FIRST LESSON
SOUNDS OF SPANISH
SPANISH COURSE
EN EL NOMBRE
DEL PADRE,
DEL HIJO ,
DEL ESPIRITU
SANTO. AMEN
GLORIA AL PADRE,
GLORIA AL HIJO,
GLORIA AL ESPIRITU SANTO,
COMO ERA EN UN PRINCIPIO
AHORA Y SIEMPRE, POR LOS
SIGLOS DE LOS SIGLOS. AMEN
SOUNDS OF SPANISH
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The good news about Spanish pronunciation is that it obeys clear phonetic rules, although people do
speak with different accents, depending on their region and background.
Vowels
Each of the five vowels has its own clear sharp sound:
 a as in hat
 e as in pet
 i as in feet
o as in clock
u
as in drew
SOUNDS OF SPANISH
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1) A (aa) apple=manzana
2) B (be) bed= cama
3) C (ce) cent= centavo
4) CH (che) chess=ajedrez
5) D (de) doctor=doctor
6) E (e) elephant=elefante
7) F (efe) father=papá
8) G (he) glue- pegamento
9) H (ache) hour= hora
Hammer= martillo
10) I (ee) image= imagen
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11) J (ho-ta)
12) K (ka) kiss = beso
13) L (el-le) lemon- limon
14) LL (eh’ye) y
15) M (eme)mother= mamá
16) N (ene)number=numero
17) Ñ (en-ye)
18) O (o) open= abierto
19) P (pe) pen=pluma
20) Q (coo) quick=rapido
21) R (ere) radio=radio
SOUNDS OF SPANISH
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22) RR (erre)
23) S (ese) sad= triste
24) T (te) tea = té
25) U (ew)
26) V (ve) violin= violín
27) W (doble-ew)
28) X (e-kees)
29) Y (ee-gree-eh-ga)
30) Z (seh’ta)
SOUNDS OF SPANISH
c's and z's
 The famous Castilian lisp, that sounds like the
English 'th' in thick, is applied to ce, ci and z.
 You find it in centro, plaza and in names like
Cibeles and Preciados. Latin American and
southern Spanish speakers, though, pronounce
these sounds as an 's'. When c
 is followed by the other vowels it's always a
hard 'k' sound, as in calle, Cuenca, Colombia.
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SOUNDS OF SPANISH
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j's and g's
 J, as in Jardines, is a harder, stronger version of the
English 'h'.
 G, when followed by e and i, sounds exactly the same as
 j. Otherwise, it is pronounced as the English 'g' in go.
 ll's
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The double ll, as in calle, is another characteristic
Spanish sound. It's like the 'lli' in the English million but
you can also hear it pronounced like the 'y' in yes.
SOUNDS OF SPANISH
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By looking at the numbers you can pick up a few more tips on
Spanish pronunciation:
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 v's
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and b's
They both have the same sound, like a soft English b, as you'll hear if
you listen closely to the word for 9 - nueve.
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 ch's
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and h's
Ocho, 8. You won't have much trouble with ch, because it is the same
as in English. You'll also hear it in words like coche, car. The “h” on its
own, however, is completely silent: hola sounds like "ola".
SOUNDS OF SPANISH
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c's and q's
Cu, as in the number 4 = cuatro is always pronounced as a cw. The
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Que and qui sound like the English k, so parque sounds like "parke"
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s's
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same goes for the question words cuándo?=when? or cuánto? = how
much?
or aquí sounds like "akee".
The s at the end of words like dos and tres normally sounds like the
English s but in the south of Spain, the Canary Islands, and parts of
Latin America, it can sound more like a soft h: "doh", "treh".
PERSONAL PRONOUNS
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Personal pronouns in Spanish are used almost the same way as their
English equivalents. However, the main difference is that in Spanish
they do not need to be expressed since the verb itself will identify the
subject. This happens in English with the third person singular of the
present tense (to think-> thinks), where the -s shows us that we're
dealing with a he, she or it, although in English the pronoun is never
omitted with the exception of the imperative ("Sit down!", not "You, sit
down!"), unless we want to emphasize on the person being
addressed with the command. In Spanish, a pronoun is only needed
when refering to a third person (singular or plural) for proper
identification purposes since it can be a "she", a "he" or even a
formal second person singular. In the plural, the verb ending could be
referring to a "they" (masculine or feminine) or to "ustedes", a form of
the second person plural used by everyone in all the Hispanic
countries, except in Spain, where "vosotros" is preferred.
PERSONAL PRONOUNS
 The
"Vos" Pronoun There is also another
second person singular ("vos") used in
some Latin American countries (especially
the ones in the South Cone [Argentina,
Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay], although in
some Central American countries it is also
used [Costa Rica, for example]).
PERSONAL PRONOUNS
Singular
 Yo (I)
Plural
Nosotros/nosotras
(we: masculine/feminine)
Tú/vos/
usted(you/you/formal 'you'
singular)
Vosotros/vosotras/ustedes
(you all:
masculine/feminine)
 El/ella (He/She)
Ellos/ellas (they:
masculine/feminine)
PERSONAL PRONOUNS
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Some examples:
 Spanish
Yo quiero estudiar or Quiero estudiar
Tú quieres comer or Quieres comer
*Ella quiere correr or Quiere correr
*Ellos quieren hablar or Quieren hablar
English
I want to study
You want to eat
She wants to run
They want to talk
Notice how in Spanish the verb ending identifies the subject, except when
using a third person, in which case we have several possibilities. In those
cases you will find that either the subject is identified through the use of the
personal pronoun or name, or it has been identified in a previous sentence
PERSONAL PRONOUNS
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The words for 'I', 'you', etc.: yos and tú
In Spanish, you often don't need a separate word for I, you, we, etc, as the
information is all there in the verb itself:
soy I'm
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Soy de Canarias. I'm from the Canaries.
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¿De dónde eres? Where are you from?
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Vamos al cine. We go to the cinema.
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Yo soy de Canarias. Me, I'm from the Canaries.
eres you are
vamos we go
The words I, you, etc, do exist but are used mainly for emphasis or
contrast:
LESSON 1
THIS WEEK'S NEW WORDS
adiós - goodbye
 bien - good, well
 él - he, him
 ella - she, her
 ellas - they (female)
 ellos - they (male)
 hola - hello
 Yo soy.....- I am
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THIS WEEK'S NEW WORDS
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gracias - thank you
lo siento - I'm sorry
nosotros - us, we (plural)
señor - sir, mister
señora - madame
señorita - miss
tú - you (informal)
usted - you (formal)
ustedes - you (plural, formal)
yo - I
NUMBERS 1-10
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0 cero
1 uno
2 dos
3 tres
4 cuatro
5 cinco
6 seis
7 siete
8 ocho
9 nueve
10 diez
NOUNS
 la
casa - house
 la cocina - kitchen
 el cuarto - room
 el baño - bathroom
 la mesa - table
 la pared - wall
NOUNS
 la
puerta - door
 la silla - chair
 el teléfono - telephone
 la televisión - television
 la ventana - window
ADJECTIVES
antipático(-a) - unpleasant
 bonito(-a) - pretty
 bueno(-a) - good/well
 cómodo(-a) - comfortable
 contento(-a) - happy/glad
 enfermo(-a) - sick, ill
 feo(-a) - ugly
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ADJECTIVES
grande - big
 limpio(-a) - clean
 malo(-a) - bad
 nervioso(-a) - nervous
 simpático(-a) - pleasant, nice
 sucio(-a) - dirty
 tranquilo(-a) - calm
 viejo(-a) - old
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COLORS
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blanco(-a) - white
amarillo(-a) - yellow
anaranjado(-a) - orange
rosado(-a) - pink
rojo(-a) - red
azul - blue
verde - green
café, marrón - brown
gris - grey
negro(-a) - black