Las Vocales -practice the sounds

Pronunciation of Spanish Vowels

Today, we will practice the sounds of the vowels to help you with pronunciation. First, I'll pair the vowels with consonants. Next, I'll pronounce some sentences which have each of the vowels. Thirdly, I'll pronounce some words for you so pay special attention to the sound of the vowels.

Some words that might have been included in the following video. After the video you will find a vocabulary list.

VOCABULARY
 

SPANISH	ENGLISH
hasta	Until
tal	Such
nada	nothing
mañana	Morning, tomorrow
natural	natural
normal	normal
fascinante	fascinating
Me	Me (direct object);to, for me (indirect object); myself
qué	Used with an accent to ask or express surprise. (What….?, What…..!)
Pérez	Family last name
usted	Formal form of you
rebelde	Rebel; rebellious
excelente	excellent
elegante	elegant
así	This way;so,thus
Señorita	Miss, Young Lady
Así  así	So so
permiso	permission
diligente	Diligent
imposible	impossible
tímido	timid
Yo	I
Cómo	Adverb used with an accent to ask  How?  Or exclamatory How!
Noches	nights
Profesor	professor
Señor	mister
Generoso	generous
Uno	one
Usted	Formal form of you
Tú	You (subjective pronoun)
Mucho	much
Perú	Latin American Country
Lupe	Short for Guadalupe
Úrsula	If that is your name make sure to write the accent for Spanish flavor!

Las Vocales

This is a song by Cri Cri that I found in Youtube. I have used it in my Spanish classes for children to get them interested in the vowels.


                    


 LAS VOCALES       
Let's practice the sounds of the vowels.  If you are an English speaking person, you are going to experience some difficulty in saying Spanish vowels because they are short and tense. This means that they are never drown out with a u or an i sound at the end like in : 
  
   lo is not pronounced  /low/ and de is not pronounced / day/ 
       
 Las vocales:      

There are 5 vowels in Spanish:  
   
a........................like in the a in father but shorter and tense e........................like in the e in they but without the glide in i i.........................like in the i in machine but shorter and tense o........................like in the o in home but without the u sound following u........................like in the u in rule but shorter and tense.        


 VOWEL: A  

         

 cama=bed     
 papa=potato       
casa=house 
 mamá=mother     
nada=nothing         
cara=(noun) face; expensive(adjective)     
 mapa=map     

VOWEL: E 

             

Bebé=baby       
nené=baby       
tendré=will have         
cerveza=beer       
cereza=cherry        
leche=milk      
lente=eyeglasses   

 VOWEL: I 

       

  idea=idea 
 igual=equal     
 infancia=childhood    
 ir=to go       
 importancia=importance       
Inca    

VOWEL: O 

         

oso=bear      
olvidar=to forget      
ocho=eight       
ola=wave     
ojo=eye       
olor=smell 

     
VOWEL: U 


        

uno=one ( number one, one masculine form)   
uña=fingernail   
 uva=grape    
una=one (female)
 un=one  (male)

   
In later posts, I'll have videos or sound files with the vowels paired with consonants to help you with pronunciation. The first post of this kind is:

Las Vocales -practice the sounds 

Next, I'll be adding other posts with more opportunities to listen and practice.