Latin American Spanish Pronunciation |
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Vowels
Vowels in Spanish are pronounced consistently and they
are always short. In vowel combinations, each vowel is pronounced separately.
Written as
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Example
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Sound clip
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a
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casa, camisa
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e
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escalera, lejos
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i
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distinto, primero
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o
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nombre, solo
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u
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uno, fruta
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u + e
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bueno
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i + e
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tiene
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e + i
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aceite
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i + u
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ciudad
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Consonants
Most consonants are pronounced as in English. The exceptions are:
Written as
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Example
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Sound clip
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v
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vaccaciones, viejo
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z
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zona, zapato
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c + i/e
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cine, centro
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casa |
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h (not pronounced)
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hermano, helado
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j
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jamón, jugo
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g + i/e
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gente, gigante
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| g + other letters |
gordo, grande |
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ñ
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niño, piña
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r beginning of word
and after l, n, s
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rojo, sonrisa
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r between vowels
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pero, era
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rr
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perro
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Combinations
Written as
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Example
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Sound clip
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qu
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queso, quiero
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| cu |
cuello |
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ll
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llave, calle
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gu + i/e
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guerra, guitarra
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gu + other letters
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guapo
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Stress
Words in Spanish are stressed as follows:
- word ending in a vowel or n or s – on
the penultimate syllable
casa, quieren, comes
- word ending in any other consonant – on last syllable
hablar, salud
- irregular stress shown by an accent
número
Alphabet
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Sound clip
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ABC
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| DEF |
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GHI
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JKL
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MNN
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OPQ |
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RST |
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UVW |
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XYZ |
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