Pronunciation: Your Easy Key to the Sounds of Spanish Spanish Letters & Symbols

Spanish Letters Symbols Pronunciation/example A ah Pronounced like the English A in Ex: “yacht” or “taco” E ay, eh like along A sound as in “day” I ee like a long E as in “meet” Ex: libro(lee-broh)->book O oh like a long O as in “open” Ex: foto (foh-toh)->photo U oo like the double O in the word “tooth” Ex: Cuba (Koo-bah)

Common Vowel Combination ai ahy The combined ai is like “eye” Ex: baile (bahy-lay)->dance au ow AU is pronounced like “cow” Ex: causa(Kow-sah)->cause ei ay EI is pronounced like “day” Ex: aceite (ah-say-tay)->oil

More common vowel combos. ia yah IA is similar to the YAH sound in “yacht” Ex: Francia (Frahn-syah)->France ie yeh IE sounds lke YEH sound in “yet” Ex: siete (syeh-tay)->seven io yoh IO is similar to the “yoh” in “yoke” Ex: canción (kahn-SYOHN)->song

More common vowel combos. ua wah UA is pronounced like the WAH sound in “Water” Ex: cuánto (KWAHN-to)->how much, how many ue way UE sounds like the English “W” followed by a long “A” as in the word “way” Ex: bueno(BWAY-noh)->good

Consonants and combinations B: ba-be-bi-bo-bu C: K-sound before a, o, u (ca, co, cu) Ex: casa (koh-sah)->house//ca-co-cu C: S-sound before e or i (ce, ci) Ex: Cecilia // ce-ci cc: ks-sound pronounced like “accept” Ex: acceso (ahk-SAY-soh)->access ch: ch-pronounced as in “church” Ex: mucho (moo-choh)->a lot cha- che,-chi- cho- chu D: da-de-di-do-du F: fa-fe-fi-fo-fu

Consonants & Combos. G: g-before a, o, and u, pronounced with a hard G-sound as in “go” Ex: gafas->eyeglasses ga, gue, gui, go, gu G: h-sound before e or i, pronounce like the letter “H” in English as in “hot” Ex: gente (HEHN-tay)->people Ex: girafa (he-ra-fa) H: always silent Ex: hasta (AHS-tah)->until; ha-he-hi-ho-hu J: H-sound pronounced like the letter “H” in the English word “hot” Ex: José ja-je-ji-jo-ju L: la-le-li-lo-lu and Ll or ll: y-sound as in “Yes” Ex: pollo (poh-yoh)->chicken

Consonants & combos. N: na-ne-ni-no-nu and Ñ: ña-ñe- ñi- ño- ñu Ñ or ñ: ny-sound as in “canyon” Ex: niño(nee-nyoh)->child qu: k-sound pronounced like the letter “K” like as in the word “keep;”(qui or que) Ex: qué (kay)->what? Or que (w/o accent on e)->that… Ex: aquí(ah-key)->here R: r-sound pronounced w/ a trill as in “there” Ex: caro(KAH-roh)->expensive; *if “r-letter” is written in the middle of a word, then it has a “light r-sound); **if it’s written at the beginning of a word, then it’s a “hard-r” sound & will have to roll tongue, Ex: rosa ->Rose

Consonants & combos. rr (or beginning a word) rr-sound Ex: perro (peh-rroh)->dog S: sa-se-si-so-su Va-ve-vi-vo-vu “b-sound”: pronounced as a soft English letter B; Ex: vaso-glass X: ks-sound; before a vowel, pronounced like the “KS” in the English word “cooks” Ex: examen (ehk-sah-mehn)->exam xa-xe-xi-xo-xu Ya-ye-yi-yo-yu Ex: yoyo Z: s-sound; pronounced as in the English word “see” Ex: zapato(sah-pah-toh)/shoe