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El abecedario: las letras y los sonidos
ABCs: letters & sounds

 

EL ABECEDARIO = EL ALFABETO
ALPHABET

LAS LETRAS
LETTERS

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No, Hanna, H-A-N-N-A.
 

800px-Abecedario_Letras

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120px-Nuvola_apps_important_green.svg  All letters in Spanish are feminine in gender: la a, la be, la o, la qu, …

la consonante = consonant

la vocal = vowel

el acento = accent, stress mark

la tilde = tilde (mark on the n to make letter ñ)

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There are only five simple vowel sounds in Spanish, plus combinations of those vowels (diphthongs). In comparison with English, Spanish pronunciation is consistently predictable from the written form. Listen to the sounds and practice.

LAS VOCALES LOS DIPTONGOS
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a Ana casa papá
hay aire aunque Aurelio
e  té  beber  jefe
veinte  aceite Europa  Eulalia
i  ti  viví  tipi
Asia  pie  dios   ciudad
 o  no  loco  tomo
 hoy  oigo  
 u  tú luz  Honolulú
guapa bueno cuidado  monstruo

 

LAS CONSONANTES
C:  Two pronunciations:

  • c + a/o/u: like  hard English c in cat
  • c + e/i: like English s  [In Spain, this
    sequence is pronounced like English th in thanks]

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casa cosa cubo
cero cigarro
 G: Two pronunciations:

  • g + a/o/u: Like  hard English g in goal

120px-Nuvola_apps_important_green.svg ü (u con diéresis) before e and i is pronounced.

  • g + e/i: Like a strong English h

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gato gota Guadalupe guerra guitarra
bilingüe pingüino
gel gitana

 

H: Not pronounced, unless in the sequence CH,
which is pronounced as in English

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hola historia alcohol
China chorizo  

 J:  Like a strong English h; same sound as g+e/i

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Jaime Juan jenjibre

 LL: A letter combination with a special sound in
Spanish; its pronunciation is more or less like y
in yellow [in some areas, like Argentina and
Uruguay, the sound is closer to j]

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llama lleno allí lloro lluvia

 

Ñ: The most emblematic Spanish letter, it
sounds almost like ny in canyon

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España español Núñez

Q: Like in English, always followed by ue  or ui
(the u is never pronounced in this sequence)

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queso quizá
R: Two pronunciations, none of which is really
like in English

  • hard, rolled r: at the beginning or end of a
    word, or between a consonant and a vowel;
    the same sound as in rr, which only appears
    between vowels
  • soft, flap r: in between vowels

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Rosa rico Enrique correr

 

cara Perú María pero Corea

V: Sounds like the Spanish b – there is no
difference between the sound of the letters b and
v in Spanish.

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lavo vino lavabo

W: Like English W; words with W in Spanish
always come from other languages

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Washington Otawa
X: Two pronunciations:

  • the most common pronunciation is similar
    to English
  • as a hard h in a few words of Mexican
    origin

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exquisito saxofón
México Texas Oaxaca

 

Y: Two pronunciations:

  • followed by a vowel: similar to ll almost
    everywhere in the Hispanic world
  • at the end of a word: Like Spanish i

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yo vaya yema
hay ley

Z: Like English s; it only appears before a/o/u.
[In Spain, z, as ce/ci, is pronounced like the
English th in thanks.]

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120px-Nuvola_apps_important_green.svg In Spanish there is no sound like the sound of z  in English zoo.

zapato zoo zumba

 

120px-Nuvola_apps_important_green.svg In Spanish there are NO words that contain the following letter groups: ck, dd, ff, gg, mm, pp, ss, tt

 

activity PRÁCTICA

ACTIVIDAD 1: Las vocales: Leer, escuchar y repetir

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ACTIVIDAD 2: Los diptongos: Leer, escuchar y repetir

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ACTIVIDAD 3: Las consonantes: Leer, escuchar y repetir

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