C changes with the next vowel
/k/ in casa versus Latin American /s/ in cena.
casa
house; home
房子；家
cena
dinner
晚餐
M4 · Beginner Spanish
Pronunciation Rules
Explore spelling-to-sound patterns, compare real words, and read concise regional and stress notes. Practice is exploratory: it does not submit quiz answers or change SRS intervals.
Audio help
Voices are automatic: Orus reinforces masculine personal descriptions; Leda is used for feminine, neutral or ambiguous content. Explicit speaker metadata takes priority. Ordinary masculine nouns do not select a male voice. New recordings are prepared only on Play and saved for reuse. Both voices share the owner-approved monthly budget and 100 new recordings per browser profile per UTC day. Cached audio remains available when the budget is reached. If Google audio is unavailable, Spanish browser audio is labeled Browser Voice. If playback is blocked, use Tap to Play.
Leda is the default; Orus reinforces masculine personal descriptions unless explicit speaker metadata says otherwise. Exact voice-specific cached audio plays first. Eligible missing audio is prepared only on Play, within the shared budget; failures use Spanish browser speech labeled Browser Voice. Letter-name previews are approximate TTS, not verified isolated phonemes. Browser speech may be unavailable on some devices.
13 stored pronunciation rules
Open a rule to study its examples. Explanations clarify the original seed; no database rules were added.
Showing 13 of 13 stored rules
Hard G
Spelling pattern: ga / go / gu
/g/
G before a, o, u represents /g/. “Hard” describes the spelling category, not a requirement for equally strong closure in every position.
gato
cat
Chinese meaning not stored
English gloss: lesson annotation, not a vocabulary record
goma
rubber; eraser
Chinese meaning not stored
English gloss: lesson annotation, not a vocabulary record
gusto
taste; pleasure
Chinese meaning not stored
English gloss: lesson annotation, not a vocabulary record
Soft G
Spelling pattern: ge / gi
/x/; regional [h]
Before e or i, G has the same sound category as J, not the English soft G /dʒ/. A softer [h] is widespread in Latin America and other regions.
gente
people
Chinese meaning not stored
English gloss: lesson annotation, not a vocabulary record
girar
to turn; to rotate
Chinese meaning not stored
English gloss: lesson annotation, not a vocabulary record
GUE / GUI
Spelling pattern: gue / gui
/ge/, /gi/
In gue and gui, U is silent and G retains /g/. Compare these spellings with güe/güi, where U is audible.
guerra
war
Chinese meaning not stored
English gloss: lesson annotation, not a vocabulary record
guitarra
guitar
Chinese meaning not stored
English gloss: lesson annotation, not a vocabulary record
GÜE / GÜI
Spelling pattern: güe / güi
/gwe/, /gwi/
The diaeresis (two dots) makes U audible before e/i after G, usually as a [w] glide in these examples. It is not a stress mark.
vergüenza
embarrassment; shame
害羞；难为情
pingüino
penguin
Chinese meaning not stored
English gloss: lesson annotation, not a vocabulary record
Hard C
Spelling pattern: ca / co / cu
/k/
C before a, o, u represents /k/, the same category written K or QU in other words.
casa
house; home
房子；家
cosa
thing
Chinese meaning not stored
English gloss: lesson annotation, not a vocabulary record
Cuba
Cuba
Chinese meaning not stored
English gloss: lesson annotation, not a vocabulary record
Soft C
Spelling pattern: ce / ci
/s/ in Latin America; /θ/ in much of Spain
C before e/i has /s/ in Latin American Spanish (seseo). Many speakers in Spain distinguish it as /θ/. Neither pattern is an English soft-C rule applied to every language.
cena
dinner
晚餐
ciudad
city
城市
QU
Spelling pattern: que / qui
/ke/, /ki/
In the common Spanish spellings que and qui, QU represents /k/ and U is silent. Do not pronounce an English /kw/ here.
queso
cheese
奶酪
quiero
I want; I love (depending on context)
Chinese meaning not stored
English gloss: lesson annotation, not a vocabulary record
J
Spelling pattern: ja / je / ji / jo / ju
/x/; regional [h]
J keeps the jota sound before a, e, i, o, u. Its strength varies: softer [h] and stronger friction are both regional realizations, not English J.
jamón
ham
Chinese meaning not stored
English gloss: lesson annotation, not a vocabulary record
jirafa
giraffe
Chinese meaning not stored
English gloss: lesson annotation, not a vocabulary record
joven
young
年轻的
Silent H
Spelling pattern: h
∅
H is silent in hola and ahora. The consonant in the spoken name hache belongs to the name, not to H in those words; the digraph CH has its own sound.
hola
hello
你好
ahora
now
现在
Single R
Spelling pattern: vowel + r + vowel
/ɾ/
Between vowels a single R is a brief tongue tap. Compare pero with perro: changing the tap to a trill changes the word.
pero
but
但是
cara
face
Chinese meaning not stored
English gloss: lesson annotation, not a vocabulary record
Stored contrast: pero / perro. Compare the tap and trill examples below.
Reference: RAE/ASALE DPDRR
Spelling pattern: rr
/r/
Between vowels RR represents the trill, in contrast to the single-R tap. RR is a digraph, not a 28th letter. Trills have regional variants; this is the broad beginner target.
perro
dog
Chinese meaning not stored
English gloss: lesson annotation, not a vocabulary record
carro
car; cart (regional/contextual senses)
Chinese meaning not stored
English gloss: lesson annotation, not a vocabulary record
Stored contrast: pero / perro. Compare the tap and trill examples below.
Reference: RAE/ASALE DPDInitial R
Spelling pattern: word-initial r
/r/
Word-initial R represents the trill, even though it is written once. The same strong category normally occurs after n, l or s.
rojo
red
红色的
rápido
fast; quick
快的；迅速的
Ñ
Spelling pattern: ñ
/ɲ/
Ñ is a palatal nasal, distinct from N. English approximations are only approximations: listen to niño and año rather than treating English canyon as an exact phonetic match.
año
year
年
niño
boy; child
男孩；孩子
Compare real words
Two G sound categories
/g/ in gato versus the jota category /x/ (often [h]) in gente.
gato
cat
Chinese meaning not stored
English gloss: lesson annotation, not a vocabulary record
gente
people
Chinese meaning not stored
English gloss: lesson annotation, not a vocabulary record
Silent U versus audible U
U is silent in guerra but audible as [w] in vergüenza. These are illustrative examples, not a minimal pair.
guerra
war
Chinese meaning not stored
English gloss: lesson annotation, not a vocabulary record
vergüenza
embarrassment; shame
害羞；难为情
Tap versus trill
Pero /ˈpeɾo/ and perro /ˈpero/ are a minimal pair: tap versus trill changes the meaning.
pero
but
但是
perro
dog
Chinese meaning not stored
English gloss: lesson annotation, not a vocabulary record
Supplementary reference notes
These 4 important topics lack dedicated stored rules. They are labeled reading aids, not newly inserted lessons. Database lesson proposals are documented separately.
B and V — one sound category
/b/
Standard Spanish B and V share a sound category. Context affects the strength of lip closure, not which of the two letters is written. Do not copy the English B/V contrast. The different letter names help spelling, not a pronunciation contrast.
beber
to drink
喝
vaso
glass; drinking glass
玻璃杯
LL and Y — regional variation
/ʝ/; regional [ʃ], [ʒ]; distinct LL /ʎ/
Most speakers use the same consonant for LL and Y (yeísmo). Listen for regional realizations, including [ʃ] or [ʒ] in Argentina and Uruguay. Some speakers still distinguish LL /ʎ/. The notation /ʝ/ is a broad reference, not the only acceptable realization; LL is not an extra alphabet letter.
silla
chair
椅子
yo
I
我
Five vowel categories
/a e i o u/
Spanish has five vowel categories. Keep their quality clear in stressed and unstressed syllables; avoid adding English-style glides to e and o. Unstressed i/u next to another vowel can become [j]/[w]. These words illustrate vowel categories, not recordings of isolated phonemes.
agua
water
水
elefante
elephant
Chinese meaning not stored
English gloss: lesson annotation, not a vocabulary record
isla
island
Chinese meaning not stored
English gloss: lesson annotation, not a vocabulary record
oso
bear
Chinese meaning not stored
English gloss: lesson annotation, not a vocabulary record
uva
grape
Chinese meaning not stored
English gloss: lesson annotation, not a vocabulary record
Word stress and written accents
ˈ marks the following stressed syllable in IPA
For ordinary words of two or more syllables without a written accent, vowel endings and n/s preceded by a vowel normally take next-to-last-syllable stress; other consonant endings normally take final stress. An acute accent marks a stressed vowel and can also distinguish otherwise identical forms. A stressed í/ú beside a/e/o marks a hiatus, as in país. The dots in ü are not a stress mark. Capitalized syllables below are a study aid, not alternative spellings.
casa
house; home
房子；家
Stress aid: CA-sa
café
coffee
咖啡
Stress aid: ca-FÉ
lápiz
pencil
铅笔
Stress aid: LÁ-piz
país
country
国家
Stress aid: pa-ÍS