Spanish Vowel Sounds Guide to Pronunciation
This pronunciation guide was created to give you a firm but quick foundation! You don’t have to learn EVERYTHING there is to know about Spanish pronunciation. Get some insightful, simple, & easy tips to get you started! An accurate picture of the Spanish alphabet appears when we realize that the English alphabet is practically the same as the Spanish alphabet. Below are the Spanish vowel sounds that make the Spanish alphabet different.
1. A E I O U Vowels in Spanish TIP 1
Spanish Pronunciation Audio
A E I O U
Improve your pronunciation by mastering these Spanish vowel sounds first ! Spanish vowels are the main event- consonants are just there to support the vowels. If you have beautiful consistent Spanish vowel sounds, most Spanish speakers will figure out what you are talking about even if you have mispronounced a word.
SPANISH WORDS THAT START WITH A:
Alma Algo Abra Amiga
Practice the A vowel by using these words that start with A. Focus on delivering a beautiful A
SPANISH WORDS THAT START WITH E:
Elefante Entrada Elenco Estupendo
Practice the A vowel by using these words that start with E. Focus on delivering a beautiful E
SPANISH WORDS THAT START WITH I:
Iglesia Instante Impuesto Iguana
Practice the I vowel by using these words that start with I or any words that have I in them!
SPANISH WORDS THAT START WITH O:
Oso Okra Ojos Ocho
The “O” vowel has a round chocolatey sound! Make sure each word with O has one pure sound; Listen to audio files.
SPANISH WORDS THAT START WITH U:
Uso Uno Usual Uva
The U has a rich dark sound. Round out your lips and practice with these words that start with U
How to practice Spanish Vowels:
A. Engage your brain everyday! Make your brain read the vowels you see in your own environment! Turn your home, office space and neighborhood into a learning lab! Look at bill boards, license plates and signage in your environment and pick out the vowels. Practice your Spanish vowel sounds daily!
Just read the vowels- even if the words are in English; pretend that the words you see are Spanish and read the vowels using the Spanish vowel sounds! Do this on and off during the day!
B. Watch Spanish in Atlanta’s Spanish vowel video & exercise to study how to pronounce Spanish vowels correctly!
2. English & Spanish alphabet are almost identical Except:
The following Spanish letters & combinations of letter/vowels are exceptions. Meaning that the sounds they create are not what you expect them to be. The list is small so you can do this!! 🙂 I will also give you Spanish words that start with most of the letter/vowel combinations below for you to practice.
H= NO sound CE= S sound + e vowel LL= Y sound GUE= Hard G sound + e vowel
GE= H sound + e vowel CI= S sound + i vowel QUE= K sound + e vowel GUI= Hard G sound+ i vowel
GI= H sound + I vowel Z= S sound QUI= K sound + i vowel J= H sound
SPANISH WORDS THAT START WITH H:
Hola Hielo Hambre Hago
SPANISH WORDS THAT START WITH CE:
Centavos Cena Celoso Cero
SPANISH WORDS THAT START WITH LL:
Llanto LLamas Lleno Llano
SPANISH WORDS THAT START WITH GUE:
Guerra Guerrero Guevara
SPANISH WORDS THAT START WITH GE:
Gente Gerente Gesto Genio
SPANISH WORDS THAT START WITH CI:
Cielo Cintura Cìrculo Ciclo
SPANISH WORDS THAT START WITH QUE:
Queso Quema Queda Queja
** Words starting with Q will always have a UE or UI right after!
SPANISH WORDS THAT START WITH GUI:
Guiso Guitarra Guìa Guisantes
SPANISH WORDS THAT START WITH GI:
Gigante Giro Gitano Girasol
SPANISH WORDS THAT START WITH Z:
Zanahoria Zebra Zapatos Zafiro
SPANISH WORDS THAT START WITH QUI:
Quimica Quizas Quinto Quince
SPANISH WORDS THAT START WITH J:
Jarabe Jamòn Jinete Jabòn
In addition to these exceptions above the following letters are also noticeably different:
P= No airy sound= sounds almost like a B
C= No puff of air= simple C as in CAT sound
T= No airy sound= sounds almost like a D
R= Flipped Spanish R= sounds like a D
RR= Rolled Spanish R= sounds like a cat’s Purr
Ñ= Eñe- special N= sounds like kneeya
THAT’S IT! 🙂 Use the Spanish pronunciation audio files above to study & so you can perfect Spanish vowel sounds & Spanish letters! Listen numerous times; record yourself and play it back. Does it sound the same? Use your smartphone’s voice recorder to play back.
PRACTICE DAILY- SING THEM VOWELS! 🙂
This Spanish vowels sounds & pronunciation post will only focus on the beautiful sounds you need to create with your “musical instrument” your mouth- not the inflexion. Inflexion is the rhythm; a word’s rhythmic skeleton versus just the melody or the sounds! We will create a part 2 to this guide to Spanish vowel sounds. Comment below, if you are interested!
Spanish Vowel Sounds Mini Test:
Read the following words below. This exercise starts of easy then progressively gets more challenging. This mini test will test you on your Spanish pronunciation of vowels & most of the exceptions we covered above in this blog post. Use the audio files to instantly check and see if you got the sounds right. You can record yourself and then play it back, as a suggestion to make it easier to check your work. BUENA SUERTE!
Interested in working with Spanish in Atlanta? You can book a tutoring session ( just Contact Spanish in Atlanta)- just one hour to work on pronunciation or you can take our beginner Spanish courses. Level I Spanish courses focuses on the basics including the Spanish pronunciation tips we have covered here!
Don’t know what is the best course of action? Talk to me 1 on 1! Get the answers you need to make the best decision- Schedule a FREE Spanish demo & consultation
Read the following words then check your Spanish Pronunciation audio below!
1. MANA BANA DAMA SALA CASA LLAMA CALLE MALLA
2. MESA SELLO BAÑO NIÑA QUESO QUEMA SAQUE
3. GENTE BOTELLA GERENTE FAJITAS LLANTA GERENTE JIMENA
4. PANTALLA CENTAVOS CINTA GATO CORAZÒN MOÑO GIRA
5. ZEBRA QUIZO GIGANTE HOLA LLANTO GINGIVITIS CERO
YAAAY! How did you do? It’s normal to make mistakes at first; keep at it! You will get it! If you want our help, we are AQUÌ 🙂