Unidad 1: Los sonidos del español
2. ¡Aprendamos el abecedario en español!
As previously mentioned, the vowels always have the same sound and each consonant has a specific sound depending upon the vowel that follows it. Studying each sound and the rules that each sound follows will help you avoid mispronunciations; more importantly; it gives you the opportunity to be able to hear a Spanish word and be able to spell it out because Spanish is phonetic—words are pronounced the way they are spelled. Learn the Spanish alphabet and the proper pronunciation of all letters.
| El alfabeto español | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| La letra | El nombre | El sonido | Las vocales | Los ejemplos |
| A, a | a | Sounds like ‘a’ in father | abeja | |
| B,b | be, be grande | Sounds like ‘b’ in boy | a,e,i,o,u | bebé |
| C,c | ce | Strong sounds like ‘k’ in cap | a, o, u | casa |
| Soft Sounds like ‘th’ in thought (North and Central Spain) | e , i | cero | ||
| Soft Sounds like ‘s’ in dress ( America and south of Spain) | e , i | cero | ||
| D, d | de | Sounds like ‘d’ in day | a,e,i,o,u | dedo |
| E, e | e | Sounds like ‘e’ in elephant | elefante | |
| F, f | efe | Sounds like ‘f’ in family | a,e,i,o,u | fuente |
| G, g | ge | Soft sounds like ‘g’ in sugar | a, o, u | gato |
| Strong sounds like ‘h’ in home | e , i | general | ||
| With a silent u soft sound gue/gui as in sugar | e , i | guitarra | ||
| H,h | hache | Doesn’t have sound, it is silent as in honor | a,e,i,o,u | hotel |
| I,i | i | Sounds like ‘i’ in machine | isla | |
| J, j | jota | Strong sounds like ‘h’ in home | a,e,i,o,u | jabón |
| K, k | ka | Sounds like ‘k’ in karate : Occurs only in words adopted from other languages | a,o,u | kilo |
| L, l | ele | Sounds like ‘l’ in love | a,e,i,o,u | león |
| M, m | eme | Sounds like ‘m’ in mode | a,e,i,o,u | mamá |
| N,n | ene | Sounds like ‘n’ in night | a,e,i,o,u | manzana |
| Ñ,ñ | eñe | Sounds like ‘ni’ in onion or “ny” in canyon | a,e,i,o,u | araña |
| O,o | o | Sounds like ‘o’ in oak | ojo | |
| P,p | pe | Sounds like ‘p’ in part | a,e,i,o,u | pie |
| Q,q | cu | Sounds like ‘k’ in king, only with ue/ui and u is silent | ue, ui | queso |
| R,r | ere | Soft sound when is not an inicial position. sound like ‘d’ in muddy | a,e,i,o,u | loro |
| erre | Strong vibration when initial or after N,L, or S no equivalent in English | a,e,i,o,u | rosa | |
| S,s | ese | Sounds like ‘s’ in dress | a,e,i,o,u | sol |
| T,t | te | Sounds like ‘t’ in telephone | a,e,i,o,u | tomate |
| U,u | u | Sounds like ‘u’ in rule | uva | |
| V,v | uve,ve chica | Sounds like ‘b’ in Spanish | a,e,i,o,u | vaca |
| W, w | doble u, uve doble | Sounds like ‘w’ in Washington. Occurs only in words adopted from other languages | a,e,i,o,u | kiwi |
| X,x | equis | sounds like ‘ks’ in thinks | a,e,i,o,u | xilófono |
| The words of Mexican origin are written with an X, but pronounced with Spanish J | a,e,i,o,u | México | ||
| Y,y | ye *Hasta 2010 conocida como i griega. |
Consonant: sounds like ‘Y’ in yes or ‘J’ in English ‘judge’ | a,e,i,o,u | inyectar |
| Vowel: when it stands alone or after another vowel at the end of the word is pronounced as if you pronouncing the Spanish ‘I’ | y | Rosa y Juan | ||
| rey | ||||
| Z,z | zeta | Soft Sounds like ‘th’ in thought (North and Central Spain) | a,o,u | zapato |
| Soft Sounds like ‘s’ in dress ( America and south of Spain) | a,o,u | zapato | ||
¡Practiquemos el abecedario en español!
For practice. We selected a video that can help you learn the name of each letter in the Spanish alphabet and also teach you some words, pay attention to the way that the words are pronounced.
Remember that you need to be a CARADURA
¡Comprendamos las diferencias!
Observa los videos 1.1.2; listen and repeat what you hear.
- All the Spanish letters are treated as feminine nouns (la “a”, la “b”).
- The letters are divided in vowels and consonants as in English.
- The vowels are the same as in English.
- The ‘Ñ’ is the only additional consonant that the Spanish alphabet has (27 letters in total).
- The ‘K’ and the ‘W’ appear only in foreign words.
- The ‘H’ and the ‘U’ are the only silent letters (in certain limited structures).
- Each letter has only one sound except: C, G, X and Y, whose sound depends on the vowel that follows the letter.
- The ‘Y’ is a consonant when it begins a word or a syllable: “inyectar” (inject), but it is a vowel when it is last letter in a word; (For example: “hoy” or if the ‘Y’ stands alone for example: Rosa y Juan).
- Spanish is similar to English in that the two languages are affected by regional differences. There are different patterns that may be typical in one place and less common in others. For example, the different accents or vocabulary between the U.S. states (English from Texas, Minnesota or New York) or between countries (English from USA, England, New Zealand or Australia). We will explore this idea throughout the semester in the cultural sections. For now, we will briefly look at two of these differences.
¡Viva la cultura!
The grammatical aspects of Spanish are fairly uniform; the principal differences are in vocabulary and pronunciation. As we studied, some consonants have different sounds with each vowel. For example: the letter C has a strong sound with the vowels a, o and u. The sound is like the “c” in cap. But with the vowels e and i, it has a soft sound. With the “ce” and “ci” sounds is where we find the biggest linguistic differences between countries. North and Central Spain are distinct in making a sound like ‘th’ in thought. These regions also apply a similar pronunciation when a “z” is before the vowels. This is referred to as the ceceo or seseo which we will practice. Other parts of southern Spain and the different countries in the Americas use the same sound as the letter “S” in dress.
Observa los videos 1.1.3; listen and repeat what you hear.
https://youtu.be/SoioqXHAyI8
As Spain is known for the pronunciation of Z and C, Argentina is known for the pronunciation with the ‘Y’ and ‘LL’. Pay attention in the next video so it will be easier for you to understand the differences.
Observa los videos 1.1.4; listen and repeat what you hear.
