How to pronounce how in spanish
How to pronounce how in spanish
Spanish Pronunciation Videos
Tongue twisters test your talking talent!
Try out our tongue twisters to triple your talking talent today!
Making educational experiences better for everyone.
Comprehensive K-12 personalized learning
Immersive learning for 30+ languages
Fun educational games for kids
Trusted tutors for 300+ subjects
35,000+ worksheets, games, and lesson plans
Letter D – How to pronounce it in Spanish
Not many people try to pronounce the letter D like a Spanish native. This is totally fine because we can understand you if you pronounce it as you do in your mother tongue, although that sound doesn’t exist in Spanish. Actually, the sound of English D is closer to a Spanish soft R.
Improving the pronunciation of the letter D in Spanish is very simple and you can reduce your accent drastically with few tips.
This is what you’ll find in this post
1. HARD D
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbol
To help you pronouncing Spanish, I created this image with the 37 Spanish sounds and examples for each sound.
The sound of the HARD D + Mouth positioning
It doesn’t exist in English.
It sounds similar but the Spanish D is produced in a different part of the mouth and for this reason, it sounds a little different.
When should I use the HARD D? Examples
Tips to pronounce the HARD D
Your tongue pokes out between your teeth and it touches (at the same time):
In English, the tongue only touches your palate and it has more tension.
Your tongue pushes your teeth and palate and the sound is produced when it’s separated from them.
The letter D has a dry and short sound. It ends immediately after it starts. This is because the HARD D sound is produced by your mouth and not by your throat. It’s a voiceless sound.
Touch your throat and notice that it doesn’t vibrate when you pronounce the letter D. If it does, then you are pronouncing a different sound.
There are no other letters in Spanish with the same sound as HARD D.
However, the position of your mouth is exactly the same when you pronounce the letter T in Spanish.
2. SOFT D or BLOWING D
This is the sound you’ll hear most of the time when a native speaker pronounces a Spanish D. The best part of this sound is that it exists in English.
IPA symbol
How to say the SOFT D
When should you use the SOFT D?
When the letter D is in the middle of the sentence it becomes weaker, above all if it’s between vowels.
(In colloquial speech, it could even be omitted. More info below).
Examples of words with the SOFT D
to d o, lava d o, a d ivinar
Tu pa d re viene d espués d e d esayunar.
Me d ieron dos d iamantes.
Lo que d ice Ana es ver d a d .
Tips to pronounce the SOFT D
(The position of your tongue is similar to the SOFT C).
Your tongue doesn’t touch your palate and it’s quite relaxed. Try putting the very tip of your tongue in between your teeth, like the “th” in this.
Your tongue is more relaxed when you pronounce this sound than when you pronounce the HARD D because this time your tongue doesn’t need to push anything nor block the air:
Other letters with the same sound [ð] in Spanish
There are no letters with the same sound as SOFT D.
3. Five ways to pronounce the Spanish D at the end of the word
Depending on the region, Spanish natives pronounce the letter D at the end of a word or sentence in 5 different ways.
1. Silent D
Silent D is very common in colloquial speech. You can hear people dropping the letter D everywhere.
3 different ways to pronounce the LETTER C in Spanish (with audio + examples)
Do you really know how to pronounce the letter C in Spanish?
The letter C may be pronounced in 3 different ways, depending on the following letter. One of those 3 sounds already exists in English, although you never use it for the letter C. The other 2 sounds are very similar in English and Spanish. There is a slight difference.
This is what you’ll find in this post
1. Pronunciation of Spanish C (HARD – ca, co, cu)
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbol
If you want to know exactly how to pronounce any Spanish word, here you can find all the Spanish letters, their pronunciation and the symbols that correspond to each sound, and some examples.
When do I pronounce the letter C as a HARD C?
When the letter C is followed by A, O or U (ca, co, cu).
Examples of Spanish words with the letter C (HARD)
cu: cu esta, cu ento, cu bierto, a cu dir.
[ ku esta], [ ku ento], [ ku βierto], [a ku dir].
How to say the letter C (HARD)
Tips to pronounce Spanish C (HARD) like a native speaker
Other letters that sound as Spanish C (HARD)
The letters K and Q in Spanish are pronounced exactly the same as HARD C [k].
Sound
Letter
Examples
[ k a ra, k o k o, k uando]
[ k eso, k ién]
kale, kiwi, kilo
[ k ale, k iwi, k ilo]
2. Pronunciation of Spanish C (SOFT – ce, ci)
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbol
When do I pronounce the letter C as a SOFT C?
When the letter C is followed by E or I (ce, ci).
Examples of Spanish words with the letter C (SOFT)
ce: ce na, ce sta, co ce r, ha ce mos.
[ θe na], [ θe sta], [co θe r], [a θe mos].
ci: ci ne, ci en, va cí o, vaca ci ones.
[ θi ne], [ θi en], [ba θí o], [baka θi ones].
How to say the letter C (SOFT)
The sound is produced by the air getting out of your mouth, between the teeth and the tongue.
In most of Latin America and some parts of Spain (mainly in the South: the Canary Islands, Andalucía and Ceuta) the SOFT C is pronounced like an S (as in “slow” )
Tips to pronounce the letter C (SOFT) like a native speaker
Other letters that sound the same as Spanish C (SOFT)
The pronunciation of SOFT C [θ] is exactly the same for the letter Z in Spanish.
Sound
Letter
Examples
[ θ apato, tro θ o, θ umo]
3. Pronunciation of Spanish CH
When I was a child, the letter CH (che) was one of the 29 (now 27) letters of the Spanish alphabet.
IPA symbol
Examples of Spanish words with CH
ch arco, Ch ina, ch ico, ch urros.
[ ʧ arko], [ ʧ ina], [ ʧ iko], [ ʧ uRos].
o ch o, co ch e, cu ch illo.
[ o ʧ o], [ko ʧ e], [ku ʧ ijo].
How to pronounce CH in Spanish
Tips to pronounce Spanish CH
If you want to pronounce the Spanish CH like a native speaker, try this:
How to Pronounce G in Spanish
When learning Spanish, many new learners experience some confusion when it comes to the letter ‘g’. This is because this letter’s sounds will vary depending on the vowels you use. As a result, many people wonder how to pronounce ‘g’ in Spanish.
The pronunciation of the letter g in Spanish will change depending on the vowel that comes after it. When followed by a, o and u, the sound is soft. On the contrary, if followed by e and i, the letter ‘g’ has a hard sound, pronounced as an English ‘h’ (helmet).
Saying the letter g incorrectly will not only affect your pronunciation, but in some cases can also affect the meaning of your sentences. For that reason, in the following sections, we’ll show you how to pronounce g in Spanish correctly.
On top of providing you with examples and comparisons, I’ll include some recordings so you can hear the correct pronunciation for this letter. By the end of this, saying the letter g in Spanish will no longer be a problem for you.
How Do You Say Letter ‘G’ in Spanish
When it comes to pronunciation, knowing how to say the letter ‘g’ in Spanish can be very tricky for new and experienced learners. This is because just as in English, in Spanish, this letter produces different sounds depending on the vowel that goes immediately after it.
Pronouncing Soft ‘G’ in Spanish
So in Spanish, if the letter ‘g’ is followed by a, o or u, the sound will be soft. In fact, in this case, the sound of ‘g’ will be exactly the same as the English pronunciation as long as you use the same vowels. Here are some recordings and examples:
| Spanish words | Sounds like |
| Gato (cat) | Gather |
| Gastar (to spend) | Gap |
| Gorra (cap) | Go |
| Gobierno (government) | Government |
| Gustavo | Gust |
| Gustar (to like) | Guru |
Pronouncing Hard ‘G’ in Spanish
Due to its similarities in pronunciation, many Spanish learners assume that the letter ‘g’ will make the same sounds as it does in English. However, this is not always the case.
If ‘g’ is followed by e or i, the sound will change and will become a hard Spanish ‘g’. Here is a recording with the pronunciations:
As you may notice from the audios, the Spanish hard ‘g’ sounds very similar to a hard English ‘h’. Here are some examples:
| Spanish words | Sounds like |
| Geografía (geography) | Hell |
| Gente (people) | Heavy |
| Argentina | Held |
| Girasol (sunflower) | Hit |
| Gimnasio (gym) | Hint |
In the following recording, you can listen to how to say each one of these words.
Gue & Gui Pronunciation in Spanish
Many Spanish learners get familiar with the pronunciation for words that contain the syllables ‘ga’, ‘ge’, ‘gi’, ‘go’ and ‘gu’ (which we saw in the previous section). But they may get confused with words that contain the gue and gui syllables.
Since with these types of words the letter ‘g’ is followed by two vowels, many Spanish learners don’t know which pronunciation rules apply which leads them to make mispronunciation mistakes.
In these cases, the letter ‘g’ will have a soft sound because it’s immediately followed by the letter ‘u’. Here are some audio recordings so you can check the pronunciation:
And some examples:
| Spanish words | Sounds like |
| Guerra (war) | Guest |
| Pliegue (fold) | Guess |
| Guitarra (guitar) | Guitar |
| Guiño (wink) | Guilt |
| Guiar (guide) | Guide |
Güe and Güi in Spanish – Letter ‘g’ and dieresis
If you’re practicing how to say ‘g’ in Spanish, at some point you’ll come across words with diaeresis (those two little points on top of the ‘u’). To put it another way, words that contain syllables with güe and güi.
Having a diaeresis indicates that you need to pronounce the vowel where the diaeresis is located. In this case, ‘u’. So how does this affect the pronunciation of the letter ‘g’?
In previous sections we learned that words with ‘gue’ (guerra, pliegue) form a single sound just as in English (guest). In other words, the ‘u’ gets almost lost in order to make the ‘e’ sound softer.
But if you have a diaeresis, the sound will be different since you need to pronounce the ‘u’. Check these recordings:
Here are some examples of words with ‘güe’ and ‘güi’:
| Spanish | English |
| Vergüenza | Embarrassment |
| Bilingüe | Bilingual |
| Güero | Blond |
| Pingüino | Penguin |
| Lingüística | Linguistics |
A word with diaeresis produces different sounds, as a result, if you don’t know this rule, you may make very basic mispronunciation mistakes. Check the difference:
Incorrect
Correct
As you may imagine, the diaeresis (ü) is very easy to see on written samples. But when it comes to listening, you’ll know that a word is working with a diaeresis based on the sound.
So don’t be surprised if a word with ‘gue’ or ‘gui’ doesn’t follow the rules that we learned in the first section. They’re very likely to be using a diaeresis.
Is the letter G pronounced like J in Spanish?
When learning how to pronounce the letter ‘g’ in Spanish, many students get confused with the similarity in sounds between ‘g’ and ‘j’. In Spanish, g and j are pronounced the same when followed by the vowels e or i.
In other words, if followed by ‘e’ or ‘i’, the letters g and j will be pronounced as the English hard ‘h’ (hell, hint).
Gente- people
Jefe – boss
Gimnasio – gym
Jitomate – tomato
When the Letters ‘G’ and ‘J’ Don’t Sound the Same in Spanish
As we mentioned before, if ‘g’ is followed by a, o or u, the sound will be soft. In this case, j doesn’t change its sound: it’s still pronounced as an English hard ‘h’. You can check the pronunciation in the following recordings.
Apagar vs Jalisco
Gota vs Jota
Águila vs Junta
Wrapping Up
Learning how to pronounce different letters in Spanish can be very confusing for new students. Since letter ‘g’ is one of the most challenging letters to learn, in this article, we discussed its different sounds and rules that you need to keep in mind.
We learned that letter ‘g’ has a soft sound if it’s followed by the vowels a, o, u.
| Spanish words | Sounds like |
| Pagar (to pay) | Game |
| Gota (drop) | Gossip |
| Guitarra (guitar) | Guitar |
| Guión (dash/script) | Guilt |
| Gusano (worm) | Gust |
But, if it’s followed by e or i, the sound will be very similar to an English hard ‘h’.
| Spanish words | Sounds like |
| Gemelo (twin) | Help |
| Gema (gem) | Hence |
| Gitano (gipsy) | Hit |
| Girar (to turn) | Hiss |
Finally, if a word with ‘g’ has diaeresis, the pronunciation will change: you’ll need to pronounce the letter ‘ü’. You can check these recordings to see the difference:
Guitarra – Spanish word without diaeresis
Pingüino – Spanish word with diaeresis
Now, you know how to say the letter ‘g’ in Spanish without making any mistakes.
¡Hola! Soy Daniela Sanchez, I’ve taught Spanish in Mexico to a wide array of foreigners. From students and tourists to doctors and soldiers who’ve moved and visited here over the years. During the day I’m a freelancer and marketer, while at night I’m here writing for students of the world wide web looking to learn Spanish. I hope you find what you’re looking here during your journey into Español 🙂 Read More About Me
Recent Posts
Imperfect in Spanish is an essential tense for anybody who wants to speak this language. I’ll put it this way: you can’t give details about your past without using this tense. Since it’s.
Showing possession is a basic communication skill. And to do so, we use a special set of adjectives. But because many people hear about this term for the first time, a lot of learners wonder what.
About the Author
¡Hola! Soy Daniela Sanchez, I’ve taught Spanish in Mexico to a wide array of foreigners. From students and tourists to doctors and soldiers who’ve moved and visited here over the years. During the day I’m a freelancer and online marketer, while at night I’m here writing for students of the world wide web looking to learn Spanish. I hope you find what you’re looking for here during your journey into Español 🙂
How should I pronounce the Spanish consonant ‘d’?
I was taught that Spanish d has two pronunciations: at the beginning of the word it is a hard d; between vowels, it is pronounced /ð/, much like th in English the.
Please look at this sentence:
Nosotros nos reunimos para dar la bienvenida a la profesora.
Should I say /para ðar la/ or /para dar la/?
3 Answers 3
This is a good question, and unfortunately the answer is, «it depends». The Spanish letter d has different pronunciations depending on where it comes in a word.
Word-initially, it will generally have a sound closer to the English d, although pronounced with the tongue behind the teeth, rather than upon the upper alveolar ridge (on the hard palate).
Intervocalically (between vowels), the Spanish d is normally realized as /ð/, that is, the same sound you make when you say the word rather. In some dialects, it may be /Ø/ (elided/silent) if it comes before the last syllable.
Word-finally, the pronunciation will vary a bit more. The four most common pronunciations are /d/ (like word-initial), /t/ (also with tongue behind teeth), /θ/ (as in thistle), or /Ø/. This is heavily dependent on dialect.
Now you’d think the answer would be easy. dar has a word-initial d, so it should sound /d/. However, in Spanish, many words will often be pronounced together as if they were a single word, especially in fast speech. Prepositions, object pronouns, demonstratives, and articles are the most likely to be «joined» to a more significant word, generally a verb/noun/adjective.
I would normally have the following word groupings in speech:
Why is this significant? Because each group is pronounced as if a single word, that is, as if it read nosotros nosreunimos paradar labienvenida alaprofesora. In this case, you can see that the d is now positioned between two vowels, and would thus be pronounced /ð/.
On the other hand, let’s say you trail off after saying para because you were deciding between saying dar la bienvenida and saludar. Notice how the grouping changes:
Now dar is back to its own word group, and will get the word-initial pronunciation of /d/.
Источники информации:
- http://blancaquintero.com/spanish-pronunciation/how-pronounce-letters-alphabet/d/
- http://blancaquintero.com/spanish-pronunciation/how-pronounce-letters-alphabet/c/
- http://www.tellmeinspanish.com/learning/pronounce-g-in-spanish/
- http://spanish.stackexchange.com/questions/8254/how-should-i-pronounce-the-spanish-consonant-d