Spanish
Alphabet and Pronunciation Guide
Letters not listed have the same sounds as their
English equivalents. They include: b, ch,
f, k, l, m, n, p, s, t, w
a pronounced
like the “a” in “yacht”
c pronounced
like the “c” in “car” when followed by an “a”, “o” or “u”, and pronounced like
the “c” in
“censor” when followed by
“e” or “i”
d pronounced
like the “d” in “dog”, except when it is placed between two vowels in which
case it is
pronounced like the “th” in “think”
e pronounced
like the “e” in “met”
g pronounced
like the “g” in “goose” when followed by an “a”, “o” or “u”; however, “gue” is
pronounced
like the word “gay” and “gui” is
pronounced like the “gee” in the word “geek”, additionally, pronounced like the
“h” in “house” when followed by an “e” or “i”
h not pronounced in Spanish; it is always silent, except when it follows
a “c”
i pronounced
like the “e” in “Pete”
j pronounced
like the “h” in “house”
ll pronounced like the “y” in “yell”
ñ pronounced
like the first “n” in “onion” or “canyon”
o pronounced
like the “o” in “tote”
q pronounced
like the “q” in “queen” and usually only ever followed by “ui” or “ue”, thus
“que” is
pronounced like the word “kay” and “qui” is
pronounced like the word “key”
r pronounced
like the “r” in “rope”, except when it comes between two vowels in which case
it is
pronounced like the “d” in “dog”, when
it starts a word it is rolled or trilled, and also at the end of a
word in some dialects.
rr this is a trilled or rolled “r” sound
u pronounced like the “u” in “flute”
v pronounced
like the “b” in “boy”
x pronounced
like the “x” in “examine” when it is followed by a vowel, and it is pronounced
like the"s" in the word
"sir" when
followed by a consonant, and finally it is pronounced like the Spanish
"J" when used in proper names
(México,
y pronounced
like the Spanish “i” and/or the Spanish “ll”
z pronounced
like the Spanish “s”
Strong vowels/weak
vowels/dipthongs
A, E, and O are considered the strong vowels in Spanish and
U and I are considered the weak vowels in Spanish
A dipthong is when two vowels come together in a word,
meaning they are side by side.
A dipthong is considered one syllable, and cannot be split
into two syllables unless the following conditions exist:
1. The diphthong consists of two strong vowels
2. The diphthong consists of a strong vowel and
a weak vowel, which has an accent mark.
The
possible diphthong combinations which result in a one syllable, blended sound
are as follows:
AI
/ AY SOUNDS LIKE THE "I" IN
THE WORD "TIME"
AU SOUNDS LIKE THE "OW"
IN THE WORD "NOW"
EI
/ EY SOUNDS
LIKE THE "A" IN THE WORD "DATE"
EU SOUNDS LIKE THE "E" IN THE WORD
"MET" FOLLOWED BY THE "OO" SOUND IN THE WORD
"TOO"
OI
/ OY SOUNDS LIKE THE
"OY" IN THE WORD "TOY"
OU SOUNDS LIKE THE
"OW" IN THE WORD "BLOW"
IA
/ YA SOUNDS LIKE THE
"YA" IN THE WORD "YACHT
IE
/ YE SOUNDS LIKE THE
"YE" IN THE WORD "YET"
IO
/ YO SOUNDS LIKE THE
"YO" IN THE WORD "YOGA"
IU
/ YU SOUNDS LIKE THE ENGLISH
WORD "YOU"
UA SOUNDS LIKE THE
"WA" IN THE WORD "WATT"
UE SOUNDS LIKE THE
"WA" IN THE WORD "WAIT"
UI SOUNDS LIKE THE
"WEE" IN THE WORD "WEEK"
UO SOUNDS LIKE THE
"UO" IN THE WORD "QUOTA"
Rules for spoken
stress:
1. If a word ends in a vowel, “n” or “s”, the spoken stress goes on the next to
the last syllable.
2.
If a word ends in a consonant, except “n” or “s”, the spoken stress goes on the
last syllable.
3.
If a word does not follow rule #1 or #2, it has an accent mark which will
indicate where to place the spoken stress
Tripthongs:
A tripthong is a combination of a stressed strong vowel in
between two weak vowels, forming a single syllable. Only four combinations exist in Spanish:
1. IAI SOUNDS LIKE
THE "YI" IN THE WORD "YIPE" EX: ESTUDIÁIS
2. IEI SOUNDS LIKE THE WORD "YEA"
(RHYMES W/ "WAY") EX: ESTUDIÉIS
3. UAI
OR UAY SOUNDS LIKE THE WORD
"WHY" EX: CONTINUÁIS /
4. UEI
OR UEY SOUNDS LIKE THE WORD
"WAY" EX: CONTINUÉIS / BUEY
Nombre:______________________________________________________ Fecha:
_____________________________
Direcciones: Write the number of syllables
each word has on the line provided. Then
circle the syllable that receives the spoken stress.
___
lápiz ___
gracias ___
estudiar ___
español ___
adiós ___
secretaria ___
estás ___
hospital ___
bien ___
mesa ___
libro ___
accidente ___
mal ___
problema ___
si ___
¿Comprende? ___
cansado ___
emergencia
___
estoy ___
sin ___
escritorio ___
señorita ___ página ___ cuello ___ mareado ___ estómago ___ flauta ___ tos ___ mariscos ___ médico ___ cuaderno ___ mochila ___ pluma ___ estrenimiento ___ jefe ___ gerente ___ dedos ___ dolor ___ riñón ___ lección ___ espalda ___ recepcionista
___ mira ___
silla