Spanish Pronunciation Guide
By Dick Oakes
A a, B b, C c, D d, D d, E e, F f, G g,
H h, I i, J j, K k, L l, Ll ll, M m, N n, Ñ ñ, O o, P p,
Q q, R r, Rr rr, S s, T t, U u, V v,
W w, X x, Y y, Z z
Spanish (español), also known as Castilian (castellano), is the third most-spoken language in the world. Originating in Spain and spoken by most residents there, it has slightly different pronunciations from the rest of the world's Spanish speakers, as well as a few vocabulary differences.
A Western Romance language, Spanish is closely related to other romance languages to a wide extent, such as Portuguese, Catalan, French, Italian, and Romanian. English and Spanish share variants of approximately one third of their words (via Latin), although the pronunciation tends to be very different.
The Spanish verb tense system is fairly similar to English, but all six person/number combinations take different endings in the indicative. The formal "you" (usted(es)) takes a third-person verb. Spanish has genders, so a man says "encantado" and a woman says "encantada." The indirect object and the animate direct object are both marked by a.
Letters not listed below are pronounced approximately as in English.
Basic Rules of Accentuation
Syllable Division Involving Two Vowels
The vowels a, e, and o are "strong" vowels, and i and u are "weak" vowels. When two vowels are together, the following rules affect sylllable division and accentuation:
A, a | - a as in father |
E, e | - e as in grey for a syllable ending in a vowel; also e as in let for a sylable ending in a consonant |
I, i | - i as in machine |
O, o | - o as in note for a syllable ending in a vowel; o as in pot for a syllable ending in a consonant |
U, u | - u as in duke; silent after q and in ghe groups gue and gui |
Y, y | - y as in fuzzy when used as a vowel |
B, b | - b as in boy when found at the beginning of a word or following a consonant; bv as in obvious otherwise |
C, c | - c as in cat before a consonant or a, o, or u; c as in cell before e or i |
D, d | - d as in dog; th as in this between vowels and following l or n |
G, g | - g as in Gila monster before e or i; g as in go otherwise |
h | - silent |
J, j | - as an h but stronger; silent at the end of a word |
Ll, ll | - y as in you |
N, n | - same as in English except m when it appears before a v |
Ñ, ñ | - n as in onion |
Q, q | - q as in quick (always followed by a silent u) |
R, r | - strongly rolled at the beginning of a word and following l, n, or s; very little roll when at the end of a word; medium roll when in other positions |
Rr, rr | - strongly rolled |
S, s | - s as in silk, but z as in zwieback before b, d, g, l, m, n |
V, v | - bv as in obvious |
W, w | - usually as a v |
X, x | - x in box when between vowels; s as in silk |
Y, y | - y as in fuzzy when used as a vowel |
Z, z | - z as in zwieback |
DIPTHONGS: | |
ai | - ai as in Paiute |
aj | - ay as in kayak |
ei | - ei as in heinous |
ey | - ey as in grey |
eu | - eu as in feud |
oi | - oi as in foible |
oy | - oy as in toy |
SEMICONSONANTS: | |
i | - i as in fiesta |
u | - u as in pueblo |
Y | - y as in yes |
Copyright © 2014 by Dick Oakes