Pronunciation Tips/ Consejos para la pronunciación

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1. THE LETTERS B & V

In Spanish, B and V are pronounced alike. There is NOT much differentiation, and they are pronounced like the English b.

EXAMPLES

• barba / beard
• vaca /cow

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2. THE LETTER C

The letter C before the vowels a, o, and u, has a k sound, but before e and i has an s sound.

EXAMPLES

K sound	S sound
casa/ house	necesario/ necessary
comer/ to eat	cielo/ sky
cucaracha/ cockroach	Celia/ Celia (name)

 

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3. THE LETTER G

The letter G before the vowels a, o, u, ue and ui has the English hard g sound, such as in government, but before e and i, G has an exaggerated English h sound.

EXAMPLES

G sound	H (exaggerated) sound
gato/ cat	gente/ people
guerra/ war (u is silent)
guitarra/ guitar (u is silent)
goma/ rubber	girasol/ sunflower
gusano/ worm

NOTE: If the ü is before the e and i, the vowel u is also pronounced.

EXAMPLES

• cigüeña/ stork
• pingüino/ penguin

 

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4. THE LETTER R

a. The letter R sounds similar to the English dd or r sound, such as in ladder or rose, when the R is in the middle of a word, but NOT after the letters n, l, and s.

EXAMPLES

• pero/ but
• oro/ gold

 

b. The R and double RR are pronounced with a very strong trill in the following cases:

1) When words start in R, such as in Rosa/ Rose, rana/ frog.

2) When R comes after the letters n, l, or s, such as in enredado/, alrededor/ around, Israel/ Israel

3) Whenever R is doubled in a word, such as in perro/ dog, tierra/ earth, terremoto/ earthquake.

NOTE that Spanish words do NOT start with or end with RR.

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5. THE LETTERS LL & Y.

The letter Y sounds like the Spanish vowel i when Y stands alone or at the end of a word.

EXAMPLES

• Hoy/ today
• Sal y pimienta/ salt and pepper

 

NOTE: The pronunciation of LL & Y varies greatly throughout the Spanish-speaking countries; however, the majority pronounces them similar to the English sound in the word yes or million.

EXAMPLES

• lluvia/ rain
• payaso/ clown

 

In countries such as Argentina, Uruguay, and parts of Chile, both LL & Y are pronounced as sh, as in shop.

EXAMPLES

• lluvia/ rain
• payaso/ clown

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