Learning to Read Spanish, Lesson 1

A – like ‘a’ in “father”
O – like ‘o’ in “more”
U – like ‘oo’ in “boot”
I – like ‘ee’ in “see”
E – like ‘e’ in “bed”

a, o, u, i, e

M – like ‘m’ in “mom”

ma, mo, mu, mi, me, ama, omo, umu, eme

R – rolled ‘r’ (no direct English equivalent)

ara, uro, eru, ari, ere, aura, oro, uru, era.

T – like ‘t’ in “top” but softer

tara, utro, tari, rete, auto, rutu.

L – like ‘l’ in “light”

lara, aula, arli, ele, uli, ela.

S – like ‘s’ in “sun”

sara, oso, usa, sela, resa, tasa.

J – like ‘h’ in “hot” but stronger

jota, uja, ujara, reji, ajetu.

B / V
Both B and V are pronounced exactly the same way in Spanish:

• Like English ‘b’ at the beginning of words

bon, va, busu, vula, borto, vojo, bira, virka

• Like a soft ‘b’ (similar to ‘v’) between vowels

aba, uva, ebe, riva, craba, rave

• Like English ‘b’ after ‘m’ or ‘n’. In this case, the letter ‘n’ is pronounced as ‘m’.

ambe, tumba, sinva, ronvo