Learn Spanish for Beginners: Easy Step-by-Step Method to Start Learning Spanish Today

By R.M. Lewis

FINALLY you are going to learn a 2nd language like you've always told yourself you would!

There is no better place to start than the Spanish Beginner's Guide by Discover Language. This guide offers a comprehensive approach to the basics of the Spanish language. Learn Spanish for Beginners is a book for all kinds of learners, whether you are particularly interested in rules and spelling, or if you are trying to build on your vocabulary, this guide covers all of it.

In this book you'll learn…

•    ALL the beginner level vocabulary there is to know
•    Basic greetings and other common Spanish expressions
•    Past, present and future tense of verbs
•    10 different types of pronouns and when/how to use them
•    Rules for correct spelling and punctuation
•    And Much More!

Spanish is a beautiful language to learn and the 3rd most widely spoken language in the world. Learn Spanish for Beginners is a very good way to start learning because it highlights the often difficult parts of learning a new language and explains it so it can be understood more easily. We do our best by presenting all of the highly important details so the reader can best comprehends what he/she is doing.

Audiobook is highly recommended as the most effective way of learning a new language.

With almost half a billion (and growing) Spanish speakers in the world, there is no better time than right now to learn Spanish.

• Language: English
• Publisher: R&C Publishing
• Release date: May 17, 2018

Book preview

54

The Alphabet (El Alfabeto):

Unlike English, Spanish is a very phonetic language, this means that the letters within the words sound very similarly to the way in which they sound standing alone. With a few exceptions, which we will touch on later in this chapter, knowing how each letter sounds will allow you to know how a word is pronounced.

The Spanish alphabet is exactly the equivalent as in English but with the accumulation of the framed ñ which is very widely used and does not really have an equivalent in English. The origin of this framed n is in Old Spanish where some words were spelled with a double n and the ~ arose as shorthand to indicate the doubling of letters. Spanish has evolved a lot since then and the ñ was added to the alphabet in the eighteen century.

The Spanish alphabet is therefore made up of 27 letters and while there may be regional variations on the pronunciation, the letters all sound similar everywhere. Below is the full alphabet, the pronunciation of each letter, and what the letter is called in Spanish.

A: Pronounce it like the A in Back — Ah

B: Pronounce it like the B in Bottom – Beh (Big b, be grande)

C: Mostly Pronounce it like the C in Car though there are a few exceptions, which we will look into soon enough — Ceh

D: Pronounce it like the D in Do — Deh

E: Pronounce it like the E in Earnest — Eh

F: Pronounce it like the F in Fought — Efeh

G: Mostly Pronounce it like the G in Gustav but there are a few exceptions, which we will study later in this chapter. — Ghé

H: The H is always silent, unless combined with a C, where it is pronounced just like the CH in Change; or an S where it is pronounced as the Sh in Shock- Hache

I: Pronounce it like the EE in Bee — Ih (pronounced Ee)

J: Pronounced almost like the H in Hall, only with a louder, stronger exhalation — Jota

K: Pronounce it like the K in Kind — Kah

L: Mostly Pronounce it like the L in Like but when it is doubled up (Ll) it sounds like the J in Joy - Eleh

M: Pronounce it like the M in Mother — Emeh

N: Pronounce it like the N in Not — Eneh

Ñ: The closest sound in English for this letter is the NI in Onion but that will only give you a rough idea, if you know Italian or French then the sound is the same as the "gn or if you know Portuguese it is like the nh" sound — Eñe (énye)

O: Pronounce it like the O in Open — Oh

P: Pronounce it like the P in Pack — Peh

Q: Pronounce it like the Q in Question — Cuh

R: Pronounce it like the TT in Butter in American English. When doubled up (Rr) it makes that famous Rolling sound — Ere

S: Pronounce it like the S in Same — Esse

T: Pronounce it like the T in Tame — Teh

U: Pronounce it like the OU in Youth or the OO in Loot — Uh

V: Pronounce it like the V in Vital — Veh (Small v, ve chica).

W: Pronounce it like the W in Window. The W is only used in Spanish to account for words in English that have migrated to Spanish such as Wi-Fi – Doble Uh (literally double-u) it may also be called Doble Veh (Double-V)

X: Mostly pronounce it like the X in Exam, though there are regional variations, which we will touch on soon — Equis (pronounced ekis)

Y: It can be used either as a consonant or a vowel, when used as a consonant it sounds just like the letter Y in English, and as a vowel it will sound just like the I sound in Spanish which, if you remember sounds like the double E in Bee. — Ih (Greek I, I Griega)

Z: In most Spanish-speaking countries this is pronounced just like the S in Soy; however in Spain, this is Pronounce it like the TH sound in This — Zeta (pronounced Seta or Theta)

Practice the sounds out loud, some are quite hard to manage by English speakers such as the J and RR; however, if you practice and practice you will manage it in the end.

Now, we mentioned some exceptions to the pronunciation rules and now we will discuss them. Most are very similar to the exceptions in English so it will not be too hard to grasp them.

First the exceptions to