Spanish Sounds
Vowels The vowel sounds never change in Spanish
Words starting with vowels
abeja
elefante
iglesia
oveja
uvas
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abeja elefante iglesia ovejauvas
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Consonants Some are pronounced differently to English consonants
casa hard ‘c’ before ‘a’
cerdo soft ‘c’ before ‘e’ like ‘th’ in the word ‘thin’
ciclista soft ‘c’ before ‘i’ like ‘s’ in English
coche The Spanish ‘ch’ is pronounced like the ‘ch’ in the word ‘church’
conejo hard ‘c’ before ‘o’
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casacerdo ciclista cocheconejo
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cucaracha hard ‘c’ before ‘u’
gato hard ‘g’ before ‘a’
genio ‘g’ before ‘e’ like ‘h’ in English
gimnasio ‘g’ before ‘i’ like ‘h’ in English
gordo hard ‘g’ before ‘o’
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cucurachagato genio gimnasio gordo
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gusano ‘hard’ g before u
helado ‘h’ is a silent letter in Spanish
jirafa ‘j’ in Spanish sounds like ‘h’ in English
amarillo ‘ll’ in Spanish sounds like ‘y’ sound in English
señorita ‘ñ’ is like ‘ny’ sound in English
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gusanohelado jirafa amarilloseñorita
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ratón ‘r’ at the beginning of a word has a vibrating sound
perro ‘rr’ has a vibrating sound too
ventana ‘b’ and ‘v’ are pronounced exactly alike in Spanish
xilófono ‘x’ at the start of a word is a bit like ‘s’ sound in English
zumo ‘z’ in Spanish sounds like ‘th’ in the English word ‘thin’
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ratónperroventana xilófono zumo
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