1. 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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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

26. 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

27. 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