a Ahhh

ay I

e day

i ee

o oh

u oo

ca,co,cu c=k

cua quack.

ce,ci c=th or s

h

ga, go, gu gah, go, goo

gua gwah

gue, gui (hard g sound)

gü (w…)

hey, he (scratchy h sound) ge, gi hey, he (scratchy h sound)

j h (scratchy)

ll y as in yet

ñ nya

qu k

rr rrrrrrrrrrr

v b

z th or s

u-va

me-le-na

bo-ni-ta

he-re-dar

de

guerra

güera

me

mi

lluvia

gitano

gel

hay

¿Cuándo?

¿Cuál?

¿Qué?

There are five vowels in Spanish, a, e, i, o, and u There are five vowels in Spanish, a, e, i, o, and u. Of these, a, e, and o are considered strong vowels, i, and u, are considered weak vowels. Each strong vowel in a word forms its own syllable. So a combination of two strong vowels forms two syllables. A combination of two vowels in which at least one is weak forms one syllable. This is called a diphthong. A-ni-mal has three syllables. Bai-le has two syllables, since the first syllable is a combination of a strong vowel and a weak vowel. Fui has only one syllable, since the two vowels are both weak. Bi-blio-te-ca has four syllables, since the second cluster of vowels consists of a weak one and a strong one. Ca-os has two syllables, since the two vowels are both strong. For more practice visit: http://www.austincc.edu/jevatt/accents/syllables.html

1. Words ending in a vowel, -n, or -s are stressed on the next to the last (penultimate) syllable: nada compro toalla na-da com-pro to-a-lla origen esta conmemorativo o-ri-gen es-ta con-mem-o-ra-ti-vo zapatos tele instituto za-pa-tos te-le in-sti-tu-to

doctor real doc - tor re-al ciudad ciu - dad comer co - mer 2. Words ending in any consonant except -n or -s are stressed on the last syllable: doctor real doc - tor re-al ciudad ciu - dad comer co - mer

When rules #1 and #2 above are not followed, a written accent is used: está hablábamos es-tá ha-blá-ba-mos invitación in-vi-ta-ción vivía vi-vía

si - if sí - yes mi - my mí - me el - the él - he tu - your tú - you Written accents are also used to differentiate between words that are pronounced the same but have different meanings: si - if sí - yes mi - my mí - me el - the él - he tu - your tú - you

All interrogative (question) words have a written accent to signal that someone is asking a question and not just making a statement. ¿Cómo? How/What? ¿Cuál(es)? Which (ones)? ¿Cuándo? When? ¿Cuánto(s)/a(s)? How much/many? ¿Dónde? Where? ¿Qué? What? ¿Quién? Who/whom? ¿Por qué? Why?