Spanish Pronunciation

Because so many sounds in Spanish are similar to the English sound system, the pronunciation of Spanish is relatively easy. And unlike English, the spelling and the pronunciation are very consistent. Spanish-speaking students of English always lament the fact that in English “you spell it one way and pronounce it another. English speakers learning Spanish are not faced with a similar problem.

However, Spanish spelling has the pleasant characteristic of being more or less phonetic. This means that if you know how to pronounce the letters of a word, it's relatively easy to sound out the word itself.

Vowels

The pronunciation of the vowels in Spanish is much easier than in English as they have only one sound a piece. English vowels can have as many as five to seven different sounds. But the very simplicity of the Spanish sound system sometimes trips up the English speaker. Accustomed as the English speaker is to the many nuances in the pronunciation of the English vowels, he or she is easily tempted to pronounce the first syllable in casa (house) like the first syllable in the English word “catch” and the final syllable like the “a” in the English word “father.” That’s why it’s important to always bear in mind that each Spanish vowel has one and only one sound.

Besides having a very small number of vowel sounds and a high predictability of exactly what sound is represented by each letter, Spanish has a very clear set of rules about where a stress normally falls, and exceptions are noted with an "acute accent mark" ("´") over the vowel of the stressed syllable. Normally, words that end in a vowel or in "n" or "s" have the stress on the next-to-last syllable; all other words without an explicit accent mark are stressed on the final syllable. There are no "secondary stresses" within words.

Diphthongs

Combinations of a weak and a strong vowel or two weak vowels are called diphthongs. In Spanish, the strong vowels are a, e and o; the weak vowels are I and u.

ai, ay	Like ‘eye’: baile
au	like 'ow' in 'cow': causa
ei, ey	like 'ay' in "say": reina, rey
eu	like 'yu' in "euro"
ia	like 'ya' in ' Kenya': piano
ie	like 'ye' in "yes": pie
io	like 'yo': dio
iu	like 'ew' in few: ciudad
oi, oy	like 'oy' in "boy": soy
ou	like 'ou' in "though" - Present only in foreign words: show
ua	like 'wa' in "wallet": cuatro
ue	like 'we' in "well": puedo
ui, uy	like 'wi' in "winter": ruido
ui	like 'ooy': cuido
uo	like "wa" in "water": averiguo

Consonants

The pronunciation of the majority of Spanish consonants is identical or very similar to their English counterparts. There are, of course, a few that have special characteristics. Below are explanations and/or examples of the sound of all the Spanish consonants.

b	like 'b' in "bed": boca
c	when followed by 'e' or 'i', like 'c' in "cell" (Latin America) or 'th' in "thin" (Spain): cine; otherwise like 'k' in "kid": calle, doctor
ch	like 'ch' in "touch": muchacho
d	like 'd' in "dog": dedo
f	like 'f' in "fine": faro
g	when followed by 'e' or 'i', like 'ch' in "loch" (general = hai-nai-RAHL), otherwise like "g" in "go" (gato). In the clusters "gue" and "gui", the "u" is silent (guitarra), unless it bears a diaeresis, as in "güe" and "güi" (pedigüeño)
gu, gü	like 'Gu' in McGuire or 'w' in "wire" (agua, agüita)
h	silent: hora
j	like 'ch' in "loch": jabón
k	like 'c' in "cat": kilo
l	like 'l' in "love": lápiz
ll	like 'y' in "yield" (Latin America) or the 'ly' sound in "million" (Spain): lluvia
m	like 'm' in "mother": mano
n	like 'n' in "nice", and like 'n' in "anchor": noche, ancla
ñ	like 'ny' in "canyon": cañón, piñata
p	like 'p' in "pig": perro
q	like 'q' in "quiche" (always with a silent "u"): queso, pronounced KAY-so
r, rr	Spanish has two "r" sounds which are very different form their counterparts in most languages, and certainly very different from the English. As a result most English speakers lisp their r's when they come to Spanish. However, if you use your native pronunciation it's unlikely that people understand cerro (hill) when youn meant cero (zero), and they may not understand you at all Single flap r (ere): Always written "r", and never occurs at the beginning of the word, this sound is created by putting the tip of the tongue up against where the front of the roof of the mouth meets the upper teeth, very similar to the action English speakers make to pronounce l or t. This is not widely taught but can be practiced by anyone. Particular care should be taken when r appears after a consonant, eg in the word otro (other). tr is a particular sound in English, which if you use in Spanish will be an incomprehensible list. One must separate the two sounds out, as in wha(t) (r) rubbish, clicking the r properly Rolled r (erre) Written "r" at the beginning of the word, or after "l", "n", or "s" (ropa, enredo). Written "rr" between vowels (cerro). It's a multiply vibrating sound. Whereas all English can learn to tap out a single r it seems that many adult non-Spanish speakers simply do not have the ability to vibrate the tongue in the way needed to pronounce rr
s	like 'ss' in "hiss": sopa
t	like 't' in "top": tapa
v	like 'b' in "bed": vaca, pronounced BAH-kah
w	like 'w' in "weight" in English words, whisky (pronounced WEESS-kee). Like 'b' in "bed" in Germanic words
x	like 'x' in "sex" (sexo). Like 'ss' in "hiss" at beginning of a word (xilófono). Like 'ch' in "loch" in the words México, mexicano, Oaxaca, and oaxaqueño
y	like 'y' in "yes": payaso. Like 'y' in "boy": hoy
z	like 's' in "supper" (Latin America), like 'th' in "thin" (Spain): zorro. See c above

Word stress can affect the meaning of the word and generally follows these rules:

An accent can also be used to differentiate between words that are pronounced the same but have different meanings: