Qualitative (descriptive) adjectives - Hillcrest Elementary

stage, it’s a good idea to leave the house and go somewhere where Spanish is spoken—which is
increasingly easy to do—order un café or una cerveza and strike up una conversación.
h ere’s nothing like the kick you’ll get from trying out another language and discovering that
it really works. Have fun!
The Spanish alphabet and its pronunciation
In Spanish, unlike English, what you see is what you get. Gone is the spelling circus that English
writers and readers must involve themselves in every day. Each Spanish vowel has only one
sound—no long, short, schwa, or anything else. And when a consonant is silent, like the Spanish
h, it is always silent. No more i before e (or is it e before i?). h e ph is gone, rendering every f word
a true f word. Double consonants barely exist. It’s like going back to the comfort and simplicity of
i rst grade—when “sounding it out” actually worked—and staying there.
Once you know the sounds and occasional quirks the Spanish alphabet produces, you will
be able to spell competently and coni dently almost any word you want. I’m not saying you’ll
never make a mistake. However, I can guarantee that you’ll be using your dictionary for dei nitions
far more ot en than for spelling.
Following is the Spanish alphabet: each letter, its pronunciation, and any pertinent information
regarding that letter.
LETTER PRONUNCIATION PERTINENT INFORMATION
a ah always produces the a sound in “father”
b bay
c say k sound before a, o, u; s sound before e, i
ch chay considered one letter
d day
e ay (long a) always produces the long a sound
f áy-fay
g hay g sound (as in “go”) before a, o, u; h sound before e, i
h áh-chay
i ee (long e) always produces the long e sound
j hota always produces the h sound
k kah not used in true Spanish words (see the letter c above)
l áy-lay
ll áy-yay; áy-jay y in Latin America; j in Spain
m áy-may
n áy-nay
ñ áyn-yay produces the ny sound (as in “canyon”)
o oh always produces the long o sound
p pay
q coo
r áyr-ray the r you don’t trill
rr áyrrrr-rrrray the r you do trill
s áy-say
t tay
u ooh always produces the long u sound
v bay pronounced identically to b (as in “baby”)
w dóblay-bay not used (oe produces the w sound)
x áy-kees
y ee gree-áy-gah
z sáy-tah pronounced identically to s (as in “sin”)
2 practice makes perfect Spanish Vocabulary