Thir13en

Thir13en

Previously on my blog …

a para arco

b para barco

c para cerco

ch para chico

d para dedo

[ Try to recollect the English translations with out looking at the previous post ]

and now the blog continues …

The Spanish ‘e’ ( eh ) is like the French ‘é’ in ‘déjà vu’ or like the ‘a’ in the English ‘day’
e para elefante ( Elephant )
The ‘f’ in Spanish when isolated is pronounced as ‘ éfé ’. But when it occurs in a word it is just like an English ‘f’.
f para fuego ( fire )

The ‘g in Spanish has three variants. One is similar to the English ‘g’ sound as in ‘got’. This is only if the incidence of ‘g’ is followed by “a”, “o”, “u”, and when following the letter “n” or after a pause in a sentence.

An example for this kind of ‘g’ is

g para gato ( cat )

The soft version of this ‘g’ comes when it occurs between vowels (a,e,i,o,u). There sees to be an ambiguity whether to use the soft ‘g’ or the hard ‘g’ ( as in English ‘got’) if ‘g’ occurs between vowels but is followed by an ‘a’, ’o’ or ‘u’. The correct pronunciation is the soft ‘g’. It is just softer. Like mixing an ‘h’ with a ‘g’. Almost similar to the difference between the Hindi/Telugu versions of ‘gha’ (hard) and ‘ga’(soft).

The example is agua ( water ).

[ Notice that the ‘g’ in agua, though followed by a ‘u’, is pronounced in a softer way overriding the first rule which says ‘g’ has to be harder when followed by a ‘u’/’a’/’o’. The second rule takes precedence over the first one ]

The third pronunciation of ‘g’ is similar to an English ‘h’ as in ‘hot’ but with more air puffing out of your mouth. This is pronounced if ‘g’ comes before ‘e’ or ‘i’.

g para general ( general ).

[ pronounced as hé-né-ràl. Here, pronounce the é and à as in French. It is really difficult to explain the pronunciation in writing ]

The Spanish ‘h’ ( acheh ) has no sound when used in words. It is silent.

h para huevo ( egg )

The Spanish ‘I’ ( ee ) is similar to the English ‘ee’ in ‘teeth’.

i para inglés ( English ).

[ The ‘é’ in ingles means that the ‘e’ has to stressed and has to be a little longer than the original ‘e’. I shall come back to this later. The small symbol on ‘e’ can be used over all vowels and all of them have to be stressed and prolonged when the symbol is used ]

The ‘j’ ( jotah ) is like an ‘h’ in ‘hot’. Notice the difference between the ‘g’ in general ( Spanish general ) and this ‘j’ are different. As mentioned above, there has to be more air coming out of your mouth in case of ‘g’, than that of a ‘j’.

j para justicia ( justice ).

Spanish ‘k’ ( kah ) and its English foil differ in the fact that the Spanish ‘k’ is a little softer than the English ‘k’.

k para kilo ( kilo )

‘l’ (eleh ) in Spanish is the same as an English ‘l’.

l para lupa ( magnifying glass)

‘ll’ ( ehjeh ) sounds like a ‘y’ in yatch.

ll para llolar ( weep )

The Spanish ‘m’ ( ehmeh ) and ‘n’ ( ehneh ) are similar to their English sounds.

m para mamá ( mother ).

n para nombre. ( name )

ñ ( enieh ) sounds like an ‘ny’ in ‘Canyon’.

ñ para español ( Spanish ).

‘o’ sounds similar to the English ‘o’.

o para ocho ( eight )

Shall post the remaining set in the next post.