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Spanish Vowels

Author: Sophia

what's covered
In this lesson, you will take a closer look at the vowels in the Spanish alphabet, and how they are pronounced in different Spanish words. Specifically, this lesson will cover:
  1. Las Vocales (Vowels)

1. Las Vocales (Vowels)

Video Transcript

The key to sounding as authentic as possible is to keep the vowels short. Spanish vowels are very choppy; they are never drawn out as in English. This is one reason that Spanish sounds faster than English. In English, vowels are sometimes "silent;" in Spanish, vowels are always pronounced.

There is only one way to pronounce each vowel in Spanish. Each is always pronounced as follows:

Letter Sound Type Word to Try
a ah strong mañana (tomorrow)
e ay strong mes (month)
i ee weak libro (book)
o oh strong dolor (pain)
u oo weak computadora (computer
y ee weak muy (very)

Note that two strong vowels next to each other create two separate syllables: mu-se-o

Otherwise, two vowels combine to form one syllable: ciu-dad, vie-jo

summary
In this lesson, you learned about the vowels you will need to know in order to form words using the Spanish alphabet. There is only one pronunciation of each Spanish vowel, though it's important to remember which vowels have "strong" sounds and which have "weak" sounds, as this can affect pronunciation of different words.

¡Buena suerte!

Support

If you are struggling with a concept or terminology in the course, you may contact PharmacySpanishSupport@capella.edu for assistance.

If you are having technical issues, please contact learningcoach@sophia.org.

Source: This content has been adapted from "Pharmacy Spanish" by Stephanie Langston.