Lesson 2: Spanish Pronunciation and Spelling

Introduction

Even if one's main interest is reading, some treatment of pronunciation is necessary. Many words differ only in minor aspects of their pronunciation, such as hablo (I speak) and habló (he/she/it/you spoke). A knowledge of pronunciation makes some verb problems go away: it explains, for example, why the verb hacer (to do or make) has a z in its third person singular preterit form, hizo (he/she/it/you did or made).

Also, most students learning to read Spanish want to know how to pronounce it correctly. Thus, we will include an overview of the features of Spanish pronunciation most problematic for English speakers and most relevant to learning to read. Spanish pronunciation is much closer to the written form of the language than is that of English or French, which makes the learner's task easier. Letters not discussed below have the same or nearly the same pronunciation as English.

You can click on any Spanish word in this lesson to hear its pronunciation. With the letters z and c before e or i, as discussed below, the pronunciation used is that which distinguishes them from the s: the pronunciation of Spain, sometimes called "Castilian Pronunciation."

Each sound file (each word) is approximately 50K in size. That is to say, each word is longer than the entire text of this lesson. There are ways to shrink the files, but then you'd have to have different software to hear them. This is why there may be delays, depending on the speed of your connection and the congestion of the network.

Word Stress and Written Accents

• Throughout, the word "accent" refers to a written accent mark. The "accented syllable" as used in English, that is the syllable that receives the emphasis or stress, is called "the stressed syllable." All accented syllables are stressed, but not all stressed syllables are accented.
• Spanish has only one type of accent mark: the acute accent. It is a diagonal line (´), written on top of the stressed vowel. (The accent is only used on vowels.) With an i, the accent takes the place of the dot (í).
• The written accent has no effect on alphabetical order.
• The accent mark is not considered part of the word's spelling. It may be present in the singular of a word, but not in the plural (nación - naciones), or in some verb forms but not in others (hablo-habló, estar - esté).
• Sometimes the accent serves to distinguish homonyms (este - esté, si - sí). This will be discussed in a future lesson.
• The tilde (~), written only over the n, and the two dots over the u, discussed below, are not accent marks.

How to Find a Word's Stressed Syllable

• Each Spanish word has one and only one stressed syllable.
• If a word has a written accent mark, it is found over the stressed syllable.
  • nación
  • pájaro
  • cómo
  • día
  Since Spanish words have only one stressed syllable, they have only one accent mark, if any.
• Word stress, for words without a written accent mark, is always determined working from the end of the word forward. It is “the last syllable,” “the next to last syllable,” “two syllables before the last,” not “the first syllable,” etc. In addition, it depends on the concluding letter of the word.
  • Words without a written accent mark, ending in a vowel, n, or s, are stressed on the next to last syllable:
    • España
    • Estados Unidos
    • hablo
    • naciones
  • All other words - that is to say, words without a written accent mark, not ending in a vowel, n, or s -are stressed on the last syllable:
    • pared
    • reloj
    • hablar
• Syllable Definition. W hen two vowels are juxtaposed (next to each other), one needs to know whether they form one or two syllables.
  • The rule is: an i or u without a written accent mark will combine with an adjacent vowel to form a single syllable. The other vowel (the one adjacent to the ior u) receives the spoken stress.
    • historia (The i and the a combine, so the to is the next-to-last syllable, and therefore stressed.
    • puede (The u and e combine, forming one syllable, so the ue is the next-to-last syllable and therefore stressed. The e is the major vowel in the syllable, receiving the spoken stress.)
    • peruano (The u and a combine; the word has three syllables; the a receives the spoken stress.)
  • Otherwise, adjacent vowels are in separate syllables.
    • biología
    • policía
    • correo
    • caer

Pronunciation of VOWELS

• Vowels in Spanish follow the standard continental (European) pronunciation, shared by French, Italian, and other languages
  • a like the a of father: mañana.
  • e like the e of weigh or the a of late: pero.
  • i like the i of machine: país.
  • o like the o of no: como.
  • u is like the English u in lunar: luna. It does not have the y sound that the u has at the beginning of a word in English (use, university).
• The vowels are always pronounced the same way. Each a in mañana is the same, not varying like the o's in English tomorrow. Vowels are never silent (except the u of gu and qu).
• The differences in vowels and word stress means that many cognates—words that are similar to English words—are pronounced quite differently. Try to pronounce each of the following, then click on them to check your answers:
  • ideal
  • liberal
  • hipócrita
  • interesante
  • teléfono
  • policía
  • universidad
  • América
  • Europa
  • real
  • responsable
  • sentimental
  • terrible
  • valiente
  • elegante
  • emocional
  • tímido
  • cruel
  • intensivo

Pronunciation of CONSONANTS

• Consonants with unchanging pronunciation.
  • The following consonants are identical or close to their English pronunciation: d, f, k, l, m, n, p, t.
  • The b and v are pronounced identically in Spanish. The sound is a weak b, in which the lips do not quite close: burro, vaca.
  • Ll. There are regional variations, but the most common pronunciation is as a y.
    • llama
  • Ñ of mañana. (See Lesso n 1.)
  • H is silent (except in ch, pronounced as in English).
    • hora
    • hombre
    • búho
    • muchacho
  • Y is a vowel only in the one-letter word y (and). Otherwise it is a consonant pronounced the same as in English: ya, yo, hay.
  • R is quite different from English. The tongue touches the roof of the mouth in back of the front teeth: pero. It is closer to a t or d than to the English r.
    • At the beginning of a word, the r is trilled: rosa, rey, red.
  • The rr, found only in the middle of words, represents the same trilled sound as the initial r: perro, ahorrar, ferrocarril. Note the difference between pero and perro.
  • Qu is always pronounced like k (never kw, as it is in Italian and English).
    • que
    • quiero
    • aquella
    • The kw sound is written with a gu or cu: cuando (not quando); agua (not aqua).
  • S. In English s has two sounds: an unvoiced sound (loose, safe), and a voiced sound, the same as z (lose, rose, words). In Spanish the s always has the former (unvoiced) sound (rosa, cosas). The sound of English z does not exist in Spanish.
    • In contrast, Italian has a voiced s: : the same word, casa, is pronounced with a z sound in Italian, but an s sound in Spanish.
  • J. The Spanish j has a sound like the ch in the Scottish loch or in the German Achtung. It is a gutteral sound like a gargle:
    • julio
    • jugo
    • José (not pronounced Jozé)
    • Quijote
    • The sound of j in the English word judge or the Italian oggi does not exist in Spanish.
  • Z. The differences in pronounciation of the letter z (and with it the c before e or i; see below) are commonly referred to as the difference between "Latin-American Spanish" and "Castilian Spanish." However, Spanish spelling reflects the pronunciation of Spain (Castile). Link to additional comments about "Castilian Spanish" and "Latin-American Spanish."
    • In Spain, z is pronounced like a th. Zapato, zócalo, zona, zorro, cazar as pronounced in Spain.
    • In Spanish America, z is pronounced identically with the s. However, the difference in spelling is important. Zapato, zócalo, zona, zorro, cazar as pronounced in Spanish America.
    • The z is never pronounced like the English z (zone).
• The letter x.
  • X is pronounced like j, or sometimes sh, in Mexican names:
    • México (written Méjico in Spain). The adjective is always written with a j: mejicano
    • Oaxaca
    • Texas (often written Tejas; adjective tejano)
    • Xalapa
    • Xochimilco (pronounced like s).
  • Otherwise, the X is identical or very close to English:
    • éxito
    • taxi
    • explicar

• Consonants whose pronunciation changes depending on the vowel which follows.
  • C.
    • Before a, o, u, or at the end of a word, c is pronounced like a k:
      • carro
      • coche
      • cuna
      • coñac
    • Before e or i, the c is pronounced like z (in Spain as th, in Spanish America as s):
      • cero (Spain: thero; Spanish America sero)
      • cielo (Spain: thielo; Spanish America sielo)
    • In English, the c also changes its pronunciation depending on whether it is followed by (1) a, o, u or (2) e, i: cat, coal, cute, celebrate, nice.
  • G.
    • Before a, o, u, the g is pronounced with the “hard”g sound of English golly:
      • gato
      • agonía
      • laguna
    • Before e, i, the g has the same pronounciation as the Spanish j.
      • gelatina
      • geneología
      • gitano
    • In English, the g also changes its pronunciation depending on whether it is followed by (1) a, o, u or (2) e, i: gal, goal, gum, germ, gigolo.
  • Gu. While the gu is not a single letter, the combination functions like the c or the g.
    • Before e or i, the gu serves to represent the hard g sound:
      • guerra
      • guisar
      • guitarra
      • Guernica (a town; also a famous painting by Picasso)
    • Before a or o, the gu is pronounced gw:
      • guante
      • guapo
      • ambiguo
      • antiguo
    • To write the gw sound before e or i, two dots are placed on top of the u: gü. The two dots are only used on the u and only before an e or i. Like the accent mark, the two dots have no effect on alphabetical order.
      • vergüenza
      • lingüística

Recapitulation: consonants whose pronunciation changes depending on the following vowel.

Table 1: How to Pronounce the Letters

Table 2: How to Write the Sounds

Table 1: How to Pronounce the Letters (from the letters to the sounds)

Table 2: How to Write the Sounds (from the sounds to the letters)

Exercise: Using pronunciation to find dictionary entries

Depending on the initial vowel of the ending, the sound preceding if varies in its writing. Remember: the important point is how the sound is written under the changed vowel context.

The following includes endings which change their initial vowel. Following the indication of the different ending, see if you can find the spelling of the new form, and find it in your dictionary. Then click on each for the correct answer.

1. veces: remove ending -es completely.
2. averigüé: ending is -ar instead of -é.
3. luces: remove ending -es completely.
4. chiquito: ending is -o instead of -ito.
5. mosquito: ending is -a instead of -ito.
6. vaquero (English buckeroo): ending is -a instead of -ero.
7. venza: ending is -er instead of -a.
8. surja: ending is -ir instead of -a.
9. cargue: ending is -ar instead of -e.
10. acerqué: ending is -ar instead of é

Here are the answers to this exercise.

Exercise: Pronunciation Practice Using Geographical Names

The following are the names of coujntries as spelled in Spanish, and in parentheses the names of the inhabitants of these countries. As we discussed in Lesson 1, adjectives (such as mejicano) derived from proper nouns (México) are not capitalized in Spanish.

1. España (español)
2. México (mejicano)
3. Guatemala (guatemalteco)
4. El Salvador (salvadoreño)
5. Belice (beliceño)
6. Honduras (hondureño)
7. Nicaragua (nicaragüense)
8. Costa Rica (costarricense, )
9. Panamá (panameño)
10. Colombia (colombiano)
11. Venezuela (venezolano)
12. Ecuador (ecuatoriano)
13. Perú (peruano)
14. Bolivia (boliviano)
15. Chile (chileno)
16. Paraguay (paraguayo)
17. Uruguay (uruguayo)
18. Argentina (argentino)
19. Cuba (cubano)
20. República Dominicana (dominicano)
21. Puerto Rico (puertorriqueño)
22. Guinea Ecuatorial (?)
23. Estados Unidos (estadounidense, norteamericano)
24. Madrid (madrileño)
25. Sevilla (sevillano)
26. Granada (granadino)
27. Buenos Aires (bonaerense)
28. Yucatán (yucateco)
29. Galicia (gallego)
30. Jalisco (jaliciense)
31. Xalapa (jalapeño)

Answers to exercise on finding dictionary entries:

vez

averiguar (Note that the gü, which writes the gw sound before e, has changed to gu, since the following vowel is an a.)

luz

chico

mosca

vaca

vencer

surgir

cargar

acercar

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