a. before “a, o, u” then it sounds like the english letter “k” ex. calle, coco, cuba b....

Spanish Pronunciation Rules

a. Before “a, o, u” then it sounds like the English letter “K”Ex. calle, coco, Cuba

b. Before “e,i” then it sounds like the English letter “S”Ex. centro, ciencias, cine

1.“c”

If “c” comes…

“ch” sounds like the “ch” in the English word ‘church’

Ex. chocolate, mucho, chico

2.“ch”

a. Between 2 vowels (a,e,i,o,u) then it sounds like the “th” in the English word ‘the’Ex. nada, El Salvador, cada día

b. Any other time it sounds like the “d” in the English word ‘dog’Ex. deprimido, verde, bandera

3.“d”If “d” comes…

a. Before “a, o, u” then it sounds like the “g” in the English word ‘go’Ex. gato, lago , guante

b. Before “e,i” then it sounds like the English letter “H”Ex. gente, girafa, garage

4.“g”If “g” comes…

“h” is ALWAYS SILENT IN SPANISH

Ex. Hola, hospital, ahora

5.“h”

“j” - ALWAYS sounds like the English letter “H” as in the word ‘hot’

Ex. jalapeño, José, caja, baja

6.“j”

“k & w” are not found in words of Spanish origin. When seen in Spanish, it means that the word was taken from another language and adapted to Spanish. They are pronounced the same way that they are in English

Ex. kilómetro, kiwi, koala, kamikaze, karaoke, wafle, waflera, wigwam

7.“k & w”

“ll” - ALWAYS sounds like the English letter “Y” as in the word ‘yellow’

Ex. amarillo, llama, calle

8.“ll”

“ñ” - ALWAYS sounds like the English “NI/NY” letter combinations as in the words ‘onion’ & ‘canyon.’

The squiggly line ~ is called a ‘tilde.’

Ex. mañana, araña, niño, año, baño

9.“ñ”

a. ALWAYS sounds like the English letter “K” as in the word ‘kitchen’

b. ALWAYS followed by the letters “ue” or “ui” & the “u” is ALWAYS silent.

Ex. que, queso, quesadilla, parque, quince, quinto

10.“q”

“rr” is trilled

Ex. carro, perro

11.“rr”

a. When in the middle of a word, it sounds like the English letter “H” as in the word ‘hot.’Ex. México, Texas

b. When at the beginning of a word it sounds like the English letter “S” as in the word ‘sit.’Ex. xilófono

12.“x”

In most countries the “z” sounds like the English letter “S” as in the word ‘sad’

Ex. zebra, zapato, zorro

13.“z”