Sounds and spelling · GCSE Spanish

Vowels and stress

Spanish vowels are short and pure, and always sound the same: a (as in "ah"), e (as in "bed"), i (as in "see"), o (as in "hot"), u (as in "moon").
Every vowel is pronounced, even at the end of a word: noche (no-che), grande (gran-de).
If a word ends in a vowel, n or s, stress the second-to-last syllable: casa, hablan, zapatos. Otherwise, stress the last syllable: hablar, ciudad, español.
A written accent shows a stress that breaks the rule: música, café, canción, árbol.
Accents can also change meaning: si (if) and sí (yes), el (the) and él (he), tu (your) and tú (you).

j sounds like a strong h from the throat (as in "loch"): jamón, joven, ojo. g before e or i makes the same sound: gente, página.
Elsewhere g is hard: gato, gordo. In gue and gui, g stays hard and the u is silent: guitarra.
h is always silent: hola, hablar, hermano.
ll sounds like the y in "yes": llamar, calle. y sounds the same (yo), but as a word on its own, or at the end of a word, it sounds like "ee": y (and), hoy.
ñ sounds like the "ny" in canyon: España, mañana, niño.
In Spain, z, and c before e or i, sound like the "th" in "think": zapato, cinco, gracias. In Latin America they sound like s.
qu sounds like k, and the u is silent: que, quiero. c before a, o or u also sounds like k: casa, como.
r is a single tap (pero); rr, and r at the start of a word, are rolled (perro, rojo). b and v sound almost the same (vivir, beber).

¿ and ¡ open questions and exclamations: ¿Cómo estás? ¡Qué bien!
ch sounds like the ch in "church": chico, mucho.
Spanish spelling follows sound closely, so you can usually spell a word you hear.
Words that look like English are said the Spanish way: hotel (silent h, stress on -tel), hospital (silent h, stress on -tal), chocolate (four syllables: cho-co-la-te).

el acento: written accent: the mark on á, é, í, ó, ú that shows stress
la sílaba: syllable
la eñe: the letter ñ
la tilde: the mark on ñ (also a name for the written accent)
la jota: the letter j, said like a strong h
la erre: the rolled rr sound
los signos de interrogación: question marks: ¿ at the start and ? at the end
los signos de exclamación: exclamation marks: ¡ at the start and ! at the end