LECCION # 1

VOWELS

Aa Ee Ii Oo Uu

There are only 5 vowel phonemes in Spanish and they are each only pronounced
one way. Is a little bit different than English because your language has the same 5
vowels but you can pronounce them in different ways. For example:

Live= having life Tear= To pull apart or into pieces by force

Live= To reside Tear= A drop of a liquid or hardened fluid.

In Spanish we have two kinds of vowels: strong or open vowels and weak, closed
or semi vowels

Open Vowels/ Vocales Tónicas: Se pronuncian con la boca abierta o semi

abierta. (e, a, o)

Closed Vowels/ Vocales Atónas: Se pronuncian con la boca más cerrada. (i, u)

Punchy Pronunciation

In general, all vowels are shorter in Spanish than in English. Take the letter "O" for
example. When we say the letter "O" in English, it sounds a little like "Oooohwa." In
Spanish, it is muuuuch shorter. Almost like the sound a gorilla would make: "Oh."
Keep this in mind when practicing your Spanish vowels. You´ll sound much more
native with short vowels rather than long southern-belle vowels.

Spanish Vowel Sounds

Pronunciation English Words Example Spanish Example
/a/ = "ah" father, saw papa, agua
/e/ = "eh" met, bed esperanza, bebe
/i/ = "ee" bee, leaf sí, chica
/o/ = "oh" low, know loco, bonito
/u/ = "oo" sue, do grupo, futuro