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Spanish Pronunciation
Pronunciation of Spanish vowels and some vowel combinations

by Mariángeles Di Paola

Buenos Aires, November, 2011


If you follow the instructions for Spanish pronunciation, you will acquire many of them without difficulty. That΄s why most of the Spanish vowels and consonants are pronounced in a fixed way. On the other hand, English pronunciation has several rules, therefore there are many ways to pronounce, for instance, the letter “a” or “t”.

We can study the Spanish alphabet in order to spell words or to learn how to pronounce Spanish letters. In this article, let΄s focus on the second option..


Spanish alphabet

Spanish alphabet has 27 letters in total, 5 vowels (a, e, i, o, u) and 22 consonants.

A – B – C – D – E – F – G – H – I – J – K – L – M – N – Ρ* – O – P – Q – R – S – T – U – V – W – X – Y – Z

* Note that the letter Ρ is used only in Spanish but its sound is not unique to Spanish. To represent this sound we write gn in French, like in champagne, and ni in English, like in onion.


Pronunciation of Spanish vowels and some vowel combinations

Spanish letters (vowels)
a
e
i (y)
o
u
Similar to English
ah
ay*
ee
oh*
oo
Spanish letters (some vowel combinations)
ua
ue
ie
ei
Similar to English
wah
way
yay
ayee


* Oh and ay are not exact equivalents of Spanish o and e but they are enough for practical purposes.

Note that for each Spanish letter (vowel) we are comparing the sound it represents to a nearby sound of English.

Regarding vowels, Spanish words have vowels and many of them, vowel combinations. Words formed by so many vowels is a typical feature of Romance languages.

Examples
Vowels a and o: canal (kah-nhal), sαbado (sah-bah-doh), color (koh-lohr), actor (ahk-tohr), admirar (ahd-mee-rahr), rancho (rahn-choh). English translation: channel, Saturday, color, actor, admire, ranch.
Vowels e and i:, rodeo (roh-day-oh, tomate (toh-mah-tay), domingo (doh-meen-goh). English translation: rodeo, tomato, Sunday.
Vowel u: uno (oo-noh), punto (poon-toh). English translation: one, period or full stop.
Some vowel combinations: cuatro (kwah-troh), jueves (hway-vays), viernes (vyayr-nays), veinte (vayeen-tay). English translation: four, Thursday, Friday, twenty.



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