Jueves, 9 de septiembre de 2021

The Spanish Sound System

Objectives
• Recognize and reproduce the sounds of the Spanish vowels, diphthongs and consonants
orally
• Recognize Spanish consonants that are different from English
• Recognize and reproduce the rules of Spanish pronunciation

Las vocales – the vowels

Vowels in Spanish, unlike in English, are pronounced the same wherever they occur. The vowels
in Spanish are the same as the vowels in English. Pay attention to their sounds.
• a – ah e.g. oso
e.g. araña • u - oo
• e – ay e.g. uñas
e.g. elefante *N.B. The strong vowels in Spanish are a,
• i – ee o and e
e.g. inteligente *The weak vowels in Spanish are i and u
• o – oh

Activity 1 - Practice the Spanish vowel sounds in the following words

• Papa • Loco
• Agua • Bonito
• Esperanza • Grupo
• Elote • Bonito
• Chica
• Brisa

Diphthongs
• A diphthong is a sound formed by two vowels in a single syllable
• In Spanish, a diphthong is formed by combining a strong vowel (a,o,u) with a weak
vowel (i, e)
• The strong vowel is stressed more than the weak vowel
 Diphthong Pronunciation Example Diphthong Pronunciation Example

au ow aula
ai ay aire iu yoo viuda

eu ehoo Europa oi oy coincidencia

ei ey reina ua wah agua
ia yah piano
ue weh fuego
ie yeh tierra
ui wee fuiste
io yoh radio
uo woh cuota

Activity 2 - Practice the Spanish diphthong sounds in the following words

• Bueno • Anciano
• Suizo • Cielo
• Paisajes • Sucio
• Seis • Ciudad
• Oigo • Guante
• Autor • Antiguo
• Deuda

Activity 3 - Practice saying the following tongue twister (trabalenguas)

Seis serios sirios
Comen seis ciruelas de Siria
Seis sabios serbios
comen seis
cerezas de Serbia

Activity 4 - Trabalenguas
Male a voice recording of yourself saying the following tongue twister and send it via Teams.
Hay suecos en Suiza y hay suizos en Suecia
Spanish Consonants
• All Spanish consonants follow strict rules for the sounds they make.
• The sound a consonant makes only changes when it is combined with certain consonants and vowels.
• Consonants in Spanish are pronounced more softly than they are pronounced in English.
• (Remember that vowels are pronounced the same wherever they occur)
B – be – bay / V – ve – vay

• The consonants ‘b’ and ‘v’ are pronounced the same, the sound being somewhere between the two
letters.
Pronounce ‘escoba’ without letting your lips meet. This is the sound you should try to achieve when
pronouncing ‘b’ or ‘v’.

• The only exception is at the beginning of a word, it is a clear ‘b’ sound.

• E.g. baloncesto
barco
C – ce – say

‘c’ is pronounced in two different ways

Before a, o and u, it is pronounced as a hard c, or ‘k’ E.g. carro

coche culebra

Before e and i, it is pronounced as a soft c, or ‘s’ E.g. cielo

cerdo
D – de – day/ T- te – tay

• These are pronounced much more softly than they are in English.
• To make the correct sound, touch the tip of your tongue to behind your two front teeth.
• E.g. donar
pescado tiempo
atraer
F – efe – ay-fay

• This is pronounced like the letter ‘f’ in English.

• E.g. fantasma
afecto
G – ge – hay
G is also pronounced in two different ways. Before a, o and u, it is pronounced as a hard g. E.g. ganar
goma gusano
Before e and i, it is pronounced as a soft g.
• E.g. Gemelo
• girasol
H – hache – ah-chay

• H in Spanish is silent, so when you see it in a word, pretend it doesn’t exist (unless it’s a ‘ch’ word.)
• E.g. almohada
ahora helado
J – jota – hota

• ‘J’ in Spanish is most often pronounced as ‘h’ but can also have a harder sound.
• E.g. reloj
jardín jamón
K – ka – ka

• The Spanish ‘k’ is the same as the English ‘k’ and it is not very common in Spanish. It is used mostly for
words that have been taken from English.
• E.g. kilo
kiwi

L – ele – ay-lay

This is pronounced like the English ‘l’. E.g. largo

elote
When ‘l’ appears as a double consonant ‘ll’, it is pronounced as the English ‘y’, ‘j’ or a mix of both letters.
• E.g. llegar
pollo
M – eme – ay-may/N – ene – ay nay

‘m’ and ‘n’ are pronounced the same as they are in English. E.g. montaña
nariz
Ñ – eñe – ay-nyay

This is pronounced ‘ny’ like in ‘onion’ or ‘canyon.’

 • E.g. mañana
niña
P – pe – pay

This is pronounced the same as the English ‘p’, but is slightly softer. E.g. poema
empapar
Q – cu – koo

• This is always followed by the letter ‘u’ and sounds like the English ‘k’
E.g. que
queso
R – ere – ay-ray

• A single ‘r’ should sound like the letter ‘d’ E.g. pero
flores

When r appears as a double consonant ‘rr,’ it is a trilled and more pronounced sound E.g. perro
cachorro
S – ese – ay-say

• This is pronounced just like the English ‘s’ E.g. sangría

salvar
W – doble ve – doh-blay-vay

• This is pronounced like the English ‘w’ but is not a letter that is native to the Spanish language. E.g.
kiwi windsurf
X – equis – ay-kees

This is pronounced ‘ks’ like in socks. E.g. examen

texto
Y – i griega – ee- gree-ay-gah

• This usually sounds like the English ‘y’

• E.g. yo mayo
Z – zeta – say-ta

This is pronounced like the English ‘s’.

E.g. zapatos
Zoológico
Activity – Practice saying the following words
• Bajo • Correr
• Caja • Guerra
• Anaranjado • Zambullirse
• Jirafa • Cantar
• Acogedor • Cima
• Apagar • Año
• General • Hoy
• Girasol • Queso
• Aburrido • Escoba
• Carrera
Activity – Practice the following words
• Ejercer
• Llorar
• Joya
• Zapato
• Hoy
• Ahora
• Gemelo
• Dividir
• Vaca
• Añorar
The Rules of Pronunciation

1. If a word ends in a vowel, an "n" or an "s," the stress is in the next to last syllable (the penultimate syllable).
Perro
Calculadora
Joven
Manzanas

2. Words ending in any other letter have the stress on the last syllable.

Hotel
Comer
Trabajador

3. For any word that does not follow the above rules, an accent is placed over the vowel of the syllable that gets
the stress.

Difícil
Lápiz
Inglés