The Sounds of Spanish How they are the same How they are different The “KEY” to good Spanish The vowels The consonants Letter combinations Pronunciation guidelines This material is the property of the AR Dept. of Education. It may be used and reproduced for non-profit, educational purposes only after contacting the ADE Distance Learning Center. TMR 11/9/2018

The Sounds of Spanish That’s good news!! How they are the same… Nearly half the letters in the Spanish alphabet make the same sounds as they do in English. Your English-speaking brain will say these correctly without any thought on your part. That’s good news!! This material is the property of the AR Dept. of Education. It may be used and reproduced for non-profit, educational purposes only after contacting the ADE Distance Learning Center. TMR 11/9/2018

The Sounds of Spanish How they are different… There are three kinds of letters which make different sounds in Spanish. Vowels Consonants Letter combinations These are easy to learn!! This material is the property of the AR Dept. of Education. It may be used and reproduced for non-profit, educational purposes only after contacting the ADE Distance Learning Center. TMR 11/9/2018

The Sounds of Spanish The “KEY” to good Spanish… Learn the vowel sounds first. Then add the consonants in. Watch for letter combination sounds. Don’t be afraid to try! This material is the property of the AR Dept. of Education. It may be used and reproduced for non-profit, educational purposes only after contacting the ADE Distance Learning Center. TMR 11/9/2018

A E I O U The Sounds of Spanish The Vowels Even though the vowels are the same letters as in English, they make different sounds in Spanish. This material is the property of the AR Dept. of Education. It may be used and reproduced for non-profit, educational purposes only after contacting the ADE Distance Learning Center. TMR 11/9/2018

The Sounds of Spanish The letter A makes the sound of “a” like in “father.” It sounds like ah.” Say “ah” Say casa (kah-sah) This material is the property of the AR Dept. of Education. It may be used and reproduced for non-profit, educational purposes only after contacting the ADE Distance Learning Center. TMR 11/9/2018

The Sounds of Spanish The letter E makes the sound of “e” like in “hey.” It sounds like “eh.” Say “eh.” Say café (kah-feh) This material is the property of the AR Dept. of Education. It may be used and reproduced for non-profit, educational purposes only after contacting the ADE Distance Learning Center. TMR 11/9/2018

The Sounds of Spanish The letter I makes the sound of “i” like in “ski.” It sounds like “ee.” Say “ee.” Say lápiz (láh-pees) This material is the property of the AR Dept. of Education. It may be used and reproduced for non-profit, educational purposes only after contacting the ADE Distance Learning Center. TMR 11/9/2018

The Sounds of Spanish The letter O makes the sound of “o” like in “go.” It sounds like “oh.” Say “oh.” Say mono (moh-noh) This material is the property of the AR Dept. of Education. It may be used and reproduced for non-profit, educational purposes only after contacting the ADE Distance Learning Center. TMR 11/9/2018

The Sounds of Spanish The letter U makes the sound of “oo” like in “cuckoo.” It sounds like “oo.” Say “oo.” Say música (moo-see-kah) This material is the property of the AR Dept. of Education. It may be used and reproduced for non-profit, educational purposes only after contacting the ADE Distance Learning Center. TMR 11/9/2018

B/V G H J Ñ Z The Sounds of Spanish The Consonants There are many consonants in Spanish that look the same as the letters in English but they sound different. These are easy to learn! This material is the property of the AR Dept. of Education. It may be used and reproduced for non-profit, educational purposes only after contacting the ADE Distance Learning Center. TMR 11/9/2018

The Sounds of Spanish B and V sound enough alike to be the same in Spanish. There is no vibration for the V sound. Make the sound of a soft “b” like in “boy” and use it for both B and V. boca= boh-ka vaca= bah-ka start with the same sound. This material is the property of the AR Dept. of Education. It may be used and reproduced for non-profit, educational purposes only after contacting the ADE Distance Learning Center. TMR 11/9/2018

The Sounds of Spanish The letter G in Spanish makes two sounds just as it does in English. Gato= gah-toh The hard G is the same as in English. Gente = hehn-teh The soft G sound sounds like our letter “h” in “hen.” This material is the property of the AR Dept. of Education. It may be used and reproduced for non-profit, educational purposes only after contacting the ADE Distance Learning Center. TMR 11/9/2018

The Sounds of Spanish The letter H is silent in Spanish. It makes no sound. It is like the letter “h” in the English word “hour.” Hombre is pronounced “ohm-breh.” hombre This material is the property of the AR Dept. of Education. It may be used and reproduced for non-profit, educational purposes only after contacting the ADE Distance Learning Center. TMR 11/9/2018

The Sounds of Spanish The letter J in Spanish makes the sound of “h” like in “hard.” Jardín is pronounced hahr-deen. jardín This material is the property of the AR Dept. of Education. It may be used and reproduced for non-profit, educational purposes only after contacting the ADE Distance Learning Center. TMR 11/9/2018

The Sounds of Spanish The letter Ñ in Spanish makes the sound of “ny” like in the word “onion.” It sounds like “nya.” It has a tilde over it to show that it does not make the regular “n” sound. Niños= nee-nyohs This material is the property of the AR Dept. of Education. It may be used and reproduced for non-profit, educational purposes only after contacting the ADE Distance Learning Center. TMR 11/9/2018

The Sounds of Spanish zapato = sah-pah-toh The letter “Z” in Spanish makes the sound “S” like in “simple.” There is no vibration for the “Z” sound. zapato = sah-pah-toh This material is the property of the AR Dept. of Education. It may be used and reproduced for non-profit, educational purposes only after contacting the ADE Distance Learning Center. TMR 11/9/2018

The Sounds of Spanish Letter Combinations CH CU GU LL QU RR Some letter combinations make special sounds in Spanish that are different than in English. Pay attention to these! This material is the property of the AR Dept. of Education. It may be used and reproduced for non-profit, educational purposes only after contacting the ADE Distance Learning Center. TMR 11/9/2018

The Sounds of Spanish chile = chee-leh The letter combination CH in Spanish sounds the same as in English. However, it is considered a letter in Spanish and has its own section in many dictionaries. chile = chee-leh This material is the property of the AR Dept. of Education. It may be used and reproduced for non-profit, educational purposes only after contacting the ADE Distance Learning Center. TMR 11/9/2018

The Sounds of Spanish In Spanish, if the letter combination CU is followed by a vowel it makes the sound “kw” like in “quarter.” cuaderno = kwah-dehr-noh If CU is followed by a consonant, it sounds like “koo” as in cuckoo. cucharas = koo-chah-rahs This material is the property of the AR Dept. of Education. It may be used and reproduced for non-profit, educational purposes only after contacting the ADE Distance Learning Center. TMR 11/9/2018

The Sounds of Spanish In Spanish, if the letter combination GU is followed by an “a” it makes the sound “gw” like in “guacamole.” guantes = gwahn-tehs If GU is followed by a consonant or one of the other vowels, it makes the hard G sound. guitarra = gee-tahr-rrah This material is the property of the AR Dept. of Education. It may be used and reproduced for non-profit, educational purposes only after contacting the ADE Distance Learning Center. TMR 11/9/2018

The Sounds of Spanish In Spanish, the letters “LL” together make a sound like the “y” in “yam.” “LL” sounds like “ya.” It does not sound like the English “L.” “Llama” is pronounced “yah-mah.” llama This material is the property of the AR Dept. of Education. It may be used and reproduced for non-profit, educational purposes only after contacting the ADE Distance Learning Center. TMR 11/9/2018

The Sounds of Spanish queso = keh-soh In Spanish, the letter combination QU makes the sound “k” as in “king.” queso = keh-soh This material is the property of the AR Dept. of Education. It may be used and reproduced for non-profit, educational purposes only after contacting the ADE Distance Learning Center. TMR 11/9/2018

The Sounds of Spanish In Spanish, the letter combination RR is a trilled “r” sound. The sound is trilled with the tip of the tongue against the roof of the mouth. perro = pehr-rroh This material is the property of the AR Dept. of Education. It may be used and reproduced for non-profit, educational purposes only after contacting the ADE Distance Learning Center. TMR 11/9/2018

Pronunciation guidelines The Sounds of Spanish Pronunciation guidelines Use the guides on the next page to sound out words in Spanish. Write the Spanish word with these guides to make sure you are pronouncing it correctly. When you read the word using these guides, your English-speaking brain will make the correct sounds for the Spanish words. This material is the property of the AR Dept. of Education. It may be used and reproduced for non-profit, educational purposes only after contacting the ADE Distance Learning Center. TMR 11/9/2018

A = ah E=eh I= ee O = oh U = oo B=B V=B G a, o = G G e, I = H H = no sound J = H Ñ = ny Z = S CH=ch CU vowel = kw GU A = gwa LL = y QU = K RR = rrr = means sounds like means followed by This material is the property of the AR Dept. of Education. It may be used and reproduced for non-profit, educational purposes only after contacting the ADE Distance Learning Center. TMR 11/9/2018

The Sounds of Spanish Casa (kah-sah) -house Café (kah-feh) -coffee Lápiz (lah-pees) -pencil Mono (moh-noh) -monkey Música (moo-see-cah) -music Boca (boh-cah) -mouth Vaca (bah-cah) -cow Gato (gah-toh) -cat Gente (hehn-the) -people Hombre (ohm-breh) -man Jardín (hahr-deen) -garden Niños (nee-nyohs) -kids Zapato (sah-pah-toh) -shoe Chile (chee-leh) -pepper Cuaderno (kwah-dehr-noh) -notebook Guantes (gwahn-tehs) -gloves This material is the property of the AR Dept. of Education. It may be used and reproduced for non-profit, educational purposes only after contacting the ADE Distance Learning Center. TMR 11/9/2018