Web www.intro2spanish.com

OBJECTIVE: Take note that most of Spanish is spelled like it sounds ... (I hate generalizations like this!). TASK: Look at the letters and see how they ALWAYS sound in combination with the vowel that follows. PERPLEXED? It won't take that long. Just remind yourself that lots of other folks are making these sounds.

Syllables are most often formed with a combination of a consonant-vowel in Spanish. The vowels always sound exactly the same throughout the language, so the only difficulty is getting down the "quirks" of the consonant differences. Listen carefully to the explanations in the far left column, and spend time "listening to yourself" when you repeat the sounds. Some people have to develop their listening skills in order to repeat the sounds correctly - but it's only a matter of time and effort. You can do it !!!

Click on the Black Button in the far right column below to hear these syllables pronounced, and remember that the vowel sounds never change! These spellings are consistent throughout Spanish, so it makes it easier to write. As you can see, some of the combinations have more than one spelling. These are easily learned through practice or by using home-made flash cards!

Make each vowel sound as short as possible.	a/ha	e/he	i/hi/y	o/ho	u/hu
The letters B and V sound very much the same throughout the Spanish language.	ba/va	be/ve	bi/vi	bo/vo	bu/vu
No puff of air after the C sound !!!	* ca/ka	que/ke	qui/ki	co/ko	cu/ku
Just like English CH in "chair."	cha	che	chi	cho	chu
The sound of the letter D in Spanish is formed exactly like the " TH" in the word "they" in English.	da	de	di	do	du
Just like English F.	fa	fe	fi	fo	fu
Not as much closure in the back of the throat as the English G.	ga	gue	gui	go	gu
Just like English H.	* ja/xa	ge/je/xe	gi/ji/xi	jo	ju
Just like English L.	la	le	li	lo	lu
Just like English Y.	lla/ya	lle/ye	lli/yi	llo/yo	llu/yu
The sound of LL and/or Y is different in Argentina. They would say:	lla/ya	lle/ye	lli/yi	llo/yo	llu/yu
Just like English M.	ma	me	mi	mo	mu
Just like English N.	na	ne	ni	no	nu
Like English NY in "canyon." (Or your basic nya-nya sound)	ña	ñe	ñi	ño	ñu
Like English P, but less air.	pa	pe	pi	po	pu
Say lots of D's -D D D D - that's the R position in Spanish!	ra	re	ri	ro	ru
The sound of the R in Puerto Rico is very guttural.	ra	re	ri	ro	ru
If you can't get this sound, say lots of D's again, and feel what your tongue is doing. Then blow out a lot of air and let your tongue flap like when it's doing the D sound.	rra	rre	rri	rro	rru
In most Spanish-speaking countries, like English S.	* sa/za	se/ce/ze	si/ci/zi	so/zo	su/zu
Combinations with the letter S are "whistled" in Spain.	sa	se	si	so	su
Combinations with the letters Z & C before i & e are "lisped" in Spain.	za	ce/ze	ci/zi	zo	zu
The sound of the letter T in Spanish is formed exactly like the "th" in the word "think" in English.	ta	te	ti	to	tu
Found in foreign words.	* wa	we	wi	wo	wu
* Combinations shown in italics indicate a rarer spelling, usually foreign words.