A basic guide to get started with pronunciation of Spanish.
Compared to other popular languages such as English and German, Spanish is quite easy to pronounce and understand when listening to someone as there are only five sounds for the vowels (i.e German uses ‘umlaut’ with different sound when word contains the letters –ä, -ö, -ü). Below is a short definition of the vowels type:
- a – this is open vowels (is defined as open and not round vowel).
- e, o – they’re included in the group’ vocales medias’ and refers to the location of the tongue which is right in the middle not too close to the oral cavity.
- i, u – close vowels ‘vocales cerradas’, because the tongue is closer to the palate.
As opposite to English, our pronunciation of the vowels is clear and precise. Another advantage that makes it easier to pronounce is that we don’t have short or long vocals.
In order to understand and improve our pronunciation of Spanish, it is important to have a general idea of some elements and rules as they are the reason words are pronounce in a certain way.
Rules for pronunciation
Vowels are formed in groups of two or three within one syllable in order to create a ‘diptongo’ or ‘triptongo’ (diphthong or triphthong). It is easier to understand with some examples:
. Vien – to
. Sua – ve
The part of the word vien and sua are diptongos and the syllables that form this, are pronounced together, with no pause.
B and V:
These two consonants are pronounced the same in Spanish. That is why you might notice native Spanish speakers struggling when trying to pronounce it correctly in English (the V could be mistaken as B). For us the sound has no difference in Spanish, however there are rules to write with one or the other and this can be tricky sometimes.
C and Z:
Letter C that is followed by vowels A, O and U is pronounced as a k in English . With vowels E and I, it wold be similar to the sound of th in the beginning of a word (exception in some regions of Spain as well as Central and South America countries where spanish is spoken).
Letter Z is used with three vowels: A, O and U. It is pronounced with similar sound as th in English (same as C with E and I vowels).
J and G:
J is pronounced as h and G has same sound in English. There is exception when G has vowel E or I after, in which case is pronounced same as J.
Letter H:
This letter is silent in Spanish pronunciation. Its use will make the difference in the meaning of some words. For example, ‘ola’ means wave and ‘hola’ means hello.
When H comes preceded by C then it has sound and is pronounced as ch in English (at beginning of sentence, for example, chocolate).
LL and Y:
These two letters are also pronounced the same however the meaning of words can be different when written with one or the other. For example, r’ayo’ means lightning and ‘rallo’ means I grate (it is conjugated in first person singular from verb ‘rallar’, to grate).
Letter Ñ:
It is an specific letter from spanish alphabet and it has its own sound. It is pronounced eh-nyeh (the tongue touched the palate).
Letter R:
When it is at the beggining of the word, after letter L, N and S, or double R, then the pronuntiation is hard (words like ‘roto’ and ‘perro’).
For other scenario, the R is pronounced soft. To pronounce letter R hard, the tongue has to be positioned in the palate and it vibrates. For soft pronunciation of R, the tongue slightly touches the palate.
Accent marks
The mark in a vowel will tell you where you need to put emphasis when pronouncing the word, although not always will show the accent in the written form. There are some rules to put and accent (click here for this topic) but I recommend as best way to learn, listening carefully to the way Spanish people talk.