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GRAMMAR AND PRONUNCIATION
Cognates
Cognates are words in one language that sound the same, look the same, and mean the same (or almost the
same) as a word in a different language. We use cognates to help us remember words in SPanish because we
are already familiar with their cognate in English.
Examples:
el carro the car
el elefante the elephant
es is
Masculine and Feminine Words
When you look at Spanish words for nouns (people or places or things), you will notice that they have an el or la
in front of them. This is because all Spanish words for nouns are either masculine or feminine. El is the word for
“the” in front of a masculine word and la is the word for “the” in front of a feminine word. In front of words that
are plural (more than one) you use los for masculine words, and las for feminine words.
Adjectives
In Spanish, adjectives come after nouns. In English, we do the opposite. For example, the black cat would be el
gato negro (the cat black).
In addition, adjectives can be feminine or masculine so they change according to the noun that comes before it. For
example, the word rojo (red) changes to roja in the phrase la bicicleta roja (the bike red), but remains rojo in el
carro rojo (the car red).
Other examples:
el perro negro (the dog black)
la cebra negra (the zebra black)
Accent Marks
In Spanish the vowels (a,e,i,o,u) sometimes have a small slash mark above them. This changes how you say the
word and is called an accent mark.
Spanish also has a squiggle over the letter ñ called a tilde. This mark makes the ñ say “nyuh” (like the nio in
onion)
Spanish Pronunciation
Most of the words in Spanish are very easy to pronounce because Spanish is a very phonetic language; most words
are pronounced just like they look. Try to say the words like you would in English, but remember these rules:
1. Most Spanish words have one syllable that you stress or say louder than the others. (Like the day part in the
word today). It is usually the second to the last syllable, unless there is an accent mark written above one of
the vowels in the word.
2. The Spanish letter r is pronounced by a flip of the tip of your tongue on the top of your mouth. The Spanish
rr is a rolled “rrrr” sound, but it is written rr. This sound can be tricky for some people and takes practice.
3. When you see a g it usually sounds like g in garden.
4. When you see ll it is prouncounced like a y in English
5. The letter h in Spanish is silent – it does not make any sound.
6. The letter j in Spanish is pronounced like the letter H in English.