Spanish Pronunciation
The pronunciation of Spanish words is directly represented by their written form and therefore phonetic transcriptions have only been supplied for loan words which retain their original spelling.
Consonants and semi-vowels |
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| Symbol | Example | Approximation | |
| /b/ | boca | /'boka/ | English b in bin but without the aspiration that follows it. |
| vaso | /'baso/ | ||
| /β/ | cabo | /'kaβo/ | Very soft b, produced with the lips hardly meeting. |
| ave | /'aβe/ | ||
| /d/ | dolor | /do'lor/ | English d in den. |
| /ð/ | cada | /'kaða/ | English th in rather. |
| /f/ | fino | /'fino/ | English f in feat. |
| /g/ | gota | /'gota/ | English g in goat. |
| /ɣ/ | pago | /'paɣo/ | Very soft continuous sound, not punctuated like /g/. |
| largo | /'larɣo/ | ||
| /j/ | mayo | /'majo/ | English y in yet. For regional variants see points 7 and 14 of General Rules of Spanish Pronunciation on page xviii. |
| llave | /'jaβe/ | ||
| /j/ | tiene | /'tjene/ | English y in yet. |
| /k/ | cama | /'kama/ | English c in cap but without the aspiration that follows it. |
| cuna | /'kuna/ | ||
| quiso | /'kiso/ | ||
| kilo | /'kilo/ | ||
| /l/ | lago | /'laɣo/ | English l in lid. |
| /m/ | mono | /'mono/ | English m in most. |
| /n/ | no | /no/ | English n in nib. |
| /ŋ/ | banco | /'baŋko/ | English ng in song. |
| /ɲ/ | año | /'aɲo/ | Like gn in French soigné, similar to the ni in onion. |
| /p/ | peso | /'peso/ | English p in spin. |
| /r/ | aro | /'aro/ | A single flap with a curved tongue against the palate. |
| árbol | /'arβol/ | ||
| /rr/ | rato | /'rrato/ | A rolled ‘r’ as found in some Scottish accents. |
| /s/ | asa | /'asa/ | English s in stop. |
| celo | /'selo/ | ||
| cinco | /'siŋko/ | ||
| azote | /a'sote/ | ||
| /θ/ | celo | /'θelo/ | English th in thin. |
| cinco | /'θiŋko/ | ||
| azote | /a'θote/ | ||
| /t/ | todo | /'toðo/ | English t in step. |
| /tʃ/ | chapa | /'tʃapa/ | English ch in church. |
| /w/ | cuatro | /'kwatro/ | English w. |
| /x/ | jota | /'xota/ | ch in Scottish loch. |
| general | /xene'ral/ | ||
| gigante | /xi'ɣante/ | ||
| /z/ | desde | /'dezðe/ | English s in is. |
Vowels |
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| None of the five Spanish vowels corresponds exactly to an English vowel. | |||
| /a/ | casa | /'kasa/ | Shorter than a in father. |
| /e/ | seco | /'seko/ | English e in pen. |
| /i/ | fin | /fin/ | Between English ee in seen and i in sin. |
| /o/ | oro | /'oro/ | Shorter than English o in rose. |
| /u/ | uña | /'uɲa/ | Between English oo in boot and oo in foot. |