The sounds of Spanish
Reading Spanish, sound by sound.
Five vowels, regular spelling and a clear rule for word stress. A few letters need a little attention.
ñ
gnEspaña
The sounds
The letters to know
Choose a group, then a letter. Listen to it in common words.
Sound
Reading rules
Where does the stress fall? Three rules, and two traps.
casa
Final vowel, n or s
The stress falls on the second-to-last syllable: CA-sa, HA-blan.
hablar
Any other final consonant
The stress falls on the last syllable: ha-BLAR, es-pa-ÑOL.
café
The written accent
It marks an exception to the two rules: ca-FÉ, te-LÉ-fo-no.
vino
b and v
They are pronounced the same way, like a soft b.
hola
The h is silent
hola is pronounced /ˈola/.
Reading