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23 sounds of Spanish

Written by Blanca Quintero.

https://blanca.quintero.com

All rights reserved.

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Introduction

I decided writing this free e-book as a guide for you to start improving
your pronunciation in Spanish. (It works on any device).

Nowadays we’re a click far from (almost) any data. There are lots of apps
for learning languages, theory, grammar and reading material. But
pronunciation and comprehension in Spanish are still forgotten.

Yes, you’re right. It’s true that you can find some data out there, but the
information may be too complex, incomplete or pure theory. So I decided to
collect the most helpful information for you, make it as easy as possible
and create this guide.

What you are going to find:

☺ Easy theory
☺ Examples and comparisons between English and Spanish sounds
☺ Graphs and images to help you understand the theory
☺ Audio
☺ Activities

Pronunciation should be the first thing we learn when we begin “studying”

any language. (Because that’s what we usually do. Studying). We start by
learning vocabulary -the more, the merrier- and waste a lot of time in
memorizing.

Many times intermediate and advanced students need to get back to the
basics since they frequently have trouble with accurate pronunciation so this
guide is perfect for those who need to fix the foundation of their speaking
and erase pronunciation errors before the wrong sounds get stuck in their
brain.

And that’s why I’ve written this free e-book!

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This guide is just a first contact. It contains the basic Spanish sounds you
need to get familiar with if you want people to understand what you are
saying and it will place you on the path to improve, get pronunciation
fluency and succeed in speaking Spanish.

Along this Spanish pronunciation guide, you will find this icon:

Hit it when you see it. It will drive you to the track collection. The
07 number below the speaker shows which number corresponds to each
audio track.

This brackets [-], contain a specific sound. For example, to represent the
sound produce by the letter B, we write [b] and to represent the sound
produce by the letter J, we write [X].

I hope you enjoy the guide and that you practice as much as you can!

¡Nos vemos pronto!

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Content
IPA Chart (23 sounds) ........................................................................................................................................................................ 5
5 vowel sounds ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 6
18 consonant sounds ......................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Activities ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 10
Answers ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 14
A piece of advise ................................................................................................................................................................................. 16

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 (For more info on how to pronounce each sound, click on the symbol) blancaQuintero.com 5

1 2 3 4 5

a e i o u
Voiceless

01 fin
sala Belén oro ñu Voiced
buey
(vocal cords vibrate)

6 7 8 9 10 11

g s m f p ʧ Same sound
in English and
Spanish

gota salsa mamá fuera pipa ocho

12 13 14 15 16 17

n ʝ ñ X R r Sound

23 SOUNDS OF SPANISH
doesn’t exist
in English

nana olla, yoga niño jungla, energía ahorra, rosa ahora

18 19 20 21 22 23

θ
zapato, cecina
b
bien, vela
k
coco, que, kiwi
d ducha
t tarta
l lila
Similar sound,
or not always
the same

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 blancaQuintero.com 6

5 vowel sounds

Fortunately for you, the Spanish language only has one sound for each
vowel. It doesn’t matter where you are or who you speak with. Spain, México,
Argentina… The sounds of the vowels will be the same.

Once you master the 5 positions of your mouth (jaw, lips and tongue) to
pronounce the Spanish vowels, you’ll have crossed a large portion of the
bridge that leads you to a native-like pronunciation.

Vowel chart Position of the tongue to pronounce the Spanish vowel

23 SOUNDS OF SPANISH

Complementary information:
 Tips to pronounce the Spanish vowels + Mouth positioning
https://blancaquintero.com/spanish-pronunciation/vowels/mouth-position
 Common errors when pronouncing the Spanish vowels
https://blancaquintero.com/spanish-pronunciation/vowels/common-errors/
 6 differences between English and Spanish vowels
https://blancaquintero.com/spanish-pronunciation/vowels/differences-english/
 Spanish Diphthongs and Triphthongs
https://blancaquintero.com/spanish-pronunciation/vowels/diphthongs-triphthongs/
 Spanish Hiatus
https://blancaquintero.com/spanish-pronunciation/vowels/hiatus/

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 blancaQuintero.com
7

English vs Spanish vowels

TONGUE

M
O
U
T
H

23 SOUNDS OF SPANISH

Complementary information:
 English vs Spanish vowels
https://blancaquintero.com/spanish-pronunciation/vowels

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 blancaQuintero.com

Vowel Examples Position of the tongue

Central
a cara, lana, mamá
(tongue flat)

e bebé, bebe, desde

02 Front
(tongue towards the front)
i rey, soy, mini, bici

o solo, bolo, coro

Back
(tongue towards the rear)
u tú, ñu, tutú

Listen to this video. Probably is not your favourite kind of music, but it's a
good song to get the sound of Spanish vowels.

23 SOUNDS OF SPANISH

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 blancaQuintero.com 9

18 consonant sounds

Consonant sounds are produced by using at least two different parts of the
mouth:

 lips
 tongue
 teeth
 throat

In addition, some sounds need the voice in order to be pronounced. They are
called voiced. When you produce them your vocal cords vibrate. Touch your
throat while you say aloud hello. That’s the vibration.

Voiceless sounds don’t need your voice to be pronounced but only air.

On this image you can see which 2

parts of the mouth you should use
to produce the sound of the
different Spanish consonants.

See the following table (on page 8)

and find out what sounds come
23 SOUNDS OF SPANISH

from each part of the mouth.

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 blancaQuintero.com 10

Image Part of the mouth Sounds Letters (examples)

03 1 Lips [m, p*, b] mapa, bola, vi

2 Lip + Teeth [f] fuerte

In English letters T and D are pronounced by
3 Tongue + Teeth [d, t*, θ] dice, trozo putting the tip of your tongue in position
number 4 (flatter shape than English D and T).
Tip of the tongue + Palate
4 [l, n, R, r, s] lana, raro, salsas
(front)
5 Tongue + Palate [ʧ] coche

6 Tongue + Palate [ʝ, ñ] llama, yo

7 Tongue +Palate (back) [k*, g] kilo, queso, coco, gota

Tongue (back) + Soft palate

23 SOUNDS OF SPANISH
8 [X] juguete This sound occurs in the same place as snoring
(uvula)
In Spanish, letter H is not pronounced, only
9 Vocal cords [h] hámster sometimes in loan words and it’s pronounced
softer than [X] and stronger than English H.

*In English, letters K, T and P are mostly aspirated. To know what “aspirated” means you can watch this video. It’s a piece of an episode of Friends TV series.
They exaggerate a lot but you’ll quickly get what I’m talking about.

Then play the Track 04, to hear the difference between Spanish and English P, T and K. Firstly, you’ll hear the sound in English and then in Spanish. After
04
that you’ll hear the name of the letter in Spanish and how to pronounce it with the different vowels.

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 blancaQuintero.com 12

Activities

1. Which words contain a silent <h>?

Hong Kong ahora almohada

bicho aloha hierro

héroe Honduras Huston

hámster hotel hipopótamo

2. a) Underline the /ɾ/ sounds (soft r).

b) When you are done listen to the audio and correct if necessary.
05

a) Raúl ríe y bromea con Rita para pasar el rato.

b) Mientras Carlos riega los árboles Rosa arregla el jardín.

c) Los martes Enrique corre alrededor del parque.

d) ¿Quiere recortar ese dibujo tan raro?

e) Tres trenes recorren Murcia a diario.

23 SOUNDS OF SPANISH

3. Listen and fill the empty spaces with the missing vowels

a) c__d__ b) p__lm__r__a

c) p____ d) __v__

e) v__n__ f) c____nt__

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 blancaQuintero.com 13

4. Listen to the audio and fill the empty spaces with the letters D, T, B or P.

a) __e__e b) __ien__e

c) __e__e d) __an

e) __ien__es f) __an__as

g) __an h) __an__a

23 SOUNDS OF SPANISH

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 blancaQuintero.com 14

Answers

1.

Hong-Kong ahora almohada

bicho aloha hierro

héroe Honduras Huston

hámster hotel hipopótamo

2.

a) Raúl ríe y bromea con Rita para pasar el rato.

b) Mientras Carlos riega los árboles Rosa arregla el jardín.

c) Los martes Enrique corre alrededor del parque.

d) ¿Quiere recortar ese dibujo tan raro?

e) Tres trenes recorren Murcia a diario.

3.
23 SOUNDS OF SPANISH

a) codo b) palmera

c) pie d) uva

e) vino f) cuento

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 blancaQuintero.com
15

4.

a) Pepe b) diente

c) bebe d) dan

e) tientes f) bandas

g) tan h) panda

23 SOUNDS OF SPANISH

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 blancaQuintero.com 16

A piece of advice
This guide covers 23 sounds but the Spanish language has a total of 34
sounds (you can see all of them here) and 38 International Phonetic
Alphabet1 (IPA) symbols.

There are many tools and resources you can use to improve your accent,
but if you don’t know how to use them, you’ll continue stuck in the
intermediate level, all your efforts to improve will be (almost) useless and
you’ll waste your time, as I did during years.

Learn Spanish by listening and speaking, not by studying.

You don’t need any special talent, books, or discipline to reduce your
accent. All you need is a plan. To know how to get from A (intermediate
level, frustrated) to B (advanced level, fluency, self-confidence).

By improving your pronunciation, you’d speak more clearly, fluently and

confidently. People would stop asking you to repeat yourself. And you’d
understand much better.

I still haven’t found a magic formula to improve Spanish speaking skills

overnight (I promise I’ll let you know if I do). However, after over 10 years,
I found out an effective way to reduce English accent when speaking
Spanish with songs, films, YouTube videos… within 4-6 weeks. No theory.

I usually have a 5-to-7-week waiting list but you can reserve a place here
(first-come first-served). 23 SOUNDS OF SPANISH

Contact

info@blancaquintero.com

1
These symbols allow you to know exactly how to pronounce any word.

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