This page was inspired by my Auntie Darlene who asked "How do you say that???"

Getting Started

If you have not had any previous instruction in Spanish you will need some basics in pronunciation to get started. Because this is difficult without actually hearing the sound, I have added some audio to help out, just click on the speaker to hear a sound. I will give each pronunciation as a respelling in the closest approximation to the most common values of English vowels and consonants. The stressed syllable will be represented with capital letters. ie (hat) sombrero= sohm-BREH-roh.

It would help to have a couple of the flash cards handy as you read this in order to say the Spanish words as you learn the letter sounds.

The most important letters to learn are the vowels In Spanish the vowels always make the same sound, this is much easier than all of the different possibilities represented by the appearance of a vowel in English.

A - Ah            The Spanish "a" is a short sharp sound
                        like "hat" in English

E - Ay            The Spanish "e" is like the "e" in "wet" in English

I - Ee            The Spanish "i" is like the "ee" in "seen"
                        but a bit shorter.

O - Oh            The Spanish "o" can have two sounds.  When it is at the end of a word it is like the
                        "o" in note e.g. "pato".When it is before a consonant it is shorter, like "pot" or "cot" e.g. "boda"
                        This difference is very subtle.

U - Oo            The Spanish "u" is like the "oo" in "food"  Note: It is silent after "q" and in "gue" and "gui"
                        The exceptions are marked with a diaeresis eg: antigüedad. The "ü" is not very common.

After you have learned these 5 sounds you can pronounce most Spanish words successfully. I will add the consonants as well, but the vowels are your key to successful pronunciation. 

Dipthongs

ai- ay baile          The Spanish "ai" is like the "i"  in "side"
au- sauna            The Spanish "au" is like the "ou" in "sound"
ei, ey- reina        The Spanish "ei" and "ey" sound like the "ay" in say
eu- europa          The Spanish "eu" has no English equivalent and is difficult to define. It is just the sounds of
                            "e" and "u" together. It is not very common
oi, oy- oiga          The Spanish "oi" and "oy" are like the "oy" in boy

Semiconsonants

u -- like with w in well. Examples: huevo, fuente, agua

Note that the letters ch, ñ, and ll are letters of the Spanish alphabet.  Remember, the following represents the sound of each letter, not the letter's name.

b, v -- When found at the beginning of a word or following a consonant, these are pronounced like a b. Otherwise, they have a sound which falls somewhere in between the English b and v sounds.

c -- before a consonant or a, o, or u, like the c in cat; before e or i like an s

ch -- like the ch in church. Historically, the Spanish ch has been treated as a separate letter although this has recently been changed. Therefore, many dictionaries list words beginning with ch after the c's and before the d's.

d -- like the English d except between vowels and following l or n where pronounced like the th in this

f -- like the f in for

g -- before e or i, like the Spanish j; otherwise like the g in get

h -- silent

j -- like an h but stronger; silent when at the end of a word

k -- like a k

l -- like an l

ll -- like the y in you

m -- like an m

n -- like an n; except where it appears before a v, like an m

ñ -- like the n in onion

p -- like a p

q -- like a k; always followed by a silent u

r -- pronounced with a strong trill at the beginning of a word and following an l, n, or s; very little trill when at the end of a word; and medium trill in other positions

rr -- strongly trilled

s -- before consonants b, d, g, l, m, n, like a z; otherwise like an s

t -- like a t

v -- see b, v

w -- usually like a v

x -- when between vowels, like the x in box; before a consonant, like an s

y -- like the y in yes

z -- like an s

Some of the consonants have more than one sound. When this is the case, this usually occurs before the letters i and e. For example the letter G makes the Ha sound if it is before the letters i or e, otherwise it sounds like the English G. As you can see many of the letters sound the same as in English, the most important difference being in the vowels.

The following chart represents the Names of the letters:

Alphabet
a	a
b	be
c	ce
ch	che
d	de
e	e
f	efe
g	ge
h	hache
i	i
j	jota
k	ka
l	ele
ll	elle
m	eme
n	ene
ñ	eñe
o	o
p	pe
q	cu
r	ere
s	ese
t	te
u	u
v	ve
w	doble u/doble ve
x	equis
y	i griega
z	zeta

 

Here are some pronunciations of the color words to get you started.

Color Words

Hear Colors

negro (NAY groh) - black

rojo (ROH hoh) - red

blanco (BLAHN koh) - white

amarillo (ah mah REE yoh) - yellow

gris (greess) - gray

verde (VEHR day) - green

azul (ahsul) - blue

El, Los, La, and Las

You will notice all of the nouns are preceded by one of these four words. El, Los, La and Las all mean "the". In Spanish all nouns are either masculine or feminine. If the word has el before it, it is masculine: if it has la, it is feminine. The plural form of el is los and the plural form of la is las.

Hear

El libro (ell LEE broh)- The book
Los libros (lohs LEE brohs)- The Books
La pluma (lah PLOO mah)- The pen
Las plumas (lahs PLOO mahs)- The pens
This concept though strange to Americans is common to many languages in the world. You will find it helpful to memorize each article with the noun. Most nouns ending in -0 or -or are masculine, and most of those ending in -a or -d are feminine.

Basic Rules of Accentuation

1. Words ending in a vowel, or n or s, the next to last syllable is stressed.
2. For words ending in a consonant other than n or s stress falls on the last syllable.
3. If the word has an accent mark, then that syllable is stressed, ignoring the rules above.
4.  

 

You can use the following codes to write Spanish special characters on most Windows computers.  There are two important things to remember when using these codes.  First, when you type the numbers, some keyboards require that you use the "numeric keypad" located to the side, rather than the numbers along the top.  Second, one some keyboards, only one of the two Alt keys will work create the symbols.

That is enough rules for now, I will add more if it seems there is a need. Please feel free to send comments or ideas.