The Sounds of Spanish

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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

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The Sounds of Spanish

• 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.
• Thats good news!!

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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!!

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The Sounds of Spanish

• The KEY to good Spanish
• Learn the vowel sounds first.
• Then add the consonants in.
• Watch for letter combination sounds.
• Dont be afraid to try!

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The Sounds of Spanish

• The Vowels

• A E I O U

Even though the vowels are the same letters as in
English, they make different sounds in Spanish.
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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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The Sounds of Spanish

• The Consonants

• B/V G H J Ñ Z

• There are many consonants in Spanish that look
  the same as the letters in English but they sound
  different.

• These are easy to learn!

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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.
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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.

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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 pronouncedohm-breh.

hombre
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The Sounds of Spanish

• The letter J in Spanish makes the sound of h
  like in hard.
• Jardín is pronouncedhahr-deen.

jardín
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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
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The Sounds of Spanish

• The letter Z in Spanish makes the sound S
  like in simple.
• There is no vibration for the Z sound.

zapato sah-pah-toh
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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!
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The Sounds of Spanish

• 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
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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
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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
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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
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The Sounds of Spanish

• In Spanish, the letter combination QU makes the
  sound k as in king.

queso keh-soh
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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
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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.

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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