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The beginning and end of every conversation... saludos y despedidas (greetings and salutations)
¿Qué hora es? What time is it?
SPA 101 La hora from hs36
pronunciación
“g” and “c” en español
As you may have noticed by now, not all “g”s in Spanish sound the same, but luckily there is a simple pattern. The important thing to pay attention to is the combination of letters. It helps to pick one word that you already know for each of the combinations, and that will help you remember how to apply that pronunciation to unknown words.
The same rule works for /c/ and /g/, so here goes:
ge/gi & ce/ci = "soft" with E/I
ge and gi:
sound like "heh" and "hih"- like the English /h/ sound (but farther back in the throat)
gente= "hen-te"
gitana= "hi-ta-na"
ce and ci:
sound like "seh" and "sih" - use your "s":
cenar= "se-nar"
cine= "si-neh"
ga/go/gu & ca/co/cu = "hard" with A/O/U
ga, go, gu: sound "hard" : like an English "g"
gato, lago, laguna
ca, co, cu: sound 'hard' : like an English "k"
cama, colores, cumpleaños
The same rule works for /c/ and /g/, so here goes:
ge/gi & ce/ci = "soft" with E/I
ge and gi:
sound like "heh" and "hih"- like the English /h/ sound (but farther back in the throat)
gente= "hen-te"
gitana= "hi-ta-na"
ce and ci:
sound like "seh" and "sih" - use your "s":
cenar= "se-nar"
cine= "si-neh"
ga/go/gu & ca/co/cu = "hard" with A/O/U
ga, go, gu: sound "hard" : like an English "g"
gato, lago, laguna
ca, co, cu: sound 'hard' : like an English "k"
cama, colores, cumpleaños
*** "gua" , "guo" & "gue" , "gui" are special***
GUA = “gwa”
In the example "guapo", you will notice that the combination "gua" essentially turns into a "gwa" or "wa" sound where sometimes the hard /g/ is almost omitted -think "sa-wa-ro" / "sa-gwa-ro" (saguaro) or "a-wa caliente" / "a-gwa caliente" (agua caliente).
GUO = “gwo”
The same will happen with the rare combination "guo"> "gwo"
"averiguo" = "a-be-ri-gwo"
*The same does not happen with "gue" and "gui"-
the "u" becomes silent and you pronounce them with a "hard" English "g"
GUE= "geh" with a hard “g”, NOT "gwe"
guerra = "GE-rra" not "GWE-rra"
GUI= "gih" with a hard “g”, NOT "gwi"
guitarra= "GI-ta-rra" NOT "gwi-ta-rra"
(The exception would be words where an ümlaut - those little dots above the ü- shows up to break the rule, but it is a very rare occurrence in Spanish- so don't worry too much about it!)
ejemplos:
"averigüe"= "a-be-ri-gwe"
“pingüino” = "pin-gwi-no"
GUA = “gwa”
In the example "guapo", you will notice that the combination "gua" essentially turns into a "gwa" or "wa" sound where sometimes the hard /g/ is almost omitted -think "sa-wa-ro" / "sa-gwa-ro" (saguaro) or "a-wa caliente" / "a-gwa caliente" (agua caliente).
GUO = “gwo”
The same will happen with the rare combination "guo"> "gwo"
"averiguo" = "a-be-ri-gwo"
*The same does not happen with "gue" and "gui"-
the "u" becomes silent and you pronounce them with a "hard" English "g"
GUE= "geh" with a hard “g”, NOT "gwe"
guerra = "GE-rra" not "GWE-rra"
GUI= "gih" with a hard “g”, NOT "gwi"
guitarra= "GI-ta-rra" NOT "gwi-ta-rra"
(The exception would be words where an ümlaut - those little dots above the ü- shows up to break the rule, but it is a very rare occurrence in Spanish- so don't worry too much about it!)
ejemplos:
"averigüe"= "a-be-ri-gwe"
“pingüino” = "pin-gwi-no"