL, as in other languages is)
Z (zeta) as in thorough
Ok, now let’s sort them all (consonants and vowels) out to make up the Spanish Alphabet:
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, Ñ, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z
There are also two more sounds represented as:
CH (che) as in chocolate
LL (elle) as in yolk
Note: SH doesn’t represent any characteristic sound in Spanish e.g. deshuesar (des – hue – sar)
* Latin American name of the letter.
El abecedario:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPNBYLvB3DU&feature=related (Latin America)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fIRYC1ek-Q (Latin America)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ae2S8cpbU8&feature=related (Spain)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ld7Vt5EWu_Q&feature=related (Latin America)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4bR420mWY0 (Spain)
Now that you know the Spanish Alphabet, I’d like you to know a few more things about Spanish pronunciation.
- Spanish words can end in a vowel or in a consonant (-d, -l, -m, -n, -r, -s, -z )
- Diphthongs and triphthongs are very common in Spanish ( ex. agua, pie, colorear, cambiéis, deshuesar … )
- nb and np are not posible in Spanish. Instead, they are spelled and pronounced mb and mp e.g. tambor, acampar, mambo…
- We also use consonant clusters: br (abrazo) , bl (hablar) , cr (crisis) , cl (clan) ,fr (Francia), fl (flan) , gr (grande) , gl (inglés) , pr (pronto) , pl (plaza) , tr (trabajo) , tl (atletismo)
Lexical stress:
In Spanish, most words are stressed on the penultimate syllable. Generally, these words end in a vowel, -n or –s. Otherwise, they have an accent mark. For example:
Antena Teclado Mata Carmen
Maravilla Débil Gafas Dólar
Acute words are also very common. If they end in a vowel, -n or –s, thy have an accent mark. Otherwise, they don’t have any. For example:
Corazón Canción Café Mantel
Hablar Bebedor Talud País
Less frequently, you can come across with a word with the stress on the antepenultimate syllable. These words are ALWAYS marked. For example:
Plátano Informática Árboles Teléfono
Cuéntamelo Fríamente Esdrújula Lágrima
Monosyllable words are never marked except if they need to be told apart from other words. For example:
él /el tú / tu mí / mi qué / que
Intonation:
When we make a question we tend to rise our voice at the end of the sentence, as in English.
But when it comes to just make a declarative sentence or statement, there isn’t any staple rule. The general intonation of sentences varies widely from Latin America to Spain and viceversa. Here you have some examples of Spanish accents around the globe:
Spain
Argentina
Mexico
Cuba
You now know the basics of the Spanish Pronunciation, essential if you want to start learning Spanish.
See also:
Berto (comedian) completes the song of Nach with the vowel i on the Spanish tv:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1UkQbxdNq0&feature=related
Andalusian (Southern Spain) pronunciation is especial, worth listening:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUXoqO7T3AI&feature=related
Good guide of pronunciation:
http://www.lingolex.com/pronounce/
Spanish alphabet
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/spanish.htm
Upcoming lesson: Comprehension - Basic Spanish
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