Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Vowels
a
like ah, as in “hah”:
agua
AH-gooah (water),
pan
PAHN (bread), and
casa
CAH-sah
(house)
e
like ay, as in “may:”
mesa
MAY-sah (table),
tela
TAY-lah (cloth), and
de
DAY (of, from)
i
likeee,asin“need”:
diez
dee-AYZ(10),
comida
ko-MEE-dah(meal),and
fin
FEEN(end)
o
like oh, as in “go”:
peso
PAY-soh (weight),
ocho
OH-choh (eight), and
poco
POH-koh (a
bit)
u
like oo, as in “cool”:
uno
OO-noh (one),
cuarto
KOOAHR-toh (room), and
usted
oos-
TAYD (you); when it follows a “q” the
u
is silent; when it follows an “h” orhas an umlaut,
it's pronounced like “w”
Consonants
b, ch, d, f, k, l, m, n, p, q, s, t, v, w, x, y, z
pronounced almost as in English; h occurs, but
is silent—not pronounced at all.
c
like k as in “keep”:
cuarto
KOOAR-toh (room),
corazón
kor-a-SOHN (heart); when it
precedes “e” or “i,” pronounce
c
like s, as in “sit”:
cerveza
sayr-VAY-sah (beer),
encima
ayn-SEE-mah (atop).
g
like g as in “gift” when it precedes “a,” “o,” “u,” or a consonant:
gato
GAH-toh (cat),
hago
AH-goh (I do, make); otherwise, pronounce
g
like h as in “hat”:
giro
HEE-roh
(money order),
gente
HAYN-tay (people)
j
like h, as in “has”:
jueves
HOOAY-vays (Thursday),
mejor
may-HOR (better)
ll
like y, as in “yes”:
toalla
toh-AH-yah (towel),
ellos
AY-yohs (they, them)
ñ
like ny, as in “canyon”:
año
AH-nyo (year),
señor
SAY-nyor (Mr., sir)
r
is lightly trilled, with tongue at the roof of your mouth like a very light English r, as in
“ready”:
pero
PAY-roh (but),
tres
TRAYS (three),
cuatro
KOOAH-troh (four).
rr
like a Spanish r, but with much more emphasis and trill. Let your tongue flap. Practice
with
burro
(donkey),
carretera
(highway), and
Carrillo
(proper name), then really let go
with
ferrocarril
(railroad).
Note:
The single small but common exception to all of the above is the pronunciation of
Spanish
y
whenit'sbeingusedastheSpanishwordfor“and,”asin“Ron
y
Kathy.”Insuch
case, pronounce it like the English ee, as in “keep”: Ron “ee” Kathy (Ron and Kathy).
Accent
Native English speakers often make errors of pronunciation by ignoring accented, or
stressed, syllables. All Spanish vowels—a, e, i, o, and u—may carry accents determining
which syllable of a word is emphasized.
The rule for accent, the relative stress given to syllables within a given word, is straight-
forward. If a word ends in a vowel, an n, or an s, accent the next-to-last syllable; if not,
accent the last syllable.
