All

In English, vowels (a, e, i, o and u) have more than one sound. In Spanish, they are pronounced the same way each time. 

ah, eh, ee, oh, oo

A

In Spanish, the vowel ‘a’ makes an ‘ah’ sound.

araña

E

In Spanish, the vowel ‘e’ makes an ‘eh’ sound.

elefante

E

‘e’ at the end of words is pronounced like ‘eh’. It sounds like an ‘ay’.

tiene

I

In Spanish, the vowel ‘i’ makes an ‘ee’ sound.

isla

O

In Spanish, the vowel ‘o’ makes an ‘oh’ sound.

once

U

In Spanish, the vowel ‘u’ makes an ‘oo’ sound.

uno

U

‘u’ is always silent after the letter ‘q’ like in ‘quiero’.

quiero

U

Sometimes a ‘u’ is silent, after a ‘g’ and followed by an ‘e’ or ‘i’.

guitarra

C

‘c’ (when followed by ‘e’ or ‘i’) is a ‘th’ sound.

cero

C

The letter ‘c’  makes a hard ‘k’ sound before an ‘a’, ‘o’ and ‘u’.

casa/coche

G

The letter ‘g’ makes a hard ‘g’ sound before ‘a’ and ‘o’ and ‘u’.

gato/me gusta

G

The letter ‘g’ makes a soft ‘j’ sound before ‘e’ and ‘i’.

gemelo/gimnaisia

H

The ‘h’  is  always silent in Spanish.

hola

J

‘j’ is a sound at the back of a throat and can sound a little like an English ‘h’.

jardín

LL

‘ll’ is pronounced like an English ‘y’.

me llamo

Ñ

‘ñ’ is pronounced ‘ny’ like in the English word ‘canyon’.

español

Qu

‘qu’ is pronounced as a ‘k’ sound.

quiero

RR

‘rr’ is a rolled sound.

perro

ü

Sometimes a ‘u’ that is after a ‘g’ and followed by an ‘e’ or ‘i’ will look like ‘ü’. This tells you that you have to pronounce it.

bilingüe

V

‘v’ is pronounced more like a ‘b’ sound.

veinte

Y

In English, the consonant ‘y’ is often used like a vowel. In Spanish, it is only used as a consonant.

boyar

Z

‘z’ is a ‘th’ sound.

zumo

‘

Accents help you to say the word and show where the stress needs to go within it, like ‘música’.

música

‘

All accents in Spanish point the same way and are only found on vowels: á, é, í, ó and ú.

té

‘

It’s useful to learn where accents go, because it can change the meaning: él = he and el = the.

él = he and el = the

sí yes si if

1

A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound that can be identified in words When you put different sounds together, they make words.

Z-u-m-o

2

There are many letters which sound the same in Spanish and in English, but there are differences too.

e.g. z is different

3

Cognates are words in another language, that look similar to English, but are pronounced differently  (idea and idea).

idea/idea

4

There are not as many exception words in Spanish compared to in English.

Y spelt with a y