Spanish Pronunciation Cheat Sheet, Cheat Sheet of Spanish Language

Download Spanish Pronunciation Cheat Sheet and more Cheat Sheet Spanish Language in PDF only on Docsity! Spanish Pronunciation “Cheat Sheet” Vowel Sounds  A – always pronounced “ah”, as in father ( Spanish example: nada)  E – always pronounced as a short e, as in best, dress (Spanish example: inglés)  I – always pronounced “ee”, as in feet, bee ( Spanish example: sí)  O – always pronounced as a long o, as in or, doctor, but with the lips a little more rounded. It is always a pure vowel with no trace of the u sound which is present in the English pronunciation of “no”. (Spanish example: foto)  U – pronounced “oo”, as in fool, pool. (Spanish example: uno) except in a combination where it is preceded by “g” and followed by “a” where has a “w” sound (Spanish example: Guadalajara). See also the rules for gue, gui, que, qui and for the diaresis mark. Like English, Spanish has hard vowels (A, O, U) and soft vowels (E, I) which affect the pronunciation of C and G in front of the them. Consonant Sounds  B – Similar to the English “b” but less plosive; between vowels it is pronounced very softly so that the lips touch only slightly. (Spanish example: bebida) It’s interchangeable with the pronunciation of “v”.  C – As in English, before “a”, “o”, and “u” it is pronounced as a “k” as in can. (Spanish example: cantar) Before e or i, c is pronounced as an s as in cent. (Spanish examples: centavo, ciudad)  CC – Pronounced very similar to the “cc” in accident (Spanish example: accidente)  D – Similar to the English “d” in “bed” but with the tongue further forward; between vowels or as the last letter of a word it is pronounced similar to the “th” in “the” (Spanish example: ciudad)  G – Before A, O, or U it is pronounced as the G in gate (Spanish example: gato) Before E or I it is pronounced like the English H but more emphatic. (Spanish example: general)  H – Always silent in Spanish. (Spanish example: hotel)  J – Always pronounced like the English H but more emphatic (Spanish example: jalapeño)  LL – Always pronounced as the Y in yes.(Spanish example: ella)  ñ – This Spanish letter is pronounced NY as in canyon (Spanish example: español)  R – Similar to English (Spanish example: hora) except when it is the first letter of a word it is strongly trilled. (Spanish example: Costa Rica)  RR – Always strongly trilled. (Spanish example: arroz)  V –There is no difference between the “v” and the “b” (Spanish example: video)  Y – Standing alone, it is pronounced “ee” as in tree (Spanish example: cinco y media, San Ysidro), that is, just like an “i” would be. Next to a vowel or between vowels, it is pronounced like the “y” in yearn (Spanish example: vaya, hoy)  Z – Like the English S (Spanish example: diez, Cortez)  QUE – pronounced ke as in kept (Spanish example: ¿Qué pasa?)  QUI – pronounced kee as in keep (Spanish example: quince)  GUE – pronounced ge as in get (Spanish example: guerro)  GUI – pronounced gee as in geese (Spanish example: guitarra)  Sounds to focus on: vowels, h, j, ll, ñ, g, que/qui/gue/gui  The remaining letters are pronounced as they are in English with only very slight variations. Syllable Emphasis and the Accent Normally the syllable that is emphasized (or stressed) is either the last or next to last according to the following rules:  Words that end in a consonant other than N and S have stress on the last syllable. Examples: comer, verdad.  Words that end in a vowel, S, or N have stress on the next to the last syllable. Examples: tacos, enchilada, hacen.  Many two-vowel combinations diphthong (see next section) unless one of them has an accent. Examples: colonia, Mario. In Spanish, an accent on a vowel (á, é, i, ó, ú) serves two purposes:  Overrides normal stress. Examples: millón, cárcel, liberación, dólar.  Used to distinguish between identical words including interrogatives in questions. Examples: si (if) vs. sí (yes), tú (you) vs. tu (your), él (he) vs. el (the), mí (me) vs. mi (my). Interrogatives: ¿Qué quiere? (what do you want) vs. Hace lo que quiere. (Do what you want) Emphasis is very important for verbs: “hablo” means “I speak”, “habló” means “he spoke”.