Alphabet & sounds
Terms
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- A
- ah, ah as in Ana (ah-nah), also aye with i- ai, ow with u- au
- ai
- like the English "aye" (Aye Aye Captain!) as in Jaime (hi-meh)
- au
- ow as in Augusto (ow-goos-toh
- B
- beh, "beh grande", b as in Beatriz (beh-ah-trees), same as "v"
- C
- say, like k as in Carlos (car-lohs), or soft C before e or i
- c soft
- like s (before e or i) as in Graciela (grah-see-eh-lah)
- CH
- chay, ch as in Archibaldo (ar-chee-bahl-doh)
- D
- day, d as in David (dah-veed)
- E
- ay, eh (as in let); as in Elena (eh-leh-nah), plus 3 other ways preceeding i, r, or u
- ei
- ay as in day, as in Reinaldo (ray-nahl-doh)
- er
- air as in Fernando (fair-nahn-doh)
- eu
- eh-oo as in Eugenio (eh-oo-hen-ee-oh)
- F
- ef-ay, f as in Federico (feh-deh-ree-koh)
- G
- hay, hard g, except h before e or i as in Geofredo heh-oh-freh-do
- g hard
- like Gregorio (greh-gor-ee-oh)
- H
- ah-chay, silent as in Hugo (oo-goh)
- I
- ee, ee as in Isabel (ees-ah-bel)
- J
- hotah, h as in José (hoh-seh)
- K
- kah, k as in Kenia (ken-ee-ah)
- L
- el-ay, l as in Lucas (loo-kahs)
- LL
- ay-yay, y as in Guillermo (gee-yair-moh)
- M
- em-ay, m as in María
- N
- en-ay, n as in Nicolás (nee-koh-lahs)
- Ñ
- en-yay, n-y (as in canyon); as in España (es-pahn-yah)
- O
- oh, oh as in Olivia (oh-lee-vee-ah), oy preceeding i or y
- oy, oi
- oy as in Moisés (moy-ses)
- P
- peh, p as in Pedro
- Q
- coo, k as in Quintín (keen-teen), u has no sound after it
- R
- air-ay, r (slightly rolled) as in Rosa (roh-sah)
- RR
- airrr-ay, rr (heavily rolled) as in Inglaterra (een-glah-teh-rrah)
- S
- es-ay, s as in Samuel (sah-moo-el)
- T
- teh, t as in Tomás (toh-mahs)
- U
- oo, oo as in Urbano (oor-bah-noh), wa preceeding a or wey preceeding e
- ua
- wah as in Gualterio (gwahl-tair-ee-oh)
- ue
- weh as in Manuela (mah-nweh-lah)
- V
- beh, (beh pequeño), v as in Vicente (bee-sen-teh), same a "b"
- W
- doh-bleh-beh, v as in Washington (vah-sheeng-tohn), only used in foreign words
- X
- eh-keys, k-s as in Maximiliano (mahk-see-mee-lee-ah-noh)
- Y
- ee-gree-ay-gah, y (as in york) as in Nueva York (nweh-vah york)
- Z
- say-tah, s as in Zacarías (sah-kah-ree-ahs)
- las vocales débiles
- "i and u are called ""weak"" (débiles), which means that in combination with another vowel, they tend to lose their vocalic quality and sound like ""y"" and ""w"" (examples: bien has only one syllable [sílaba] and the vowel you hear is the ""e""; bueno has two syllables and sounds like ""bweno⬝).
- las vocales fuertes
- a, o, and e are called "strong" (fuertes). Two strong vowels are pronounced as two syllables: po·e·ma has three syllables, ca·os has two.
- next to last sylable is accented when
- ends in a vowel or -n or -s, clase, alumno, cantan, mesas, examen, naciones
- last sylable is accented when
- word ends in a consonant, except -n, or -s ciudad, papel, legal, cantar
- when a dipthong accented, the accent goes over
- the strong vowel: a, o, or e cáus ti co, na ción.
- la diéresis
- If the letter "u" is to be pronounced in a "gue/gui" combination, it is marked with a diaeresis: pingüino, bilingüe, nicaragüense
- double consonants
- only four cc,ll,nn,rr consonants can be duplicated to represent specific sounds: cc is used before "e" or "i" only and sounds ks: acción and acceso. ll sounds y: calle, llama. rr represents the famous "rolling r" between vowels only: perro, carro. nn is used only when a prefix ending in "n" is added to a word beginning with "n": innecesario, connotación. No other consonants are duplicated.
- accenting a weak vowel
- used to stress a weak vowel (i, u) that is followed or preceded by a strong vowel (a, e, o): dí·a, Ma·rí·a, Ra·úl, o·í·do, a·hí, ra·íz, mí·o, dú·o, ge·o·gra·fí·a
- accented one-sylable words
- done only to distinguish between words spelled the same but with different meanings- si/sí, el,él, se/sé
- capital letters- las mayúsculas- not used for
- days, months or religions: lunes, martes, enero, febrero, el budismo, un católico. Also not used for adjectives that come from cities, countries, or rivers- venezolano, norteamericano, panameña, guatemalteco, caribeño.
- capital letters- las mayúsculas- book titles
- In long titles (of books, stories, movies, etc.), only the first word and any proper nouns are capitalized: La cabaña del tío Tom, Antología del cuento hispánico, Cien años de soledad.