Spanish Sounds

The vowel sounds never change in Spanish

Words starting with vowels

a abeja

e elefante

i iglesia

o oveja

u uvas

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  iglesia abeja elefante oveja uvas

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Some are pronounced differently to English consonants

*c casa hard ‘c’ before ‘a’

*c cerdo soft ‘c’ - ‘th’ sound before ‘e’ in Spanish and ‘s’ sound in Latin America

*c ciclista soft ‘c’ - ‘th’ sound before ‘i’ in Spanish and ‘s’ sound in Latin America

*ch coche The Spanish ‘ch’ is pronounced like the ‘ch’ in the word ‘church’

*c conejo hard ‘c’ before ‘o’

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  casa cerdo ciclista coche conejo

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*c cucaracha hard ‘c’ before ‘u’

*g gato hard ‘g’ before ‘a’

*g genio ‘g’ before ‘e’ like ‘h’ in English

*g gimnasio ‘g’ before ‘i’ like ‘h’ in English

*g gordo hard ‘g’ before ‘o’

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  genio cucuracha gato gimnasio gordo

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*g gusano ‘hard’ g before u

*h helado ‘h’ is a silent letter in Spanish

*j jirafa ‘j’ in Spanish sounds like ‘h’ in English

*ll amarillo ‘ll’ in Spanish sounds like ‘y’ sound in English

*ñ señorita ‘ñ’ is like ‘ny’ sound in English

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  jirafa gusano helado amarillo señorita

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*r ratón ‘r’ at the beginning of a word has a vibrating sound

*rr perro ‘rr’ has a vibrating sound too

*v ventana ‘v’- a soft, breathy ‘b’

*x xilófono ‘x’ at the start of a word is a bit like ‘s’ sound in English

*z zumo ‘z’ is ‘th’ sound in Spanish and like ‘s’ sound in Latin America

Say the words!

  ratón perro ventana zumo xilófono

Say the words!