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How to Pronounce

Spanish Pronunciation Guide

Spanish pronunciation is very much similar to English pronunciation, but there are few differences between them.

Some Spanish learning books or materials do not include pronunciation in their lessons as it is simple for English speakers.Knowing the right pronunciation, helps in understanding the Spanish accent as well as it helps in speaking Spanish in the Spanish way.

Few basic pronunciations that will ease beginners and advanced learners are mentioned below:
Alphabets Pronunciations:

Spanish Alphabets	Spanish Pronunciation
A	a
B	be
C	ce – sounds like ‘s’
D	de
E	e
F	efe
G	ge, gi – sounds like ‘h’
H	hache – ‘h’ is silent
I	i
J	jota – sounds like ‘h’
K	ca
L	ele
M	eme
N	ene
O	o
P	pe
Q	cu
R	ere
S	ese
T	te
U	u
V	ve – sounds like ‘b’
W	double ve
X	equis
Y	i griega
Z	zeta – sounds like ‘s’

Spanish Alphabets	Spanish Pronunciation
CH	che – this letter has been removed officially in 1994
LL	elle – this letter has been removed officially in 1994
Ñ	eñe
RR	erre – not officially recognized but used in America

Rules for pronouncing the implicit accent:
There are only 2 rules while pronouncing implicit accent which are mentioned below.
Rule 1: If a word has no accent mark and ends with a vowel or with n or s, then, next to last syllable is stressed.
For example:

cara (ca-ra) (face)
mano (ma-no) (hand)
amarillo (a-ma-ri-llo) (yellow)
hablan (ha-blan) (they speak)
martes (mar-tes) (Tuesday)

Rule 2: If a word has no accent mark and if it ends with a consonant rather than n or s, then the last syllable is stressed.
For example:

farol (fa-rol) (street lamp)
azul (a-zul) (blue)
español (es-pa-ñol) (Spanish)
salvador (sal-va-dor) (savior).

Pronouncing diaeresis ( ¨ ):

Pronunciation for clusters such as gue and gui, ‘u’ is not pronounced, but it gives the ‘g’ a hard-g sound, similar to the English word gut, hence
Gue will become ‘ge’, and
gui will become ‘gi’.
However, if u has diaeresis mark (¨), it is pronounced like an English w
güe will become gwe, and
güi will become gwi.
But diaeresis mark rarely occurs.

For example:

pedigüeño (beggar)
agüéis (2nd person plural, present subjunctive of the verb aguar).

In the above case, the diaeresis preserves ‘u’ or ‘w’ sound in all the verb tenses of aguar.

argüir (to deduce)
pingüino (penguin)

Vowel Pronunciation:
Each vowel represents only one sound. Almost all the consonants sound very similar to their English counterparts with some exceptions such as ‘w’ and ‘x’.

a	It has short sharp sound, just like "hat" in English
e	It is like the "e" in "wet" in English
i	It is like the "ee" in "seen", but a bit shorter
o	‘o’ can have two sounds- When it is at the end of a word it is like the "o" in note e.g. "pato" When it is before a consonant it is shorter, like "pot" or "cot" e.g. "boda" This difference is very subtle.
u	It is like the "oo" in "food" and it is silent after "q" and in "gue" and "gui" The exceptions are marked with a diaeresis. eg: antigüedad. The "ü" is not very common.

Dipthongs in Spanish:

ai- ay baile	"ai" is like the "i" sound in "side"
au- sauna	"au" is like the "ou" in "sound"
ei, ey- reina	"ei" and "ey" sound like the "ay" sound in “say”
eu- europa	“eu" has no English equivalent. It is the sounds of "e" and "u" together
oi, oy- oiga	"oi" and "oy" are like the "oy" in boy

Consonant Pronunciation:

b,v - boda	"b" is almost exactly the same as an English "b", but both "b" and "v" have the "b" sound in Spanish
c - casa	"c" has the English "k" sound except when it comes before "e" and "i".Before "e" and "i" it has a "th" sound as in "thin"
c - Barcelona	"c" has the English "k" sound except when it comes before "e" and "i". Before "e" and "i" it has a "th" sound as in "thin"
ch - mucho	"ch" is the same as the "ch" in church
d - duro	"d" is very similar to the English "d", when it comes at the end of a word it can have a "th" like sound eg. Madrid, verdad
f- familia	The Spanish "f" is the same as the English "f"
g - general	"g" is like the Spanish "j" when it comes before "i" and "e". The Spanish "j" sounds like the "ch" in the Scottish "loch"
g - gordo	"g" is like the English "g" unless it comes before "i" and "e".
h - hombre	"h" is always silent
j - jueves	"j" is a strong guttural sound similar to the "ch" in the Scottish "loch"
k - kilo	"k" is the same as the English "k". It is very uncommon in Spanish
l - loco	The Spanish "l" is the same as the English "l"
ll - calle	"ll" sounds like the "y" in yes
m - mano	"m" is the same as the English "m"
n - nada	"n" is the same as the English "n"
ñ - España	"ñ" is like the "ni" in "onion" in English
p - padre	"p" is the same as the "p" in English
q- quien	"q" is pronounced like the English "k" in "kick"
r- robar	"r" is a similar to the English "r" but it is stronger and it sounds like the "r" in a Scottish accent.
rr - perro	"rr" does not exist in English. It is a very strong "r" with a trill. Many English speakers find this sound very difficult to pronounce
s - casa	"s" has two sounds. It is pronounced the same as English except when it comes before b, d, g, l, m, n
s - mismo	"s" has two sounds. It can have either the "s" sound in "sit" or a "zzz" sound as in the example below when it comes before b, d, g, l, m, n
t - tres	"t" is very similar to the "t" in English. In Spanish the tongue is placed closer to the teeth and there is less aspiration
x - máximo	"x" is similar to the English pronunciation and it has a "ks" sound
z - zapatos	"z" has the "th" sound in the English thin

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