Speak Spanish better - Spanish pronunciation - oral language work
One of the best things about learning Spanish is that once you know how to pronounce the sounds of the letters, you will be able to say almost any word that you read. This is not the case for people learning English. Imagine how dificult it is to learn how to pronounce words such as ought, cough, bough, rough, through, though, etc. If you have a sound card, you can hear all the sounds on our web page sound version. Go to: https://lingolex.com/pronounce/. You will need a reasonably good Internet connection.
| Vowels | |
| a - gato | The Spanish "a" is a short sharp sound like "hat" in English. More examples: pato - apio - loca |
| e - pelo | The Spanish "e" is like the "e" in "wet" in English More examples: elegir - éxito - sed |
| i - vino | The Spanish "i" is like the "ee" in "seen" but a bit shorter sin - miércoles - idiota |
| o - boca | The Spanish "o" can have two sounds. When it is at the end of a word it is like the "o" in note e.g. "pato". When it is before a consonant it is shorter, like "pot" or "cot" e.g. "boda". This difference is very subtle. pato - apio - loca |
| u - fruta | The Spanish "u" is like the "oo" in "food" Note: It is silent after "q" and in "gue" and "gui". The exceptions are marked with a diaeresis: e.g. antigüedad. The "ü" is not very common. luna - puro - mudo |
| Dipthongs | |
| ai/ay - baile | The Spanish "ai" is like the "i" in "side" aislar - paisaje - vaina - haya |
| au - sauna | The Spanish "au" is like the "ou" in "sound" causa - pausa - audio - audiencias |
| ei, ey - reina | The Spanish "ei" and "ey" sound like the "ay" in say rey - peine - seis |
| eu - europa | The Spanish "eu" has no English equivalent and is difficult to define. It is just the sounds of "e" and "u" together a bit like the "oo" in "soon" but not exactly. It is not very common. deuda - neutral - reumatismo |
| oi, oy - oiga | The Spanish "oi" and "oy" are like the "oy" in boy. soy - doy - boicot - sois - coyote |
| Semi-consonants | |
| ie/y - bien | The Spanish "y" and "ie" have the "y" sound in "yes". Note that the word "y" meaning "and" sounds like the Spanish "i". hielo - yerno - yeso - tierno - miedo |
| ue - bueno | The Spanish "u + vowel" sounds like the "w" in "win". Note that when "u" is followed by a vowel it normally has the "w" sound. fuente - huevo - agua - fui - fuimos - cuota |
| Consonants | |
| b,v - boda | The Spanish "b" is almost exactly the same as an English "b". Note: Both "b" and "v" have the "b" sound in Spanish. In fact Spanish people can have difficulty with the spelling and you can somtimes see signs in restaurants, etc. which are misspelled. bomba - enviar - voy - Córdoba |
| c - casa | The Spanish "c" has the English "k" sound except when it comes before "e" and "i". Before "e" and "i" it has a "th" sound as in "thin". academia - con - Ecuador - cola |
| c - Barcelona | The Spanish "c" has the English "k" sound except when it comes before "e" and "i". Before "e" and "i" it has a "th" sound as in "thin". sociedad - recibir - receta |
| ch - mucho | The Spanish "ch" is the same as the "ch" in church. bochorno - champán - champiñón - champú |
| d - duro | The Spanish "d" is very similar to the English "d" when it comes at the end of a word it can have a "th" like sound e.g. Madrid, verdad. del - definir - ciudad - domingo |
| f - familia | The Spanish "f" is the same as the English "f". freír - difícil - afeitar - foro |
| g - general | The Spanish "g" is like the Spanish "j" when it comes before "i" and "e". The Spanish "j" sounds like the "ch" in the Scottish "loch". gemelo - geranio - gimnasio - gitano |
| g - gordo | The Spanish "g" is like the English "g" unless it comes before "i" and "e". Galicia - golpe - guante - iglesia |
| h - hombre | The Spanish "h" is always silent. honor - Alhambra - rehacer |
| j - jueves | The Spanish "j" is a strong guttural sound similar to the "ch" in the Scottish "loch". jota - jabón - lenguaje - eje |
| k - kilo | The Spanish "k" is the same as the English "k". It is very uncommon in Spanish. kilo - kilovatio - kiosco - kiwi |
| l - loco | The Spanish "l" is the same as the English "l". lobo - lámpara - ladrón |
| ll - calle | The Spanish "ll" sounds like the "y" in yes. taller - valle - llamar - llover - lleno- Mallorca |
| m - mano | The Spanish "m" is the same as the English "m". mama - tomar - malo - mixta |
| n - nada | The Spanish "n" is the same as the English "n". nadar - nadie - no- uno |
| ñ - España | The Spanish "ñ" is like the "ni" in "onion" in English. baño - caña - riñón - teñir |
| p - padre | The Spanish "p" is the same as the "p" in English. pato - apio - lápiz |
| q - quien | The Spanish "q" is pronounced like the English "k" in "kick". queso - qué - querer - quince |
| r - robar | The Spanish "r" is a similar to the English "r" but it is stronger and it sounds like the "r" in a Scottish accent. rabo - radio - mar |
| rr - perro | The Spanish "rr" does not exist in English. It is a very strong "r" with a trill. Many English speakers find this sound very difficult to pronounce. puerro - berro - carro - guerra - parra - barrio |
| s - casa | The Spanish "s" has two sounds. It is pronounced the same as English except when it comes before b, d, g, l, m, n. saber - sobre - cosas - asunto |
| s - mismo | The Spanish "s" has two sounds. It is pronounced the same as English except when it comes before b, d, g, l, m, n. mismo - desde - asno |
| t - tres | The Spanish "t" is very similar to the "t" in English. In Spanish the tongue is placed closer to the teeth and there is less aspiration. trigo - tomar- todo - patata |
| x - máximo | The Spanish "x" is similar to the English pronunciation and it has a "ks" sound. extra - sexto- exacto - éxito |
| z - zapatos | The Spanish "z" has the "th" sound in the English thin. zona - cazar - zorro - luz |